You probably associate the so-called "War on Drugs" with the Reagans. Or maybe, more correctly, with the Nixon administration. But the government's anti-drug policies started decades before that.

And, as we discuss in this week's episode, those policies were often motivated by things other than public health and safety. Instead, they targeted - and continue to target - immigrants and communities of color.

This episode digs into the history of America's War on Drugs, featuring guests Jason Ruiz and Yasser Arafat Payne.

There's a complaint we get pretty often around here, that our tagline contains the word "democracy," but the United States is *actually* a republic. So...do we need to make a change? We dig into that question and a whole lot more on this episode.

The Electoral College was created as a bulwark, a barrier between the people and the vote for the president. The founders feared giving people too much power so they created a system that put a check on the people's vote by "men of virtue" (and they were all men at the time). It is because of the Electoral College that a person can win the presidency even if they lose the popular vote — but how does it work, exactly?

This podcast explains one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions in modern history; the case that defined campaign donations as speech and therefore protected under the First Amendment, regardless of who made them. This episode explains the history of the case, PACs, Super PACs, the ruling, the effect of the decision on our campaign system, as well as some common misconceptions.

Our guides through the case are Professor Jeff Bone from Saint Joseph's University, Maggie Severns from Grid, and Professor Hye Young You from New York University.

Five cases, eleven advocates, and a quarter century of work; Brown v Board of Education of Topeka addressed this question: does racial segregation in schools violate the 14th amendment?

Walking us through the long journey to overturn Plessy v Ferguson are Chief Judge Roger Gregory and Dr. Yohuru Williams. They tell us how the case got to court, what Thurgood Marshall and John W. Davis argued, and how America does and does not live up to the promise of this monumental decision.

There is a graphic organizer for students to fill out while listening to the episode

Mildred and Richard Loving were jailed and banished for marrying in 1958. Nearly a decade later, their Supreme Court case changed the meaning of marriage equality in the United States — decriminalizing their own marriage while they were at it. This is the story of Loving.

Our guests are Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui of the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. and Farrah Parkes and Brad Linder of The Loving Project.

There is a graphic organizer, which is located on the website, for students to fill out while listening to the episode

It’s one of the most recent landmark case in our Civil Rights SCOTUS series, the decision that said the fundamental right to marry is protected under the 14th Amendment. How did it come about? What was the status of marriage before June of 2015? And why is the government so involved in the marriage business anyways?

This episode features the voices of Melissa Wasser from the Project on Government Oversight and Jim Obergefell, the named party in Obergefell v Hodges.

There is a graphic organizer, which is located on the podcast webpage, for students to fill out while listening to the episode.

Be it suspicion of voter fraud, fear of hackers or the general belief that something is amiss, legislators across the country have passed election laws designed to make our elections more secure. Those very same laws are widely criticized for making voting less accessible, especially to certain voting groups. So how insecure are our elections? What do election security laws really do? What is the best way to feel better about the state of elections in this country?

Our guests are Jessica Huseman, Editorial Director of Votebeat and Justin Levitt, constitutional law professor and newly appointed White House Senior Policy Advisor for Democracy and Voting Rights.

The 2020 census has concluded, which means it's time for states to redraw their congressional districts. Today we're exploring partisan gerrymandering, the act of drawing those maps to benefit one party over the other. In this episode you'll learn about stacking, cracking, packing, and many other ways politicians choose voters (instead of the other way round).

Taking us through the story of Gerry's salamander and beyond are professors Justin Levitt, Robin Best, and Nancy Miller.

A podcast broken down into multiple parts about how a bill really becomes a law. Includes a graphic organizer for teachers to assign while listening.

Despite the fact that they were written in the late 19th century, morality laws were still on the books in the United States in 1965. In Connecticut, one such law prohibited the discussion, prescription and distribution of contraception. After years of trying to get the courts to scrub this law from the books, medical providers had to find a way to get the question before the highest court in the land. It wouldn’t be easy, but in the end the case would transform our notion of privacy and the role of the Supreme Court when it comes to public law.

Renee Cramer of Drake University and Elizabeth Lane of Louisiana State are our guides.

In 1957, three police officers showed up at the home of Dollree Mapp and demanded to be let in. They had no warrant. Ms. Mapp refused. This landmark case about privacy and unlawful search and seizure defines our protections under the 4th Amendment today.

This episode features Vince Warren, Executive Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Boston University Law professor Tracey Maclin.

On May 2nd, 2022, Politico published a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion. A leak of this kind is unprecedented, but it is the subject of the opinion that shook the nation. In it Justice Samuel Alito, speaking for the majority, writes that the landmark 1973 abortion rights case Roe v Wade must be overruled. So what exactly is at stake here? This is the story of Roe v Wade and the state of abortion rights in the United States. The state of federal abortions rights as of May 2022, that is. The opinion is slated to be published in late June.

Since 1935, the Senate has had a parliamentarian. Their job is to decide, in a truly nonpartisan way, how things operate in the chamber. Their power to decide what can and cannot be done when it comes to legislation, filibustering, motions, and points of order has grown ever since.

Today, learn about this complicated and often-unseen role from Sarah Binder, professor at George Washington University, and a person who spent over thirty years in the office, former Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin.

The blocking of a majority-Black congressional district in Alabama. OSHA regulations requiring vaccinations or a negative COVID test result. A law in Texas banning abortions after six weeks. All of these controversial issues were decided not through the tried-and-true method of a hearing in the Supreme Court, but rather through a system called "the shadow docket," orders from the court that are (often) unsigned, inscrutable, and handed down in the middle of the night. Professor Stephen Vladeck takes us through this increasingly common phenomenon.

Supreme Court justices are supposed to keep themselves removed from political bias or influence. But who makes sure they're actually doing that?

Recently, news about Justice Clarence Thomas's decades-long friendship with a wealthy Republican megadonor, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts and generosity he's received from that friendship, has led to increased scrutiny into whether Supreme Court justices are as unbiased and uninfluenced as they claim. It's also revealed how, unlike most other federal officials, we rely on the good faith of the justices to hold themselves accountable.

Helping us untangle this is Tonja Jacobi, professor of law and the Sam Nunn chair in Ethics and Professionalism at Emory University School of Law.

The United States Constitution gets a lot of credit for being the first of its kind. The progenitor of democratic constitution making. The spark that started a global fire. Is that the long and short of it, or is there more to the story?

Linda Colley, author of The Gun, The Ship and the Pen, weaves a longer, more complex narrative in this episode. We explore why constitutions (governmental limits, citizens rights and all) became necessary and who put pen to paper before 1787.

Today we learn about the 27 words that have been interpreted and reinterpreted by historians, activists, judges, and philosophers. What did the 2nd Amendment mean when it was written? What does it mean right now? And what happened in between?

Today's episode features Saul Cornell, professor of history at Fordham University and author of A Well Regulated Militia, Alexandra Filindra, professor of political science at University of Illinois Chicago and author of the upcoming Race, Rights, and Rifles, and Jake Charles, lecturing fellow and executive director of the Center for Firearms Law at Duke Law.

90% of proposed bills die in committee. What happens in there??

Today's episode consists of two parts. First, the Schoolhouse Rock definition of congressional committees (what they do and why we have them) and second, an exploration of money, power, lobbying, and a secret point system for deciding who gets to be on one. This episode features the voices of Dan Cassino, Professor of Political Science at Farleigh Dickinson University and Leah Rosenstiel, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University.