Tag Archives: Courts

In 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion. But previously the Court had allowed restrictions on abortions, making access quite challenging in a large part of the country. In response to these restrictions, women had gained access through prescription drugs, or what is called medication abortion. This involves two prescription drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. Last week, a federal court issued an order disallowing mifepristone to be prescribed via telehealth and then distributed by mail. As we record today, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on this federal court order. So on today’s show, we take account to the status of access to medication abortion and what it means both for reproductive rights and health and for the law on this issue. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Rachel Rebouché is Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Abortion Rights as Human Rights and co-author of The New Abortion Battleground and Abortion Pills (with David S. Cohen and Greer Donley).
Carole Joffe is Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the author of Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe v. Wade and the co-author of After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court ended Roe but not Abortion with David Cohen.
Natalie Fixmer-Oriaz, F Wendell Miller Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Gender, Woman’s the Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. She is author of Homeland Maternity: US Security Culture and the New Reproductive Regime (2019) and Doing Gender Justice: Queering Reproduction, Kin, and Care (2025; with Shui-yin Sharon Yam).

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Health, Medicine, Reproductive Health, Courts, Feminism, Mothers

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Why SCOTUS Ruined the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – May 10, 2026

May 11, 2026 host

The Voting Rights Act, or VRA, is viewed as the most important piece of legislation advancing civil rights in the 1960s. Passed in 1965, it was intended to redress the dis-empowerment of African Americans whose voting rights had been restricted due to several states legislation, ranging from poll taxes to literacy tests and other restrictions on voting. Throughout the Roberts Court, the VRA has been restricted and its protections stripped away. In 2026, perhaps the last of these provisions have been overturned, in a decision in the case Louisiana v Callais. On todays show, we will explore this decision and the impact it has on drawing Congressional districts, in an era of particularly aggressive gerrymandering. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Eric J. Segall, Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law and the Executive Director of Emmet J. Bondurant Center for Constitutional Law, Practice and Democracy at Georgia State University. He is the author of Originalism as Faith and Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court Is Not a Court and Its Justices Are Not Judges.
Seth C. McKee is a Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma State University. He is the author of The Dynamics of Southern Politics: Causes and Consequences and coauthor of Rural Republican Realignment in the Modern South: The Untold Story with MV Hood.
Christian Grose is a Professor of Political Science & Public Policy and the Academic Director of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Independent Redistricting Commissions Increase Voter Perceptions of Fairness and co-author of Local Election Administrators in the United States: The Frontline of Democracy.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Politics and Activism, Elections, Redistricting, Voting Rights, Congress, Courts, Democrats, Republicans

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Birthright Citizenship, its Historic Roots in Immigration, Slavery, & Indigenous Peoples – April 26, 2026

April 26, 2026 host

As the US Supreme Court deliberates over the future of birthright citizenship, we explore its historic roots in light of immigration, slavery, and indigenous peoples. How do contemporary ideas of birthright citizenship fit with those of the past? How might these ideas influence the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Book cover - Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship by author Anna Law.

Anna Law holds the Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She is the author of The Immigration Battle in American Courts and Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants.
Julie Novkov is the Dean of the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy and Professor of Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University at Albany. She is the author of Donald Trump, Constitutional Failure, and the Guardrails of Democracy and co-author of American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship.
Gabriel “Jack” Chin is Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Legal Education at UC Davies School of Law. The U.S. Supreme Court has cited his work in two cases: Chaidez v. United States and Padilla v. Kentucky. And Justice Sotomyer has cited his law article in Utah v. Strieff. He is the co-author of Birthright Citizenship, Slave Trade Legislation, and the Origins of Federal Immigration Regulation and author of A Nation of White Immigrants: State and Federal Racial Preferences for White Noncitizens.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Courts, Immigration, Birthright

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – US Attorney General Pam Bondi Legacy; Prosecuting Presidents for Crimes – April 19, 2026

April 20, 2026 host

The Department of Justice has historically been largely independent from the White House, despite the fact that the Attorney General is appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. However, Donald Trump’s DOJ has been different. Recently fired AG Pam Bondi sought to prosecute the President’s political opponents and the Department has gone to great lengths to protect the President amid the revelations of the Epstein Files. On today’s show, we will discuss the legacy of Pam Bondi as Attorney General and what this means for the future of the Justice Department. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. He is the editor of Is Democracy Doomed? and Lethal Injection and the False Promise of Humane Execution and Pam Bondi’s extreme political loyalty to Trump wasn’t enough to save her job, in The Conversation.

The criminal indictments of President Trump have created an unprecedented political crisis. Historically, U.S. presidents have not faced criminal charges—even in cases where guilt appeared likely—due in part to longstanding institutional norms surrounding the presidency. Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon embodies this norm.

What can the U.S. learn from other countries that have prosecuted former presidents? What can we learn from past prosecutions of political figures in American history? Is the prosecution of former heads of state simply the weaponization of justice mechanisms? How common is this political charge? [ dur: 30mins. ]. This is a portion of our hour long discussion originally posted in August, 2023. Link to full interview.

Jeremi Suri is Professor in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office and his latest book Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight For Democracy. He hosts the podcast This is Democracy.
Tom Ginsburg is Leo Spitz Professor of International Law and Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of the books The Endurance of National Constitutions, Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes, and co-author of the paper The Comparative Constitutional Law of Presidential Impeachment.
Ezequiel González Ocantos is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Shifting Legal Visions: Judicial Change and Human Rights Trials in Latin America, The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America: Power, Norms and Capability Building, and co-author of Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America (w/ Paula Muñoz, Nara Pavao & Viviana Baraybar).

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Anna Lapin and Sudd Dongre.

Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Congress, Courts

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v Oklahoma – November 30, 2025

November 29, 2025 host

In 2020, the Supreme Court surprised many observers by holding up the rights of the Muscogee (Creek) nation. In McGirt v Oklahoma, the Court held that the Creek Nation retained its sovereign rights over a very large part of Eastern Oklahoma. The decision began with a poetic line: “At the end of the Trail of Tears is a promise.” The case raises further interest in issues of Indian law, which includes a very important case on the docket this year on the issue of the adoption of Indian children without the consent of the tribe.

bookcover - shows bust of an American Indian with book title

Robert Miller and Robbie Ethridge have written a new book on the McGirt case, on the history of the Muscogee nation’s relations with the United States, and the details of the case itself. And the title of the book references that first line of the decision. It is called A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v Oklahoma. Our guests are the authors of the book. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Robert J. Miller is Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is the author of Reservation “Capitalism”: Economic Development in Indian Country and Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny.
Robbie Ethridge is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of From Chicaza to Chickasaw: The European Invasion and the Transformation of the Mississippian World, 1540–1715 and Creek Country: The Creek Indians and Their World, 1796–1816.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

Politics and Activism, Governance / Law, Courts, indigenous rights

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Supreme Court decisions: Federal Injunctions and Religious belief exemption from public school curriculum – July 6, 2025

July 18, 2025 host

The US Supreme Court has decided numerous cases and announced their opinions in the past week. On today’s show we explore two cases.

The Court declared an end to national injunctions in a case involving birthright citizenship. [ dur: 28mins. ]

Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. His many publications include, most recently, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights, and The Religion Clauses: The Case for Separating Church and State (with Howard Gillman).

Parents can remove their children from any class they deem in opposition to their religious beliefs. [ dur: 30mins. ]

Caroline Mala Corbin is Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. She is the author of Regulating LGBTQ Speech in the Classroom and New Judicial Federalism and the Establishment Clause: Classroom Ten Commandments as a Case Study in State Constitutional Protection

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Maria Armoudian, Ankine Aghassian, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Alien Enemy’s Act invoked to deport people from US without due process on civil charges – April 6, 2025

April 7, 2025 host

The Trump Administration is using the Alien Enemies Act to seize Venezuelans and ship them to a notorious prison El Salvador without due process. What can be done to protect and uphold the rule of law and human rights in the face of the Trump Administration’s rejection of them? What are some means of legal and political resistance when human rights are being violated? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Jennifer Selin is Associate Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. She’s written numerous articles, and in particular, Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador sparks light Legal questions likely to reach the Supreme Court.
Victor Narro is Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center and Core Faculty for the UCLA Department of Labor Studies. He teaches immigration law and is author of The Activist Spirit – Toward a Radical Solidarity and No One Size Fits All: Worker Organization, Policy, and Movement in a New Economic Age (Cornell University Press, 2018) and others.
Andrea Pitzer is an author and podcaster. She’s written One Long Night, a global history of concentration camps. This traces the idea of mass civilian detention without trial from its beginnings through Auschwitz and beyond, including up to today. She’s also the host of the podcast, Next Comes What.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Title IX history and compliance struggle for women’s equality in higher education – March 9, 2025

March 10, 2025 host

Title IX, the landmark legislation on women’s equality in higher education, was passed to equalize funding between men’s and women’s athletics. What has it achieved? Where does it fall short?

When some schools failed to implement Title IX for athletics, activists sued. We look at the landmark cases and what they have achieved. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Lisa S. Kaplowitz is Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Finance and Economics department at Rutgers Business School. She is co-founder and Executive Director of the Rutgers Center for Women in Business. She is the author of the opinion article Title IX increased opportunities for women athletes, but there’s still work to do and Thought Leadership: How men can advance gender equity at work.
Bonnie J. Morris, Lecturer, Department of History at University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Feminist Revolution, the award winning Women’s History for Beginners and What’s the Score? 25 years of Teaching Women’s Sports History.
Nancy Hogshead-Makar is the CEO and Founder of Champion Women. She is the co-author of Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change, with Andrew Zimbalist, and author of Pregnant and Parenting Student-Athletes: Resources and Model Policies and won three Gold medals and one Silver medal at the 1984 Olympics.

Link to report on Title IX compliance by Champion Women Advocacy: https://titleixschools.com/

This interview was recorded March 2024.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Trump’s violations of US Constitution – March 2, 2025

March 2, 2025 host

Is the US in a Constitutional crisis? Is the constitution itself a crisis? What are the specific actions of the Trump Administration that has led to this? How will the courts respond? And what is the unitary executive theory and how has it undermined the checks and balances of the system? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Heidi Kitrosser is Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She is the author of the book, Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution, and the articles, The Shadow of Executive Privilege, and Accountability in the Deep State.
Sanford Levinson is W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. He is the author of many publications including Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance and, with Cynthia Levinson, Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Deep State, Public Services in a democracy – February 16, 2025

February 16, 2025 host

The Trump Administration is actively seeking to destroy the public service and the protections offered by government. What does this mean for the future of the democracy and for the future of the country? Who will will stand up for public services that we’ve long come to rely on for public safety, clean water, air, health and financial protections? What is the role of the courts in preventing Trump’s complete takeover of the government. Can the courts slow down the the destruction of the public service? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Mark Tushnet is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School. He’s the author of The Pasts and Futures of the Administrative State And Trust the science, do your research. Comment on the unfortunate revival of the progressive case for the administrative state.
Stephen Skowronek is Pelatiah Perit Professor of Political Science and Professor in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. His publications include, The Policy State: An American Predicament, The Search for American Political Development and co-author of the book Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and the Unitary Executive
John A. Dearborn is a Assistant Professor of Political Science and Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Dean’s Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Power Shifts: Congress and Presidential Representation and co-author of the Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and the Unitary Executive.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Courts

Scholars’ Circle – SCOTUS Allows Access to Medication Abortion Pill Delivery by Mail – May 17, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – Why SCOTUS Ruined the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – May 10, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – Birthright Citizenship, its Historic Roots in Immigration, Slavery, & Indigenous Peoples – April 26, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – US Attorney General Pam Bondi Legacy; Prosecuting Presidents for Crimes – April 19, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v Oklahoma – November 30, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Supreme Court decisions: Federal Injunctions and Religious belief exemption from public school curriculum – July 6, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Alien Enemy’s Act invoked to deport people from US without due process on civil charges – April 6, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Title IX history and compliance struggle for women’s equality in higher education – March 9, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Trump’s violations of US Constitution – March 2, 2025

Scholars’ Circle – Deep State, Public Services in a democracy – February 16, 2025

By Maria Armoudian