Amarica's Constitution

Updated: 09 Jul 2025 • 234 episodes
akhilamar.com/podcast-2

Professor Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and one of the nation's leading authorities on the Constitution, offers weekly in-depth discussions on the most urgent and fascinating constitutional issues of our day. He is joined by co-host Andy Lipka and guests drawn from other top experts including Bob Woodward, Nina Totenberg, Neal Katyal, Lawrence Lessig, Michael Gerhardt, and many more.

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09 Jul 2025 • EN

Speaking the Law

The Birthright Citizenship case reached the Supreme Court - sort of.  The Court ruled on the executive branch’s request for a stay in response to nationwide injunctions issued by three different circuit courts, where the executive order purporting to alter more than a century’s practice regarding the Constitution’s gua

86 min
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01:26:25
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The end of the term arrives, and the Court is busy.  We begin our dive into  the cases with Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case involving inclusive books in a school, parental guidance of religious education, opt-outs, advance notification, and issues of gender and sexual education.  Professor Amar goes beyond the case with an o

92 min
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01:32:18
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26 Jun 2025 • EN

Imbalance of Power

The US enters a violent part of the world once again, as Iran’s nuclear facilities are bombed.  The President orders this without consulting Congress; indeed without asking for, much less receiving a declaration of war.  Does the Constitution require this?  What has past practice been?  What was true at the founding? 

90 min
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01:30:21
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Former Justice Breyer returns to Amarica’s Constitution with reflections on his long-time colleague and, yes, his friend, in a rare opportunity to hear about relationships on the Court.  Meanwhile, former Souter clerk and current Professor at Penn Carey Law School, Kermit Roosevelt, looks back on the clerkship as well

105 min
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01:45:06
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11 Jun 2025 • EN

Count to Ten

The Supreme Court left lower courts somewhat in the lurch in its recent Bruen decision; last year, in Rahimi, it attempted to clarify matters.  Now an assault weapons case reaches the Court, Snope v. Brown, but the Court declines to hear it.  Nevertheless, Justice Kavanaugh, though agreeing with the denial of cert, wri

84 min
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01:24:38
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Trump says he will no longer take advice from the Federalist Society, and Leonard Leo in particular, for judicial nominations.  The criteria he will use instead appear to be cause for great concern, and we discuss this. Meanwhile, the Senate is poised to bypass the filibuster for more than judicial nominations, which c

111 min
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01:51:49
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