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Stanford Legal
30 episodes
America's Promissory Note
Ep 202 · Aug 11, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
The Declaration as a “promissory note”—and what it demands now In the final discussion of The Declaration at 250 series, Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, argues that the Declaration of Independence should be read in the Lincoln–King tradition: not as proof that the American project was completed in 1776, but as a promissory note that sets enduring standards for justice. He…
The Growing Influence of State Solicitors General
Ep 203 · Aug 6, 2026 · 29 min
Former state solicitors general Michael Mongan and Kevin Gallagher discuss the evolving role of state solicitors general and how states work together to shape legal battles before the Supreme Court. --- When states go to court, the battles are not always divided along party lines. State solicitors general often work across state lines to defend shared interests, coordinate legal strategy, and help shape cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In this episode, former California Solicitor General Mic…
Countering Contemporary Criticism of America's Founding Principles
Ep 201 · Aug 4, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
The real crisis isn’t the Declaration—it’s what we’ve stopped teaching. Peter Berkowitz, Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, contends that universities have failed at liberal education—the cultivation of citizens prepared to exercise freedom and responsibility. He attributes the breakdown to politicized classrooms, overreliance on narrow “scientistic” approaches in the social sciences, and a professional culture that trains future scholars instead of educating future ci…
The Declaration In the Age of General Purpose AI
Ep 199 · Jul 28, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
"The Declaration meets the machine age" In this episode of The Declaration at 250, Michael McConnell frames a question the Founders never confronted: if the Declaration grounds rights in human nature, what happens when machines can generate persuasive, human-like language at scale? Constitutional scholar Alexander Tsesis argues that the Declaration’s conception of rights is inherently human-centered—rooted in consciousness, moral agency, intentionality, and the capacity to participate in a const…
The Iran War and the Limits of Presidential Power
Ep 200 · Jul 23, 2026 · 29 min
Stanford’s Allen Weiner examines how the U.S. war with Iran raises questions about the president’s power to wage war and negotiate peace. --- The American war with Iran began with ambitious goals, including preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and potentially bringing about regime change. But the conflict may well be leading to a very different outcome, according to Stanford Law School's Allen Weiner, a scholar of international and human rights law and former State Department lawyer.…
Is the Declaration Our Law?
Ep 198 · Jul 21, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
“Two competing originalist instincts” In this episode of The Declaration at 250, Michael McConnell introduces Randy Barnett, the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and Faculty Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution alongside Eugene Volokh, the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford), and the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus (and Distinguished Research Professor) at UCLA School…
State Constitutions and the Declaration of Independence
Ep 196 · Jul 14, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
This episode highlights an often-missed story: the Declaration of Independence didn’t just shape the U.S. Constitution—it directly shaped state constitutions, many of which echo its natural-rights language more explicitly than the federal charter. Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick argues that reading state constitutional provisions through the Declaration can strengthen enforceable limits on government power. The conversation reframes the Declaration from anniversary rhetoric into a pra…
The Structural Declaration of Independence
Ep 195 · Jul 7, 2026 · 50 min
This episode reframes the Declaration of Independence as more than soaring ideals about equality and natural rights. Former California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino “Tino” Cuéllar argues the text contains an underappreciated architecture of government: accountability to citizens, managing political conflict across regions, and establishing legitimate authority both domestically and in the international order. The result is a Declaration that reads like a nation-building document desig…
Birthright Citizenship and the Future of the Fourteenth Amendment
Ep 197 · Jul 6, 2026 · 33 min
Stanford’s Fred Smith examines the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship decision, its historical roots in the Fourteenth Amendment, and the questions the Court leaves unresolved. --- The Fourteenth Amendment opens with a simple constitutional promise: that anyone born in the United States is a citizen. In a closely divided Supreme Court decision, that understanding of birthright citizenship is once again tested through competing readings of text, history, and precedent. In this episode of Stan…
Inside the Supreme Court’s Key 2026 Decisions
Ep 195 · Jul 2, 2026 · 36 min
Jeff Fisher discusses a term marked by major rulings across executive power, voting, and civil rights, and what they signal about the Court’s trajectory. --- The Supreme Court has wrapped up a consequential term, issuing decisions that could shape executive power, constitutional rights, and the balance between the branches of government for years to come. Rulings on birthright citizenship, independent federal agencies, voting rights, transgender athletes, and Fourth Amendment digital privacy all…
The Declaration of Independence as Obligation
Ep 194 · Jun 30, 2026 · 44 min
This episode of The Declaration at 250 discussion spotlights a striking—and often overlooked—line in the Declaration of Independence: when despotism becomes systematic, “it is their right, it is their duty” to throw off such government. Martha Minow probes why the text escalates from permission to obligation, arguing that the “duty” language radically reframes political resistance as a moral demand, not merely a justified option. The episode asks what that duty requires, who must act, and what i…
The Case for a Public Share in AI
Ep 193 · Jun 25, 2026 · 26 min
Jeremy Bearer-Friend and Sarah Polcz discuss their proposal to require leading AI firms to pay taxes in equity, reshaping how the gains from AI are distributed --- Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the economy, but two Stanford Law alumni argue that existing tax frameworks are failing to capture—or fairly distribute—the value it generates. Jeremy Bearer-Friend, JD '14, a professor at George Washington University Law School, and Sarah Polcz, JSM '12, JSD '20, a professor at UC Davis Sc…
The Declaration of Independence and Conditions for Democratic Flourishing
Ep 192 · Jun 23, 2026 · 52 min
In the opening episode of The Declaration at 250, Michael McConnell introduces former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and historian David Kennedy to ask a deceptively simple question: what does it actually take for democracy to work? Rice argues that the Declaration of Independence marks not the birth of democracy, but the end of tyranny—and that the real work begins afterward. Democracies flourish only when citizens build durable institutions: a workable balance of power among branches, an…
Declaration at 250 Trailer
Ep 191 · Jun 18, 2026 · 2 min
00:00:00 — What new can be said about the Declaration at 250? McConnell opens with the core question and frames 250 years of interpretation, celebration, and controversy. 00:00:58 — The big themes the series will test: democracy, critiques, duties, and constitutional influence A preview of the agenda: what makes democracies flourish, modern challenges to founding principles, rights versus duties, and the Declaration’s impact on state constitutions and government structure. 00:01:19 — The forward…
Inside the Trump Administration's Immigration Agenda
Ep 190 · Jun 11, 2026 · 33 min
Lucas Guttentag discusses the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the legal battles reshaping the U.S. immigration system --- The birthright citizenship case and immigration raids have drawn headlines and national attention, but Lucas Guttentag, who teaches immigration law at Stanford and Yale law schools, says some of the Trump administration’s most consequential immigration changes are unfolding with far less public scrutiny. Guttentag, one of the nation’s leading immigration law e…
The Law Must Be King
Ep 189 · May 28, 2026 · 56 min
Judge J. Michael Luttig on the Rule of Law in an Era of Executive Overreach --- In this special episode, recorded at the Neukom Center's Rule of Law Speaker Series, Judge J. Michael Luttig, former Fourth Circuit judge and ex-General Counsel of Boeing, discusses a looming constitutional crises facing the United States. Drawing on Lincoln, Paine, and Churchill, Judge Luttig argues that the Trump administration's actions represent not the exploitation of constitutional vulnerabilities, but unconsti…
When Government Lawyers Draw the Line
Ep 187 · May 14, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Former Justice Department officials reflect on an institution at a crossroads --- Former Department of Justice pardon attorney Liz Oyer describes being pulled out of a meeting, told to pack up her belongings, and walked out by security the same day. Her offense, she said, was refusing to recommend that the attorney general restore gun rights to a politically connected celebrity without the information she believed was necessary to make that judgment safely. “Once you compromise your integrity, y…
Voting Rights at a Turning Point
Ep 188 · May 7, 2026 · 35 min
Pamela Karlan and Nathaniel Persily on the Supreme Court’s latest decision on redistricting and minority representation. --- In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais, two of the nation’s leading election law scholars dissect a ruling that could soon reverberate through elections at every level of government. Nathaniel Persily joins Pam Karlan for a discussion about the Callais decision—what it means for racial representation, partisan gerrymandering, and anti-di…
Who Gets to Vote?
Ep 186 · Apr 30, 2026 · 34 min
The ACLU’s Sophia Lin Lakin discusses voting access and the redistricting battles shaping political power --- Sophia Lin Lakin, JD ’11 (MS ’04, BA ’02), director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, challenges the stated premises behind many current voting restrictions, including claims about widespread non-citizen voting. “If we’re worried about the integrity of our elections,” she tells Stanford Law professor and host Pam Karlan, “we should be worried about making sure that more people are par…
Native Nations, Federal Indian Law, and the Birthright Citizenship Case
Ep 185 · Apr 16, 2026 · 33 min
Stanford’s Greg Ablavsky on the history behind the birthright case --- The 14th Amendment to the Constitution says: “all persons born are naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” But on his first day back in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that changed that understanding. According to the President's executive order, going forward, the only people who will be U.S. c…
The Politics and Promise of a Billionaire Tax
Ep 184 · Apr 2, 2026 · 31 min
Stanford Law Alum Darien Shanske on Wealth, Fairness, and California’s Proposed Billionaire Tax --- On this episode of Stanford Legal, host Professor Richard Thompson Ford talks taxes with Darien Shanske, JD '06, a UC Davis law professor and visiting professor at Stanford Law, who helped draft California’s proposed Billionaire Tax Act, which supporters hope to place on the November 2026 ballot. Shanske explains why he believes critics have often attacked a distorted version of the proposal, not…
Trump's Immigration Raids and State Pushback
Ep 183 · Mar 19, 2026 · 36 min
Jennifer Chacón discusses how immigration crackdowns are reshaping policing and public life --- The Trump administration came in promising mass deportation. What has followed goes well beyond border control to matters of local policing, detention, federal power, and the limits of the law inside the United States. On this episode of Stanford Legal, co-host Professor Richard Thompson Ford talks with immigration expert Jennifer Chacón, the Bruce Tyson Mitchell Professor of Law, about the Trump admi…
Stanford’s Alan Sykes on the Future of Trump’s Tariffs After the IEEPA Case
Ep 182 · Mar 3, 2026 · 31 min
Supreme Court limits IEEPA tariff power in a 6–3 ruling as Al Sykes and Pam Karlan explain the impact on Congress, trade, and what’s next --- When President Trump declared a national emergency and imposed sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), businesses challenged the move, arguing the president did not have authority under that statute to impose tariffs. The Supreme Court recently agreed. On this episode of Stanford Legal, co-host Professor Pamela Karla…
A Seismic Shift in Climate Law
Ep 181 · Feb 24, 2026 · 31 min
Deborah Sivas on the EPA’s Rescission of the Endangerment Finding --- The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced it was rescinding the 2009 endangerment finding, the legal foundation for federal regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The administration has called the move the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. What does it actually do? And what happens next? On this episode of Stanford Legal, Professor Deborah Sivas, an expert in environmental law, joins co…
Inside the ACLU’s Docket: Anthony Romero on the Front Lines of Civil Rights
Ep 180 · Feb 19, 2026 · 35 min
The ACLU’s Anthony Romero unpacks a sweeping docket—from a Supreme Court showdown over birthright citizenship to voting rights and free speech—as the rule of law is tested. --- In a timely conversation about the ACLU’s massive docket of cases, Pam Karlan speaks with Anthony Romero, JD ’90, executive director of the ACLU, about the surge of civil rights and civil liberties battles facing the country right now. Romero discusses major pieces of litigation spanning immigration, free speech, voting r…
The Importance of Critical Thinking and Civil Discourse in Today's Polarized World
Ep 179 · Feb 5, 2026 · 32 min
Stanford’s Robert MacCoun shows how scientific habits can sharpen judgment and strengthen civil discourse in a polarized society. --- In a world where confidence is rewarded and humility can feel like a liability, Stanford Law professor Robert MacCoun argues for something radical: fewer unwavering opinions, more critical reflection, and a better way to disagree. On Stanford Legal, MacCoun joins co-hosts Pamela Karlan and Diego Zambrano for a conversation about how “habits of mind” borrowed from…
How Democracies Collapse from Within
Ep 178 · Jan 22, 2026 · 36 min
What happens when the legal tools meant to protect democracy are used to weaken it? Kim Scheppele explains. --- Professor Kim Scheppele has spent much of her career watching democracies rise and fall. She went to Hungary in the early 1990s expecting to study democratic optimism after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Instead, decades later, she found herself documenting how constitutional democracy can be dismantled from the inside out. That experience frames a wide-ranging conversation on the latest…
Flexing U.S. Power in Venezuela
Ep 177 · Jan 8, 2026 · 30 min
Stanford Law’s Allen Weiner explores developments in Venezuela and the role—and limits—of international law --- Can the United States arrest a foreign head of state by sending FBI agents—and military troops—into another country? On the latest episode of Stanford Legal, Professor Pam Karlan sits down with international law expert and Stanford Law lecturer Allen Weiner to discuss the recent extraction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Their wide-ranging conversation focuses on the uneasy space where…
Best of Stanford Legal: Trump's Pardons
Ep 154 · Dec 29, 2025 · 31 min
Political Violence, Hate Groups, and the Rule of Law --- What are the legal implications of the unprecedented mass pardoning of the January 6th rioters? What does it say about American rule of law? President Biden’s DOJ prosecuted nearly 1,600 of the January 6, 2021, rioters—many for acts of shocking violence against police and government offices. On January 20, newly sworn-in President Trump, in one of his first official acts, issued a sweeping grant of clemency to all of the rioters charged in…
Best of Stanford Legal: Suing DOGE
Ep 155 · Dec 22, 2025 · 29 min
Urgent legal questions about privacy protections of the nation’s largest collection of personal data and unprecedented influence of Silicon Valley in Washington --- A coalition of privacy defenders led by Lex Lumina and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit on February 11 asking a federal court to stop the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from disclosing millions of Americans’ private, sensitive information to Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).…
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