Civics 101

By NHPR

How do landmark Supreme Court decisions affect our lives? What does the 2nd Amendment really say? Why does the Senate have so much power? Civics 101 is the podcast about how our democracy works…or is ... more

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FAQs about Civics 101:

How many episodes does Civics 101 have?

The podcast currently has 449 episodes available.

Civics 101 episodes:

March 04, 2025Who's running the country? (Part 2)
Meet your president's Cabinet! Who was appointed, by what margin, and a look at the backgrounds of the people filling these critical roles.
In other words, who is running our country? Let's find out.
This is the second part of a two-part episode.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
24min
March 04, 2025Who's running the country? (Part 1)
Meet your president's Cabinet. Who was appointed, by what margin, and a look at the backgrounds of the people filling these critical roles.
In other words, who is running our country? Let's find out.
This is the first part of a two-part episode.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
27min
February 25, 2025A midwife's early American story
Ariel Lawhon discusses the real-life early American midwife at the center of her novel The Frozen River.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
39min
February 25, 2025NY Times v Sullivan: What if the press couldn’t tell the truth?
When it comes to the protection of a free and fair press, there is one landmark Supreme Court case that sits at the top, and it is New York Times Company v Sullivan (1964).
This case redefined libel in the United States and is cited in almost every defamation suit since, but its origin is in the Civil Rights Movement, when newspapers were sued to the brink of collapse for covering protests in the south.
Taking us through libel, defamation, and "actual malice" are Ang Reidell, Director of Outreach and Curriculum at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and Samantha Barbas, professor at the Iowa College of Law and author of Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in New York Times v. Sullivan.
Click here to watch a fantastic documentary from Annenberg on the case.
Quick note to teachers! Our guests are collaborating today! The first fifty teachers who join the Civics Renewal Network will receive a free copy of Samantha Barbas's book, click here to sign up and get yours today!
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
24min
February 18, 2025All The President's Lawyers
Have you ever wondered with the White House counsel does? Who it is? Whether that person is the president’s personal lawyer…or something else? And what about the Justice Department? Where do all those legal types fit in?
Our guest is political science professor Nancy Kassop. She’s an expert on many things, but her extensive experience interviewing White House counsels helped us dig deep on this topic. We also dive into the legal norms and traditions that are being strained under the Trump administration.
Civics 101 is hosted by Hannah McCarty and Nick Capodice. Christina Phillips produced and anchored this episode.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
51min
February 11, 2025What is a Constitutional crisis?
It's a term thrown around quite a bit lately, but what does it actually mean? This is an episode about the basics of the Law of the Land, the three branches of government and what happens when they're don't work the way they're supposed to.
Our guide is Aziz Huq, Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. His books include The Rule of Law: A Very Short Introduction, The Collapse of Constitutional Remedies and How to Save a Constitutional Democracy.
If you want some extra context for this one, check out these other episodes:
Checks and Balances
So Long, Chevron
What is "originalism"?
How Should We Govern the Algorithm?
The Fourteenth Amendment
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
49min
February 04, 2025What are Executive Orders?
Every president (with the exception of William Henry Harrison) has issued executive orders. Most recently, Donald Trump issued several on his first day in office. Some have been published in the Federal Register, others are facing legal challenges.
So what IS an executive order? How do they differ from other executive actions, like proclamations or memoranda? Who writes them? Who reviews them? All that and more with our guest Andy Rudalevidge, professor of Government at Bowdoin and author of By Executive Order: Bureaucratic Management and the Limits of Presidential Power.
Click here for our episode on the Federal Register.
Here is a link to every single proclamation issued by a president.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
25min
January 29, 2025The Great Fluoride Debate
Ever since fluoridation became widespread in the 1950s, cavities in kids have fallen drastically. The effort is considered one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. But it’s also one of the most controversial.
Today, the story of what that's so, from our sister podcast, NHPR's Outside/In.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
31min
January 28, 2025Trump's Executive Orders
During his campaign, now-President Trump promised a lot of action (much of it to happen on day one). So what did he actually do once he regained the office? A LOT. This is the first week of Trump's executive orders.
For some context, check out our episodes on:
Wong Kim Ark and Birthright Citizenship
Dred Scott
The Fourteenth Amendment
An earlier version of this episode incorrectly identified several Presidential memoranda and proclamations as executive orders.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
27min
January 23, 2025Birthright Citizenship: The SCOTUS case that solidified the 14th Amendment
Most of us know about birthright citizenship, but not many people have ever heard of Wong Kim Ark and the landmark Supreme Court decision that decided both his fate and the fate of a U.S. immigration policy that endures to this day.
This is the case that solidified the Fourteenth Amendment as we understand it today.
Want our new "Civics is my cup of tea" mug? CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND GET YOURS!
CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!
To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!
...more
26min

FAQs about Civics 101:

How many episodes does Civics 101 have?

The podcast currently has 449 episodes available.