What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law
90 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 months ago - ★★★★★ - 3.5K ratingsProfessor Elizabeth Joh teaches Intro to Constitutional Law and most of the time this is a pretty straight forward job. But when Trump came into office, everything changed. During the four years of the Trump presidency, Professor Joh would check Twitter five minutes before each class to find out what the 45th President had said and how it jibes with 200 years of the judicial branch interpreting and ruling on the Constitution. Acclaimed podcaster Roman Mars (99% Invisible) was so anxious about all the norms and laws being tested in the Trump era that he asked his neighbor, Elizabeth, to explain what was going on in the world from a Constitutional law perspective. Even after Trump left office, there is still so much for Roman to learn. What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law is a weekly, fun, casual Con Law 101 class that uses the tumultuous activities of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to teach us all about the US Constitution.
All music for the show comes from Doomtree, an independent hip-hop collective and record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
35- Confrontation Clause
November 15, 2019 22:28 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBSince the beginning of the impeachment proceedings against the President, Donald Trump has insisted he has a right to confront “the whistleblower,” the anonymous member of the intelligence community who set the whole thing in motion. There is a Confrontation Clause in the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which says a defendant in a criminal case has the right to face their accuser. But does this clause apply to the impeachment hearing against a president in Congres...
35- Confrontation Clause
November 15, 2019 22:28 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MBSince the beginning of the impeachment proceedings against the President, Donald Trump has insisted he has a right to confront “the whistleblower,” the anonymous member of the intelligence community who set the whole thing in motion. There is a Confrontation Clause in the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which says a defendant in a criminal case has the right to face their accuser. But does this clause apply to the impeachment hearing against a president in Congress?
34- Foreign Affairs
October 18, 2019 15:02 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBDonald Trump says he should not be impeached as President, since there was ‘no quid pro quo’ on a phone call where he asked the Ukrainian president to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. But does quid pro quo need to be explicitly stated to be a legal issue? And can private citizens like Rudy Giuliani represent America on foreign policy issues? Get the new Shredders album from Doomtree!
34- Foreign Affairs
October 18, 2019 15:02 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBDonald Trump says he should not be impeached as President, since there was ‘no quid pro quo’ on a phone call where he asked the Ukrainian president to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. But does quid pro quo need to be explicitly stated to be a legal issue? And can private citizens like Rudy Giuliani represent America on foreign policy issues? Get the new Shredders album from Doomtree!
33- Obstruction
September 21, 2019 18:34 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBTrump lawyers assert that all of Trump’s actions during the Mueller investigation were within his rights as President and can’t be classified as obstruction of justice, especially because there is no underlying crime alleged. But as Martha Stewart will tell you, that’s not how obstruction of justice works. Get the new Shredders album from Doomtree!
32- Contempt Power
May 13, 2019 23:10 - 20 minutes - 19.3 MBWhat is Congress’ contempt power and how can they use it to force people to cooperate with their investigations?
31- Executive Privilege
April 18, 2019 06:21 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MBIt's likely that Trump will invoke executive privilege during the numerous investigations and inquiries into his actions. Presidents have insisted they need to keep secrets to do their job effectively since Washington, but the term "executive privilege" is relatively recent and it has rarely been tested in court.
30- The 25th Amendment
December 31, 2018 15:48 - 20 minutes - 19 MBWhat does the 25th Amendment say about presidential fitness, disability, and Trump?
29- Birthright Citizenship and the 14th Amendment
December 04, 2018 22:31 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBTrump has threatened to revoke Birthright Citizenship with an executive order. This proposed order contradicts the Fourteenth Amendment, but Trump’s tweets contend otherwise.
28- Kavanaugh Special Episode
October 04, 2018 19:25 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBSome of the Constitutional considerations of the Kavanaugh confirmation process. Recorded October 2, 2018.
27- Treason
September 13, 2018 16:26 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBWhen Trump tweets just the single word “Treason?”, probably in reference to the anonymous New York Times Op-Ed, is he using that word correctly? What does our federal Constitution say about treason? And when exactly does someone commit a treasonous act?
26- Roe
August 16, 2018 18:14 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBTrump has a second Supreme Court pick and that has a lot of people wondering about the future of Roe v. Wade. Here we look at the constitutional basis of the decision and the strange personal history of Roe.
25- Justice Kennedy
July 06, 2018 00:42 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBJustice Kennedy decided to retire at the end of this Supreme Court term. Kennedy has been the swing vote on a lot of important cases. He’s mostly considered a conservative, but he has voted with the more progressive judges on cases having to do with gay rights and abortion. His successor will be appointed by Trump and that has many progressives concerned that the replacement will be even more conservative.
24- Taking the Fifth
June 29, 2018 20:50 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBTrump has said the taking the fifth makes "you look guilty as hell" but lot of Trump's associates are now taking the fifth in the Russia investigation. How should we interpret people taking the fifth?
23- President Twitter and the First Amendment
June 09, 2018 00:14 - 20 minutes - 18.9 MBCan Trump block people on Twitter? It turns out, the First Amendment has something to say about that.
22- Posse Comitatus
May 22, 2018 16:48 - 21 minutes - 20 MBThe Posse Comitatus Act limits the federal government’s ability to use the military to enforce domestic policy within the United States. However, this act has so many allowable exceptions, it has rarely been officially violated. When Trump suggests “The Feds” should police Chicago to get the murder rate down, he might have found the perfect example of a Posse Comitatus Act violation.
21- Attorney Client Privilege
April 27, 2018 20:12 - 24 minutes - 22.9 MBWhen the office of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was raided by the FBI, Trump took twitter to express his concern. He wrote “Attorney-client privilege is dead!” Let’s see if it is.
20- Deadly Force
March 15, 2018 23:27 - 19 minutes - 18.1 MBThe Fourth Amendment includes the right to be secure from “unreasonable searches and seizure.” We have some idea of how this applies to cops, but if teachers are allowed to carry guns in school, are they also subject to the Fourth Amendment?
19- The Poisonous Tree
February 23, 2018 17:48 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBThe Russia investigation has been called a "witch hunt" by Trump and his supporters on Twitter. And they've invoked the legal concept "the fruit of the poisonous tree" to invalidate the investigation. What does the Fourth Amendment say about tainted investigations and does it apply to Trump?
18- The Tenth Amendment
February 09, 2018 22:00 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBThe Tenth Amendment limits the federal government’s control over the states, but the interpretation of that limit is always shifting.
17- The 4th Amendment and the Border
January 25, 2018 22:50 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MBThe Fourth Amendment says that “The right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” But at the border, warrantless searches are OK, even when it comes to our digital devices. With Trump's focus on the border, this is becoming a ...
16- Defamation
January 14, 2018 00:47 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBTrump likes to threaten the press with libel lawsuits. What does the Constitution have to say about defamation and the press?
15- Challenge Coin
December 28, 2017 22:41 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBYou might not remember December 22, 2017 as a particularly notable day, but I will always remember it as the day the world first saw Donald Trump’s redesigned Presidential Challenge Coin. Because 99% Invisible did an episode about challenge coins and we actually offered our own coin to donors, my association with challenge coins is strong. Because of that, I was forwarded the December 22 Washington Post article about Trump’s garishly over the top challenge coin by about...9000 people. Here’s...
14- Prosecuting a President
December 14, 2017 22:19 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBTwo Vice Presidents have been indicted with criminal charges while serving in office, but does the Constitution allow the prosecution of a President? Elizabeth Joh and Roman Mars explore this question.
13- Criminal Justice and the POTUS
November 18, 2017 21:04 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBPresidents don't usually weigh in on criminal cases. In fact, it’s critical to the integrity of the criminal justice system that the executive not try to influence the outcome of cases. But Trump can't help himself. President Trump has called the US criminal justice system “a joke.”
12- Right to Dissent
November 02, 2017 22:56 - 21 minutes - 20.1 MBFrom "taking a knee" to refusing to salute the flag, the US has a rich history of public dissent, a right guaranteed by the Constitution. But you’d be surprised to learn that the Supreme Court has taken drastically different stands on this right, and now that Trump has tweeted his opposition to certain public displays of dissent, it’s a good time to explore the history of this principle of the First Amendment.
11- War Powers
October 19, 2017 23:02 - 13 minutes - 12.9 MBWhat does the Constitution say about the president’s ability to wage war and what is the role of Congress?
10- Impeachment
October 09, 2017 21:19 - 19 minutes - 17.6 MBImpeachment is talked about a lot, but it is extremely rare. Impeachment is the constitutional emergency measure written into the constitution itself. We talk about the procedure impeachment and why it's so hard.
9- Commerce Clause
August 17, 2017 22:46 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MBThe federal government can't pass any law it wants to. It's limited by Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, but the executive branch can choose how to enforce those laws. Under Trump, there are indications that drug laws, which are based on the Commerce Clause, are about to be enforced very differently.
9- Commerce Clause
August 17, 2017 22:46 - 18 minutes - 18.4 MBThe federal government can't pass any law it wants to. It's limited by Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, but the executive branch can choose how to enforce those laws. Under Trump, there are indications that drug laws, which are based on the Commerce Clause, are about to be enforced very differently.
8- The Takings Clause
August 10, 2017 21:41 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBTo build a wall, Trump is going to need to seize private land. The Constitution has something to say about that and it’s known as the Takings Clause.
7- Recess Appointment Power
August 03, 2017 18:41 - 16 minutes - 15.7 MBThe Constitution says that the president can appoint important executive positions with the advice and consent of the Senate. But what if the Senate is out on recess? Does the president have to wait until the Senate comes back? Today we’ll explore the recess appointment power.
6- The Emoluments Clauses
July 20, 2017 20:30 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MBThe Constitution says that a “person holding any office of profit or trust” cannot accept gifts from any foreign state. In Article II, it also says the president specifically cannot accept gifts from “United States, or any of them.” If Trump businesses profit from a foreign or domestic state, is that a violation of either one of the emolument clauses? It’s hard to say, because there is literally no case law when it comes the emoluments clause. None!
5- Presidential Immunity
July 13, 2017 21:59 - 19 minutes - 17.6 MBThere have already been a few high profile lawsuits against President Trump and the first defense against such a lawsuit is to claim that the president cannot be sued in civil court. But it turns out, the Supreme Court has ruled different ways on whether or not the president is immune from lawsuits. We look a three cases from history and hear how they’re being used to argue for and against the current cases filed against Trump.
4- The Spending Clause
June 29, 2017 21:00 - 13 minutes - 12.9 MBIn an executive order, Trump threatened to withhold federal money from any place acting as a “sanctuary city.” Supreme Court rulings over the 20th century have ruled in different ways on how federal money can be used to influence the behavior of local governments. When it comes to the Spending Clause, how coercive is too coercive?
3- Pardon Power
June 22, 2017 20:22 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBThere are reports that the Trump administration is being investigated for obstruction of justice. This has led a lot of people to wonder if the Constitution’s presidential pardon power could be used to absolve members of his administration, or even himself, from criminal charges. And what does the Constitution say about how a pardon has to be presented? Can Trump pardon someone with a tweet?
2- The Appointments Clause and Removal Power
June 15, 2017 21:40 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBThe US Constitution has a clause that describes how the president can hire certain political appointees with the advice and consent of the Senate. It doesn’t say when the president can fire someone. We take a look at recent Trump firings and put them in context of Supreme Court cases where the court both upheld and denied the president’s right to fire an executive branch employee. Even if a president has the constitutional power to fire someone, it doesn’t mean there aren’t political and leg...
1- Judicial Legitimacy
June 08, 2017 04:03 - 11 minutes - 11.2 MBBack in February 2017, Trump tweeted a criticism of the “so-called judge” who blocked the enforcement of his travel ban. Why does the president have to listen to what the courts say? We’re going to tell the story of a key moment in history when the president (Truman, in this case) and the court strongly disagreed.
1- Judicial Legitimacy
June 08, 2017 04:03 - 11 minutes - 11.1 MBBack in February 2017, Trump tweeted a criticism of the “so-called judge” who blocked the enforcement of his travel ban. Why does the president have to listen to what the courts say? We’re going to tell the story of a key moment in history when the president (Truman, in this case) and the court strongly disagreed.
0- Intro to What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
June 08, 2017 02:51 - 9 minutes - 8.44 MBWelcome to “What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law"! Every week Roman Mars (99% Invisible) will host a fun, casual Con Law 101 class that uses the tumultuous and erratic activities of the executive branch under Trump to teach us all about the US Constitution.