Episodi
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WhoâsâŻafraid of trial by jury? A lot of people, and even some Supreme Court justices.âŻIn this episode, PLFâs Steve Simpson and Cato Instituteâs Tommy Berry discuss exactly why the Founders cared about the right to a jury trial and the ways the government tries to keep us from getting one. And we tell the harrowing story of Jarkesy v. SECâa case that recently reaffirmed that, as John Adams said, representative government and trial by jury are the âheart and lungs of liberty.â
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The Declaration says that the government enjoys only those âjust powersâ delegated to them by the people. Through the Constitution, the American people gave certain limited powers to the national government and reserved the rest to the states or the people. Yet Congress, with the Supreme Courtâs help, has dramatically expanded its power to regulate Americansâ lives through a broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause. In this episode, Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together Casey Mattox and Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett tell us about Wickard v. Filburn and Gonzales v. Raich, which transformed the Commerce Clause into a national problem-solving clause.
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Episodi mancanti?
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Governments derive powers from âthe consent of the governed.â Donât they? In one of the earliest constitutional cases, the Supreme Court seemed to say so. But the Eleventh Amendment threw a wrench in it all, making it exceptionally difficult for us to hold the government accountable in the courts when it violates our rights. In Episode 3, Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett, NYT columnist and author Jesse Wegman, and Cato Institute Senior Vice President for Legal Studies Clark Neily discuss Chisholm v. Georgia.
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To the Framers, happiness didnât just mean fun. It meant the pursuit of a good life through hard work, discipline, and constant self-assessment. In Episode 2, National Constitution Center CEO Emeritus Jeffrey Rosen, attorney and author Timothy Sandefur, and Supreme Court advocate Alan Gura tell us what the âpursuit of happinessâ meant, how that promise has been enshrined in the Constitution, and how the Supreme Court has all but gutted it in one of the most despised decisions of all time: The Slaughterhouse Cases.
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A man rushing on horseback in the dead of night to break a deadlocked vote. A printerâŻfaced withâŻthe terrifying ramifications of printing an incendiary document. And beleaguered troopsâunderfed, underpaid, and on the verge of defeat.âŻ
In hindsight, the American Independence seems inevitable.âŻBut at the time, it was anything but. In the opening episode, Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Ellis, historian and biographer Richard Brookhiser, and Professor of American History Dermot Trainor describe the origins of the first great American dissent: The Declaration of Independence.
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In Dissent traces the founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence from the revolutionary moment of their birth to the courtrooms where theyâve been tested, twisted, and sometimes abandoned. Each episode pairs vivid historical storytellingâa man riding through the night to break a deadlocked vote, a printer setting type for a document that could get him hangedâwith landmark Supreme Court cases that reveal the distance between Americaâs founding promise and its legal reality.
