Shows
Is That Even Constitutional?Can the Constitution Survive President Trump?On Truth Social, President Trump’s social media outlet, Trump posted a picture of himself in a crown saying “Long live the king.” Trump, however, will have a hard time subverting the Constitution. The key to consolidating power in authoritarian regimes is to use supermajorities to change the Constitution. President Trump's popularity is at historic lows, and power in our Constitution is more decentralized than in any other country. This podcast will discuss this, and will also consider what can be done to restore our constitutional order.2025-08-1327 minIs That Even Constitutional?Can President Trump Steal the Power of the Purse?In 2016, Donald Trump said "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters" In 2025, Donald Trump illegally took billions of dollars of research grants away from Harvard University. I guess we can't say we weren't warned. This podcast explores how the power to control funding, which is called the power of the purse, belongs to Congress, not the President.2025-08-0534 minIs That Even Constitutional?Can President Trump Fire Federal Workers?In this podcast, we interview Elizabeth Aniskevich, a litigator and a former federal employee at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Earlier this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated all probationary employees. When this was stopped by the courts, the agency eliminated 1,400 of the 1,700 jobs at the agency. We will discuss what it was like to be at the agency when it was targeted by the Trump administration and how the employees are fighting back.2025-07-2934 minIs That Even Constitutional?Can President Trump Fire the Fed Chair?Can President Trump fire Jerome Powell, the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board? When bankers run central banks, economies are stable. When politicians run central banks, economies blow up. The Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and Jerome Powell can only be fired for cause. But the Supreme Court has made it clear that it doesn’t like independent agencies. What is likely to happen?2025-07-1737 minIs That Even Constitutional?Fast Take: The Supreme Court and Firing Federal WorkersOn July 8, the Supreme Court lifted a district court order which barred the Trump administration from eliminating thousands of jobs across the federal government. Though an important case, this isn’t the end of litigation over those firings. However, those seeking to oppose these RIFs (Reductions in Force) will now need to challenge them in a more piecemeal fashion, making such litigation more challenging and expensive. 2025-07-1007 minIs That Even Constitutional?Presidential Power and the Unitary Executive TheoryFirst raised in the 1980s, the Unitary Executive Theory argues that the President should be allowed to fire the officials of all agencies, even if the positions are protected by Congress. President Trump’s administration has extended this theory beyond recognition to argue that agencies can refuse to spend money authorized by Congress, fire federal workers without following legal guidelines, and eliminate certain federal agencies completely. Dozens of cases are ongoing that will decide just how far the power of the Executive Branch can go.2025-07-0836 minIs That Even Constitutional?Fast Take: What’s Going on With Birthright Citizenship and Universal Injunctions??In Trump v. Casa, the Supreme Court held that injunctions cannot be used to prohibit the Executive Branch from taking legal actions against persons or states not before the Court. In this case, that meant that persons in the 38 states that did not join the lawsuit wishing to claim U.S. citizenship based on their birth in the U.S. must bring their own legal case. This ban on universal injunctions will also affect dozens of other cases against the Trump administration. 2025-06-2812 minIs That Even Constitutional?How the Supreme Court Interprets the ConstitutionThe Supreme Court will be an important factor in determining how much of the Trump agenda will be implemented. But how does the Supreme Court decide difficult cases? There are many theories of constitutional interpretation, some of which are more disruptive to established case law than others. This episode will explore the many ways the Court will consider the unprecedented constitutional issues being presented by the actions of the Trump administration.2025-06-2435 minIs That Even Constitutional?Fast Take: Were the Iran Strikes Constitutional?On June 22, 2025, President Trump initiated the most significant U.S. military strike on Iranian soil since 1979, hitting nuclear sites in support of Israeli military operations. Democrats protested that this attack was unconstitutional as it was done without authorization by Congress. Does the Constitution provide the President the unilateral authority to initiate military operations? 2025-06-2307 minIs That Even Constitutional?Can DEI Be Saved?DEI is many things to many people. So, when President Trump issued Executive Orders targeting the practice, it's implementation was chaotic, unpredictable, and ripe for legal challenge. This podcast explores the history of DEI and the Trump admimistrations multi-pronged attack on it. 2025-06-1841 minIs That Even Constitutional?Are We in a Constitutional Crisis?Today we are talking about the Venezuelan immigrants that the President sent to prison in El Salvador in early March. The court order that was supposted tp stop them didn't. So today we will be discussing what happened there, a little bit about what checks and balances mean, and whether we are in a constitutional crisis.2025-06-0545 minIs That Even Constitutional?What is an Executive Order?Sadena asks Ken: what powers does the Constitution give to the President and where do executive orders fall within it? What happens if someone does not follow an executive order? 2025-04-2434 min