Oral Argument
205 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsA podcast about law, law school, legal theory, and other nerdy things that interest us.
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Episodes
Episode 54: No Throttling
March 27, 2015 22:00 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBChristian finds himself among two telecommunications and IP experts, Joe and guest Aaron Perzanowski, to discuss the FCC’s recently issued regulations mandating some form of “net neutrality” on broadband internet providers. Will these regulations hold up? Why does your cable company want to provide you with “antivirus” software? What did we receive in the mail last week? Which listener thinks we’re full of it? It’s all in this week’s show. This show’s links: Aaron Perzanowski’s faculty pro...
Episode 53: A Satanic Level of Entropy
March 16, 2015 04:00 - 1 hour - 41.8 MBWe start with developments in an area at the core of expertise: speed traps. We continue with policing and, mainly, more on the Obamacare II case. We also have been told to expect an emolument. This show’s links: Michelle Wirth, Bill To Reduce ‘Speed Traps’ Gains Senate Approval DOJ Civil Rights Division, Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department; AG Holder’s prepared remarks on the report Oral Argument 52: Nihilism The SCOTUSblog page for King v. Burwell, containing the briefs, c...
Episode 52: Nihilism
March 07, 2015 18:00 - 1 hour - 45 MBJoe and Christian try to understand King v. Burwell, or Obamacare II, in light of the oral argument last week. This show’s links: The SCOTUSblog page for King v. Burwell, containing the briefs, commentary, and links to the argument` The Supreme Court’s page for downloading audio of the oral argument Dahlia Lithwick’s Amicus episode about the case
Episode 51: The Faucet
February 27, 2015 23:00 - 1 hour - 42.5 MBWhy have prison populations exploded? Yeah, we bet you have an opinion on this. But we’ve got someone on the show with the math: Fordham law prof and empiricist extraordinaire John Pfaff. Everything you think you know about our staggering levels of imprisonment are probably wrong. Also, we offer to set up the Supreme Court audio live stream. Also we report on one listener’s Oral Argument power rankings. This show’s links: John Pfaff’s faculty profile and writing Blakely v. Washington and ...
Episode 50: We Have Fully Exhausted the Topic
February 20, 2015 17:00 - 1 hour - 43.2 MBLast year’s cert denials in various same-sex marriage cases led to renewed discussion concerning the counterintuitive (to Christian, at least) notion but conventional wisdom that state courts are not bound to follow lower federal courts’ interpretations of federal law. While we discussed and debated this last fall, Amanda Frost was putting the finishing touches on an article reviewing, challenging, and otherwise completely examining this curious doctrine. Was Michael Dorf’s Hammer Blow, as w...
Episode 49: The Pot Calling the Kettle Beige
February 07, 2015 18:00 - 1 hour - 34 MBFrom an undisclosed location, Joe phones in to talk Arsenal, cigarettes, IQ, marijuana, transcendence, IP law, the regulation of the internet, a look back at taxing eggs, getting rid of Groundhog Day, and nonsense (but I repeat myself). This show’s links: Episode 7: Speed Trap Fresh Air, Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone and Should Protect Their Brains (text from and a link to the audio of a Fresh Air interview with neurologist Frances Jensen) Flowers for Algernon and Lucy INS v....
Episode 48: Legal Truth
January 30, 2015 19:00 - 1 hour - 39.5 MBWith evidence and criminal procedure scholar Lisa Kern Griffin, we discuss the role of narrative, storytelling, and probability in assessing guilt and innocence. Also, feedback on coffee, citation, librarians, and argument. This show’s links: Lisa Kern Griffin’s faculty profile and writing Sonja West, First Amendment Neighbors, citing Joe Miller, Christian Turner, and Sonja West, Oral Argument 1: Send Joe to Prison at 46:53, available at http://oralargument.org/1 Bunny’s coffee-roasting ...
Episode 47: Making Lisa So Mad
January 23, 2015 21:00 - 1 hour - 35.4 MBWe clear the docket while enjoying some listener-provided coffee. Topics include coffee roasting, listener feedback, the Oral Argument roadshow, and a recent decision on the taxation of egg donors. This show’s links: Two Story Coffeehouse Rene Stutzman, Lawsuits by Drivers Ticketed for Flashing Headlights Produce Change, No Money The Madigan Memorial Hospital, Houlton, Maine (jpeg) Oral Argument on Twitter and on Facebook Oral Argument 45: Sacrifice, on which we discussed Nicholas Geor...
Episode 46: Noncompetes on Steroids
January 16, 2015 22:00 - 1 hour - 40.6 MBLeave your company, take your ideas, and go to jail. Ok, maybe it’s not always that extreme, but we talk with Orly Lobel, author of Talent Wants to Be Free, about the laws that govern the minds and ideas of employees. From noncompete agreements, to trade secrets, to the illegal talent cartels of Silicon Valley, Orly helps us understand the field she calls “human capital law.” But we start, of course, with woodchippers, North Dakota, and seat recliners. This show’s links: Orly Lobel’s facul...
Episode 45: Sacrifice
January 12, 2015 23:00 - 1 hour - 43.6 MBAfter beginning with, let’s face it, nonsense, we respond to listener feedback (beginning at 8:30) on, among other topics, speed traps, Serial, and Judge Edwards’ critique of legal scholarship. We wind up discussing reasonable doubt and probability (beginning at about 30:00). This show’s links: Judge John Hodgman Episode 18: Oral Argument (with Tom Goldstein), featuring Josh Stein’s paper Richard Stallman’s info packet Episode 44: Serial Natasha Vargas-Cooper, Jay, Key Witness from “Se...
Episode 44: Serial
December 23, 2014 14:00 - 2 hours - 68.5 MBThe Serial podcast, about the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee and subsequent conviction of Adnan Syed, has become the most popular podcast ever. In our first anniversary show — which, sure, we could have broken into two parts but consider this super-sized show our gift to you for the holidays — we talk with listeners and past guests about their own reactions to the show and to the case. We discuss reasonable doubt, race, procedure, evidence, voyeurism, what we think, what others think, and the in...
Episode 43: Some Stuff I Like and Some Stuff I Don’t
December 16, 2014 03:00 - 1 hour - 38.9 MBWe’re back. Speed traps, the police, and Judge Edwards’ renewed attack on modern legal scholarship. This show’s links: Complaint in Jarman v. City of Grain Valley Elli v. City of Ellisville Oral Argument 7: Speed Trap and Oral Argument 8: Party All over the World City of Warrensville Hts. v. Wason (the speed trap case in which the dissent cites Kant’s categorical imperative and which we mentioned at the end of episode 9) About “contempt of cop” Raizel Liebler and Keidra Chaney, TLF Re...
Episode 42: Shotgun Aphasia
November 21, 2014 01:15 - 1 hour - 44 MBWhen should the police be able to search your phone, your computer, your email, or your dropbox? Orin Kerr thinks that over time, and in the face of changing technology and social practices, courts maintain a relatively consistent balance between privacy and the state’s interest in criminal investigation. The legal changes that maintain that consistency seem to be acceptable to originalists, pragmatists, and living constitutionalists alike. From cell phones to horses and buggies to automobil...
Episode 41: Sense-Think-Act
November 15, 2014 17:00 - 1 hour - 46.6 MBRobots. What are they? Just a new sort of tool, qualitatively different kinds of tools that do things we neither expect nor intend, new kinds of beings? With the incipient explosion of complex robots, we may need to re-examine the way law uses and understands intention, responsibility, causation, and other basic concepts. We’re joined by Ryan Calo, who has achieved the outrageously awesome feat of earning a living thinking about robots. (It’s pronounced Kay-low. So Joe got this one right.) W...
Episode 40: The Split Has Occurred
November 08, 2014 20:00 - 1 hour - 48.8 MBThis is the week the circuits split. We discuss Judge Sutton’s opinion for a panel of the Sixth Circuit upholding bans on gay marriage in several states. Although Joe and Christian mainly agree about this case, Joe finds plenty of other things Christian says and does to be irritating, especially during our first eighteen minutes when we discuss feedback. This show’s links: Michael Dorf, Why Danforth v. Minnesota Does Not Undermine My View About State Court Decisions to Follow Lower Federal...
Episode 39: The Ayn Rand Nightmare
October 31, 2014 15:00 - 1 hour - 46.7 MBIt’s our ebola episode. You know, I think that’s description enough. This show’s links: Fazal Khan’s profile and his writing Our U.S. News rankings episode, Heart of Darkness More on the debate about state courts’ following federal circuit courts (relevant to the gay marriage rulings) that arose during our episodes with Michael Dorf and with Steve Vladeck: (1) a post by Michael Dorf, (2) a post by Steve Vladeck, and (3) a post by Christian Turner About Ebola virus diseased and about Ebo...
Episode 38: You're Going to Hate This Answer
October 24, 2014 20:00 - 1 hour - 44.4 MBSteve Vladeck joins us to dive further into federal courts and federal rights. After getting Steve’s take on our discussion concerning federal courts of appeals and gay marriage last week with Michael Dorf, we discuss the issues raised by what Steve thinks could be a major new case in the Supreme Court this term: Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center. How and when can you enforce a federal statute or the Constitution against state officials? Simple question, right? This show’s links: Steve...
Episode 37: Hammer Blow
October 18, 2014 13:00 - 1 hour - 36.2 MBWhat do the federal appeals courts’ striking down of same-sex marriage bans actually mean for marriage equality in the states? Are the state courts bound to follow these decisions while the Supreme Court pursues other interests? Well, Christian got this completely wrong last week, and luckily Michael Dorf is on the line to set us straight. Knowledge bombs galore are dropped. This show’s links: Michael Dorf’s profile, his writing, and his world-famous blog Dorf on Law Amicus, the new Slate...
Episode 36: Firehose of Equality
October 11, 2014 15:00 - 1 hour - 46.5 MBThe Supreme Court this week handed down a series of landmark non-decisions. We talk with PhD candidate and commentator Anthony Kreis about the confusing, hopeful, exciting, promising, uncertain, and evolving state of marriage equality. In the wake of a (so far) uniform wave of appellate court decisions striking down gay-marriage bans, the Supreme Court steps in and … lets them stand without taking them up for decision. Why? And what is the state of law? What is likely to happen, and what are...
Episode 35: Multitudes
October 03, 2014 19:00 - 1 hour - 38.4 MBWe discuss the common law and originalism with law, literature, and history scholar Bernadette Meyler. Some of today’s most intense constitutional controversies revolve around the proper sources of interpretive tools. Some forms of originalism, believing judging is legitimate only if it foregoes political choice and instead adopts the choices made by democratically accountable institutions, attempt to locate the sole meanings that constitutional text, whether “natural born citizen,” “habeas ...
Episode 34: There’s Not Really a Best Font
September 27, 2014 04:00 - 1 hour - 40.1 MBWe discuss the role of design in the practice of law with renowned typographer-lawyer Matthew Butterick. The conversation ranges among very practical tips for making better documents, why so many legal documents are poorly designed, why lawyers should care about design, and what it even means to design a document. Matthew explains why IRS forms are some of the most well-designed legal documents around. Also, Joe manages to connect (positively) enjoying physical books with smelling gasoline. ...
Episode 33: Other Minds
September 20, 2014 14:00 - 1 hour - 47.3 MBCan non-human animals be “victims” of a crime? The Oregon Supreme Court recently decided they could be. We talk with Matthew Liebman, senior attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, about the law of animals. Why and how do we prohibit animal cruelty? Is it to protect our own feelings, the inherent rights of animals themselves, a little of both? Does prohibiting cruelty protect us from hurting one another? Does a housefly have a right to an education? We discuss the difficulties of being ...
Episode 32: Go Figure
September 13, 2014 04:00 - 1 hour - 42.3 MBWe’re back with knees and gay marriage. And constitutional scholar Lori Ringhand. In the battle between recliners and knee defenders, Joe tells us the real enemy is the airline who has sold the same space twice. Somehow nose-punching, rapid window shade flipping, and the high arctic figure into the discussion. Turning to Judge Posner’s smackdown of midwestern marriage bans, we start with style: is there such a thing as too much smack? Then we turn to the really interesting bit, Posner’s reim...
Episode 31: Knee Defender
August 29, 2014 13:00 - 1 hour - 38.6 MBOur labor day episode, in which we discuss: Judge Posner’s castigation of state attorneys in gay marriage cases, professionalism (shiver) and politeness, the knee defender and recliners, airplane boarding and luggage retrieval, the exciting new adventures of the Town of Greece, satanists, and contempt of cop. This show’s links: Seventh Circuit arguments in Baskin v. Bogan and Wolf v. Walker Christian Turner, 404: Argument Not Found Paul Ford, How to Be Polite About the duty to rescue P...
Episode 30: A Filled Milk Caste
August 23, 2014 20:00 - 1 hour - 45.1 MBJoe’s favorites case(s) part deux, Carolene Products, the filled milk case to end all filled milk cases. We talk about a case most famous for its fourth footnote. That’s right. This episode, alongside volumes upon volumes of legal scholarship, is almost entirely concerned with a footnote. But this one almost casually suggests a principle to divide the power of the federal government between courts and the political branches. Bonus content: an idea about returning to school later in life and ...
Episode 29: Alpha Dog
August 15, 2014 13:00 - 1 hour - 36.1 MBIt’s our back to school episode. We pick up in the middle of a conversation about the order of the months of the calendar and then turn to our main topic: how to teach law. With Mehrsa Baradaran we delve into why classes might turn on you, how to manage the awkward student-teacher relationship, and presumptions of competence and incompetence. We dig into Mehrsa’s Teaching While Woman blog post and all our experiences with privileges, failures, and successes. First names, last names, cold-cal...
Episode 28: A Wonderful Catastrophe
August 08, 2014 21:00 - 1 hour - 43.2 MBNow we turn to Joe’s favorite case(s). And monkey selfies. First, some great listener feedback, and Joe’s argument that feedback should be at the end of the show. Then we dive into Erie, the first of two cases decided on April 25, 1938 that together are his favorite case(s). A man injured by an errant door on a passing train brings the case that fundamentally transforms the federal judiciary. Justice Brandeis transcends transcendental nonsense to recognize that courts make common law rather ...
Episode 27: My Favorite Case
July 19, 2014 13:00 - 1 hour - 41.7 MBWhat’s your favorite case? It’s a difficult question, but in this episode Christian answers it: the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that upheld racial apartheid under the “separate but equal” principle. Joe accuses him of cheating a bit, because Christian’s “favorite” is actually Justice Harlan’s celebrated solo dissent. Its greatness, though, does not lie in any sort of perfection. Severely flawed and yet great, at the same time. This show’s links: Plessy v. Ferguson, which you sh...
Episode 26: Form 700
July 11, 2014 11:00 - 1 hour - 39.2 MBWe are joined by budding media celebrity, Sonja West, who got her start on Episode 1 of Oral Argument. We again turn to the Hobby Lobby decision and the Supreme Court’s odd epilogue. With Sonja’s expert guidance we try to make sense of the web of religious liberty. Also, war on women or the century of gender equality? This show’s links: Sonja West’s faculty profile and writing Oral Argument 1: Send Joe to Prison, guest Sonja West Sonja West’s appearance on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawr...
Episode 25: Normal Religions
July 04, 2014 14:00 - 1 hour - 53.4 MBThis is our first annual Supreme Court term roundup. And in our first effort, we manage to discuss, more or less, a single case: Hobby Lobby. This show’s links: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores
Episode 24: Vacation from Competition
June 27, 2014 22:00 - 1 hour - 46.8 MBWe talk technology and law with Kevin Collins and begin with the law of the horse. The Supreme Court has given us decisions about searching cell phones, tiny antennae and broadcast television, and patents on business methods implemented in software. Molecules, hair-drying calculating machines, DNA, and the meaning of knowledge. It’s an IP festival this week. This show’s links: Kevin Collins’ faculty profile and writing Edinburgh’s statue of Adam Smith, though not the photo taken by listen...
Episode 23: Rex Sunstein
June 20, 2014 03:00 - 1 hour - 38.6 MBWe dive into the legal nature of the regulatory state with Ethan Leib of Fordham Law School. In what sense is the making of regulatory policy, whether on the environment or on net neutrality, a legal process? Should regulatory agencies adhere to precedent or otherwise be bound by law-like doctrines? We learn about the White House’s influence over rulemaking through OIRA and question how OIRA should function and what legal principles should govern it. This show’s links: Ethan Leib’s faculty...
Episode 22: Nine Brains in a Vat
June 13, 2014 01:00 - 1 hour - 43.7 MBWe talk about the Supreme Court with writer and reporter, Dahlia Lithwick. How should one report on the Court, at a time when analysis of opinions is expected within hours or even minutes? What is the role of the Court press: middle men, translators, or something else? And come to think of it, what’s the role of the Supreme Court? Oracles, politicians, teachers? Should judges give speeches like politicians do? Politics, policy, religion, guns. And, of course, speed traps. This show’s links:...
Episode 21: Kind of a Hellscape
June 07, 2014 00:00 - 1 hour - 39 MBWe talk about the relatively simple problem of global climate change with Brigham Daniels. Starting with EPA’s just-proposed regulations, we discuss the very odd way that U.S. law has confronted the problem. Why has it become a partisan issue and how do we overcome that? Are economic signals enough or must ethics change and tribal alliances break down? How might that happen? Darcy and a special canine guest make brief appearances. This show’s links: Brigham Daniels’ faculty profile and wri...
Episode 20: Twelve Billion Dollars
May 23, 2014 20:00 - 1 hour - 47.2 MBWe start, of course, with speed traps and the suggestion of a radio talk show host that giving speed trap warnings is a religious obligation. Our major topic, though, is the insanity of the textbook market. Christian takes a typically moderate position and argues that all textbooks should be free. Joe takes a typically strident position and argues that it’s more complicated than that. We discuss our respective projects to change the nature and distribution of law school casebooks. Topics inc...
Episode 19: The Prayer Abides
May 17, 2014 20:00 - 1 hour - 47.8 MBShaking off the rust after a two-week break, we’re back to argue about the Supreme Court’s latest entry in the “Let Us Pray” genre. We are joined by law and religion scholar Nathan Chapman and focus on ancient Greece, where by Greece we mean Greece, New York, and by ancient we mean 1999. That’s when the town began to invite local clergy to its monthly Town Board meetings to deliver short prayers. For almost a decade, these prayers were uniformly Christian and almost always explicitly so. Gov...
Episode 18: Oral Argument
April 25, 2014 20:00 - 1 hour - 31.6 MBWe finally get around to talking about oral argument on Oral Argument. And, oh do we do so in style. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein joins us for a portion of the show to talk about what oral arguments are, whether they are worth their costs, what they accomplish, and more. Joe complains about absurd hypotheticals. Christian is unfamiliar with any other kind. Also, we begin with errata, in which we acknowledge Christian’s abuse of the English language. This sh...
Episode 17: Flesh List
April 19, 2014 03:00 - 1 hour - 38 MBPsst, do you want to buy a kidney? How about a human egg, or a baby? We talk about taboo markets and tragic choice with Kim Krawiec. Topics range from egg “donation” to kidney transplants, altruism, reference transactions, military service, sex, and more. How do we allocate scarce goods when enough of us just don’t believe the goods should be traded like loaves of bread? Program note: We failed to ask Kim whether Joe is monstrous on account of his views on speed trap norms. Our apologies to ...
Episode 16: The Whole Spectrum
April 11, 2014 11:00 - 1 hour - 35 MBWhen you think of giant cable companies, do you find yourself wishing they could be bigger? Do you even find yourself thinking of giant cable companies? Whether you do or do not, you might learn something from our discussion with James Speta, who attempts to shows us the middle way on the issues facing broadband internet. Vertical and horizontal integration, bundling, packets, spectrum, and monopoly. We return to the law and policy of the network. This show’s links: Jim Speta’s faculty pro...
Episode 15: In the Weeds
April 04, 2014 22:15 - 1 hour - 52 MBIt’s Reefer Madness week on Oral Argument. We talk with Douglas Berman about marijuana decriminalization and lots more. We discuss blogs and scholarship, LSD, why minds might be changing and how they change on drug use, parental paternalism and state paternalism, what we mean by “good drugs” and “bad drugs,” the productivity of intoxication, why law students take an interest in philosophy and sociology when it comes to drug laws. What levers should we use to minimize the dangers drugs pose, a...
Episode 14: The Astronaut's Hair
March 28, 2014 21:45 - 1 hour - 43 MBThis is the one about eggs. Human eggs. And whether selling them is like selling chicken eggs, teaching law school, or being a good samaritan. Lisa Milot joins us to talk about taxing proceeds from transfers of human body materials. We discuss Christian’s beard, astronaut hair, egg donations, oil reservoirs, how to pronounce Kim Krawiec’s name, speed traps, and follow-up on the US News episode. This show’s links: Episode 12: Heart of Darkness (http://oralargument.org/12), the episode about th...
Episode 13: A Special Place in Hell for Joe
March 21, 2014 21:45 - 1 hour - 36.1 MBOur guest, Dave Hoffman, writes about everything and helped to found one of the premier legal blogs, Concurring Opinions. We talk about the role of legal blogs in the public sphere and for the academy. And speaking of writing, what’s wrong with legal scholarship? What should we be doing, and how can the forms of writing, the fora for writing, and the expectations for scholars help or hinder that? Also, too, the return to the show of speed trap law and whether Joe satisfies the basic norms of ...
Episode 12: Heart of Darkness
March 15, 2014 13:15 - 1 hour - 49.1 MBThe U.S. News rankings of law schools are out! We wish they would go away. After follow-up on last week’s episode and a dip into viewer mail, we discuss what problems the rankings might be attempts to solve, how they are calculated, and the obvious problems with them. Joe reports that after the conversation, as after other discussions of the rankings, he felt like he needed a shower. This show’s links: Episode 11: Big Red Diesel (http://oralargument.org/11) Typography in ten minutes (http://p...
Episode 11: Big Red Diesel
March 07, 2014 23:15 - 1 hour - 47.5 MBThe Spring Break episode in which Joe and Christian take a break from solving the world’s legal problems to talk about the technology and culture of writing. We start with some listener feedback, and then Joe reports on an accidental experiment he performed with his car lights. Moving on to email, we discuss a number of bad habits, including needless attachments and clicking on links. Then, the big daddy: Microsoft Word. We discuss what Christian thinks is horribly wrong with it and the excel...
Episode 10: My Beard Is Not a Common Carrier
March 02, 2014 00:30 - 1 hour - 54.7 MBThis is the one about the internet, that which is neither truck nor tube. Christina Mulligan joins us to talk about our beloved cable companies, Netflix, network neutrality, regulation, monopolies, common carriers, sunken and ancient computers, and her super-secret new project (which Christian suggests could yield an excellent new conspiracy theory that would make Logan Sawyer cry). Also we answer viewer mail. Because this is a super-sized show (pour a beverage), we also mention bonobos, Schw...
Episode 9: Torches and Pitchforks
February 22, 2014 03:15 - 1 hour - 35.3 MBLaw and banking in one podcast. Take deep breaths lest your racing heart burst in your chest. You think I'm joking. Probably because you don't know Mehrsa Baradaran. But then, you probably do, because everyone does. We talk about, among other things, how one should say “Mehrsa,” what banking is, It’s a Wonderful Life, how banks are subsidized and regulated, how 40 percent of the country doesn’t really bank or at least “underbanks,” and payday lenders. Christian does not call Joe “Adam Smith.”...
Episode 8: Party All Over the World
February 15, 2014 13:00 - 55 minutes - 26.8 MBFresh off a week-long, snow and ice shutdown, Joe tells Christian he doesn’t want to be called Adam Smith anymore. We discuss viewer mail. Then we circle back to the emerging show specialty: whether you can be charged for warning drivers of a speed trap. Turns out it’s a debate that sprawls over more than a hundred years. We also talk about leveling up one’s understanding of law, from bare opinions about disputes to theories of institutional assignment. Roll for initiative: it’s time for Oral...
Episode 7: Speed Trap
February 07, 2014 21:15 - 40 minutes - 19.7 MBJoe calls in from an undisclosed location(Santa Clara, CA) for a short show. We begin by discussing listener Alan’s demand for more conflict, an Idaho listener’s request for more Darcy, and listener Amy’s request to discuss her parking ticket. The conversation turns to a federal court’s preliminary injunction in favor of a man who was charged for warning drivers of a speed trap by flashing his lights. This show’s links: Parking Is Hell: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast (http://freakonomics.co...
Episode 6: Productive Thoughtlessness
February 01, 2014 04:30 - 1 hour - 45.7 MBJoe, Christian, loyal dog Darcy, a fire, some coffee, and melting snow. We kick back and talk about stuff that has been on our minds. This leads to three very different topics. First: we disagree whether the Supreme Court should strike down the President’s recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board. Text vs. history vs. practice. Second: The Atlanta snowstorm traffic fiasco, in which we discuss mountaineering and computer programming. Third: What makes Dahlia Lithwick so great? ...
Episode 5: It Takes All Kinds
January 25, 2014 16:30 - 1 hour - 33.4 MBLogan Sawyer, certified historian and lawyer, joins us to talk about what historians do and how they differ from the crazy uncle who fancies himself a history buff on Twitter. We learn why history is radical, not conservative, whatever political movement it is employed to serve. We discuss the methods of history and science and their abuses. Logan tells us that history is often at war with theory and that historians prey on other fields. He unravels the received wisdom of the New Deal switch ...