Episodes

  • Before the 14th: John Rock and the Birth of Birthright Citizenship | Episode 1

    Before the 14th: John Rock and the Birth of Birthright Citizenship | Episode 1
    Dec 4 2018
    Name just about any modern constitutional controversy—abortion, civil forfeiture, gun rights, immigration, etc.—and chances are that the Fourteenth Amendment is playing a big part. After all, if you are suing a state or local government under the federal constitution, you’re usually making a claim under the Fourteenth Amendment. But you can’t fully appreciate the Amendment’s modern significance without delving into its origins. In Episode One, we do just that, but by way of a story you’ve probably never heard before—through the story of a little known American hero named John Rock: It’s February 1, 1865. President Lincoln has just signed the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. But a crowd of reporters and onlookers have gathered instead at the Supreme Court to witness John Rock, a Boston attorney, sworn in to the Supreme Court bar. The moment was as dramatic and historic as they come; John Rock was the first African-American admitted to argue cases before the Court, and he was sworn in before some of the very same justices who had ruled just a few years earlier in Dred Scott that blacks could never be citizens. Click here for transcript. Click for iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • The Fight for the 14th | Episode 2

    The Fight for the 14th | Episode 2
    Dec 19 2018
    At the close of the Civil War, some 4 million slaves became free. But almost immediately after hostilities ceased, leaders in the ex-Confederate states began to impose a series of laws, the Black Codes, that re-instituted slavery in all but name. Just as swiftly, a wave of terrorist violence swept across the South, targeting blacks seeking education, economic independence, and a voice in civic and political life—and also whites with Union sympathies. In Washington, D.C., Republican leaders grappled with another problem: When the Southern states rejoined the Union, they would do so with more political power than they'd enjoyed prior to secession—the consequence of each African-American now counting as five-fifths, rather than three-fifths, of a person. On Episode Two of Bound By Oath, the fight for the 14th Amendment, which nearly plunged the country into war, again. Click here for transcript. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • All But Redacted: The Privileges or Immunities Clause | Episode 3

    All But Redacted: The Privileges or Immunities Clause | Episode 3
    Jan 30 2019
    [Click here for Episode 1. And click here for Episode 2.] The Privileges or Immunities Clause was meant to be one of the key liberty-protecting provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Clause says: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” That sounds like a big deal, right? It’s not. The Clause has been virtually read out of the Constitution, and for people trying to vindicate their civil rights in court, it’s been of little practical use. That story—the near redaction of the Clause—begins with the Slaughterhouse Cases, which the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1873. On Episode Three of Bound By Oath: What rights were the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment seeking to protect through the Privileges or Immunities Clause? And what happened to the Clause? Click here for transcript. Click for iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    51 mins
  • The Navigable Waters | Episode 4

    The Navigable Waters | Episode 4
    Feb 20 2019
    [Click here for Episode 1.] In 1873, the Supreme Court said that the Privileges or Immunities Clause protects a right to “use the navigable waters of the United States”—and not much else. But in the nearly 150 years since, the Court has never examined what the right to use the navigable waters means in practice. On this episode: a pair of brothers from Stehekin, Washington, try to change that. Click here for transcript. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    40 mins
  • Tangled: The Equal Protection Clause | Episode 5

    Tangled: The Equal Protection Clause | Episode 5
    Apr 17 2019
    After the Civil War, what many Americans needed most was protection from violence. That’s what the Equal Protection Clause was meant to guarantee, but today the Clause does entirely different work. On this episode: a tour of the history and meaning of the Clause and how African-style hair braiders use it today to protect their right to earn an honest living. [Click here for Episode 1.] Click here for transcript. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Procedural Due Process | Episode 6

    Procedural Due Process | Episode 6
    Jul 5 2019
    Before the government can take away your life, liberty, or property, it must first give you due process: fair and meaningful procedure. On this episode, we trace the history of due process from 1215 to today. And we head to Harris County, Texas, which operates the the third-largest jail in the country, to see why federal courts say its system of money bail violated that ancient guarantee. [Click here for Episode 1.] Click for transcript. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Incorporation, the Lack Thereof | Episode 7

    Incorporation, the Lack Thereof | Episode 7
    Aug 23 2019
    In 1842, the city of New Orleans prosecuted Father Bernard Permoli, a Catholic priest, for conducting an open casket funeral. A violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment? The Supreme Court said no: The protections in the Bill of Rights did not bind state and local governments. Then in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, and it incorporated the Bill of Rights against the states–or did it? On this episode, the failure of incorporation after Reconstruction. Click here for transcript. Click here for Episode 1. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    40 mins
  • Substantive Due Process | Episode 8

    Substantive Due Process | Episode 8
    Nov 15 2019
    If the government is going to take away life, liberty, or property, the due process of law requires it to follow fair procedures. But, according to the Supreme Court, that’s not all that due process requires. The government also must have a good reason to take life, liberty, or property. On this episode, we head to Akron, Ohio where city officials have shut down a privately run homeless community—without a good reason. Click here for transcript. Click here for Episode 1. Click for iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
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    1 hr and 5 mins