Constitutional
18 EpisodesProduced by The Washington Post
With the writing of the Constitution in 1787, the framers set out a young nation’s highest ideals. And ever since, we’ve been fighting over it — what is in it and what was left out. At the heart of these arguments is the story of America. As a follow-up to the popular Washington Post podcast “Presi… read more
All Episodes
Ourselves and our posterity
February 12th, 2018
56:04
In the "Constitutional" finale, we address listener questions about the history--and future--of the nation's governing document.
The First Amendment
January 29th, 2018
53:31
Why do First Amendment rights trump nearly every other right in America? Thank Jehovah's Witnesses.
Privacy
January 15th, 2018
46:40
How should the Constitution's privacy protections be translated for a new era? This is a question before the Supreme Court today, but it was also a …
Prohibition
January 1st, 2018
54:38
The passage and then repeal of the 18th Amendment, banning alcohol in America, highlighted the pitfalls of trying to legislate against vice.
Taxes
December 18th, 2017
43:41
Congress today faces the same question it faced a century ago when creating the modern tax system: What kind of society should America be?
The common defense
December 4th, 2017
50:57
One intention the framers had when creating the U.S. Constitution was to “provide for the common defense.” But who shoulders that duty has not always …
War
November 20th, 2017
42:44
What was the original point of the Second Amendment? We examine its colonial and revolutionary roots—plus its quiet companion, the Third …
Love
November 6th, 2017
40:08
The words "marriage" and "love" appear nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. Yet 50 years ago, the Supreme Court issued a decision that would embed those …
Fair punishment
October 23rd, 2017
52:28
"There is so much feeling of racial injustice around the issue of punishment. And you have to understand that those feelings have a history -- and that history is Parchman Farm."
Fair trials
October 9th, 2017
47:59
In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that states must offer a defense attorney to all poor people accused of crimes. The decision …
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