We the People

Latest Episodes:

The Constitution and the Mueller investigation Dec 14, 2017

Show notes

In May, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Since Mueller’s appointment, the probe has raised a number of constitutional questions, ranging from whether the president can legally fire Mueller and end the investigation to what remedies exist should Mueller find evidence of collusion. Specifically, the investigation has led to debates about the nature of potential obstruction of justice charges against a President; if a President can actually be charged with obstruction; and the role of Congress in the investigative process.

National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen moderates a discussion about these issues two leading experts on these topics: Laura Donohue and Sai Prakash.

Donohue is Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, Director of Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law, and Director of the Center on Privacy and Technology.

Prakash is James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law and Paul G. Mahoney Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School.

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at podcast@constitutioncenter.org

Net neutrality at a legal crossroads Dec 07, 2017

Show notes

Gus Hurwitz and Travis LeBlanc join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen for an engaging debate about the potential repeal of Obama-era net neutrality rules.

To learn more about this week’s topic, visit our podcast resources page at constitutioncenter.org/debate/podcasts. Visit the resources page to explore show notes, guest bios, related Interactive Constitution essays, and more.

Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network.

The Masterpiece Cakeshop case Nov 30, 2017

Show notes

Vanita Gupta and Michael Moreland join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to preview next week’s Supreme Court arguments about a dispute over a cake shop owner’s right to not create a cake for a same-sex marriage event.

Gupta is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The Leadership Conference joined an amicus brief in this case with other civil rights groups (NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center), siding with the Civil Rights Division. Moreland is University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova Law School. He joined an amicus brief along with 34 other legal scholars supporting the cake shop owner.

The future of digital privacy Nov 22, 2017

Show notes

Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute and Orin Kerr of George Washington Law debate whether warrantless searches and seizures of cellphone records violate the Fourth Amendment in a special podcast hosted at the National Press Club.

In late November, the Supreme Court will tackle a very modern question about the venerable Fourth Amendment: Does it allow police to see where you’ve been for the past four months by looking at your cellphone data without a warrant?

In Carpenter v. United States, which will be argued on November 29, cell number data placed a robbery suspect, Timothy Ivory Carpenter, near the scenes of several crimes, and at about the same time as those crimes happened. The phone information was used as evidence leading to Carpenter’s conviction on robbery charges and he is serving a long prison sentence.

The Carpenter case has spurred a flurry of activity among Fourth Amendment scholars. Carpenter’s lawyers believe modern cellphone records are fundamentally different than traditional phone records cited in a 1979 Supreme Court decision at permits such searches without warrants. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled against Carpenter and said the Fourth Amendment’s search warrant requirement only protects what was actually said in phone conversations. And it upheld a third-party doctrine that the phone records belong to the phone company, they aren’t private information.

Note: Audio for this podcast was recorded at an October 26, 2017 live event at the National Press Club sponsored by the American Constitution Society and The Federalist Society and presented with the generous support of the Bernstein Family Foundation.

Tax reform and the Constitution Nov 16, 2017

Show notes

Joseph Fiskin from the University of Texas at Austin Law School and Steven Willis from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to look at potential constitutional issues related to tax reform measures under debate at Congress.

Please rate and review our podcasts on iTunes. And visit our Resources page at <a href="http://constitutioncenter.org/podcasts">constitutioncenter.org/podcasts</a> to comment on this podcast, and get extra information about this important debate.

Is the fight against ISIS legal? Nov 10, 2017

Show notes

Bruce Ackerman and Chris Fonzone join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss a lawsuit challenging several congressional actions used to authorize United States military actions against ISIS and other terror groups.

Deconstructing the administrative state Nov 02, 2017

Show notes

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump ran on a platform of rolling back the “administrative state.” Since taking office, President Trump has followed through on some of his campaign promises, signing various Executive Orders aimed at undoing previous Executive Orders issued by President Obama. What will be the impact of the president’s regulatory agenda? Is Trump restoring constitutional order and checks and balances through his executive orders?

Joining us to discuss these important questions and more are two of America’s leading scholars of administrative law.

Dan Hemel is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. His research focuses on taxation, risk regulation, and innovation law. His current projects examine the effect of tax expenditures on inequality; the role of cost-benefit analysis in tax administration; and the use of tax incentives to encourage knowledge production. He has served as visiting counsel at the Joint Committee on Taxation. He blogs at Take Care.

Karen Harned is Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, a post she has held since April 2002. Prior to joining the Legal Center, Ms. Harned was an attorney at a Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in food and drug law, where she represented several small and large businesses and their respective trade associations before Congress and federal agencies. Her organization, NFIB, was involved in litigation against the Affordable Care Act, in NFIB v. Sebelius, and is currently involved as an amicus in the NAM case before the Court.

The Emoluments Clause in court Oct 26, 2017

Show notes

Josh Blackman and Jed Shugerman join the National Constitution Center’s Jeffrey Rosen to discuss President Trump’s alleged violation of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses.

The evolution of voting rights Oct 20, 2017

Show notes

Debo Adegbile and Will Consovoy join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss constitutional challenges to the Voting Rights Act and election law.

The state of the Second Amendment Oct 12, 2017

Show notes

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas tragedy, renewed attention has come to controversy over the constitutional status of guns in the United States and the role of the Second Amendment.

Joining National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss this central question are two of the leading scholars on this subject.

Saul Cornell is the Paul and Diane Guenther Chair in American History at Fordham University.

Nelson Lund is University Professor at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.

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