Who Gets To Be a Citizen?
The Supreme Court narrowly upheld birthright citizenship in the 5-4 decision of Trump v. Barbara. But the debate over who is granted citizenship — and who can be stripped of it — is far from over.
Cracking and Packing
Gerrymandering has long been part of American politics. But as the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, states are getting more extreme with their redistricting.
What Is a War?
The Trump administration’s attacks on Venezuelan boats defy even the broadest interpretation of the president's war powers.
Smoot, Hawley, and Trump
A Senate fight over Lady Chatterley’s Lover paved the way for Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Now the Supreme Court will decide if presidents can use emergency powers to sidestep Congress on trade.
Bad Faith President
The United States generally does not allow a standing army to be used against civilians. But Trump has been exploiting an exception to keep troops in Los Angeles to protect ICE agents, with terrifying implications.
About
Professor 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 and legislative 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.
About the Hosts
Elizabeth Joh
Elizabeth Joh is a law professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, where she teaches constitutional law and criminal procedure (that’s constitutional law, too). She’s written widely on law and emerging technologies, and has provided commentary for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Slate.
Roman Mars
Roman Mars is the host and creator of 99% Invisible, a long running podcast about design, architecture, and other sundry topics. The show won the Webby Award for Best Podcast in 2016 and Mars won the Webby Award for Best Host in 2017. Fast Company named him one of the 100 Most Creative People in 2013. He was a TED main stage speaker in 2015. It is currently the most popular TED Talk about design with over 6.5 million views. 99% Invisible was part of the first cohort of podcasts to be archived in the Library of Congress.