Civics 101

By New Hampshire Public Radio

What's Civics 101 about?

What's the difference between the House and the Senate? How do congressional investigations work? What is Federalist X actually about? Civics 101 is the podcast refresher course on the basics of how our democracy works.

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LAST EPISODE

Federal Courts: The Trial o...

09.20.2022

The story of how eight protesters (yup, eight) ended up in federal court on conspiracy charges and proceeded to turn a trial into political theater.

Civics 101 episodes:

09.20.2022 Federal Courts: The Trial of the Chicago 7 The story of how eight protesters (yup, eight) ended up in federal court on conspiracy charges and proceeded to turn a trial into political theater.
09.13.2022 How Powerful Is The President's Veto? Just think about the kinds of powers the President has: they command the armed forces, have access to the nuclear codes, and yes, can block a bill from becoming law...sometimes.
09.06.2022 Disinformation and Misinformation How do lies get spread before an election in order to influence it?
08.30.2022 What's The Difference Between The House & The Senate? And what does it mean to control one, the other, or both?
08.23.2022 Federal Courts: Espionage and the Rosenbergs Since its passage after World War I, thousands of people have been investigated for violating the Espionage Act, including Julian Assange, Daniel Ellsberg, and Donald Trump. However, only two people have been executed for violating it during peacetime; Ethel and ...
08.16.2022 Everything You Need to Know About Midterms The five whats and whys of the midterm election.
08.09.2022 Federal Courts: Our First Treason Trial Today we're opening our new series on famous trials in the Federal Courts. In this case, United States v Burr, the judge and jury had to decide whether to convict former VP Aaron Burr for the crime of treason.
08.02.2022 What is the National Debt? The federal government has always had debt. How much is too much, and how do politicians exploit it?
07.26.2022 How to Vote Voting in America isn't always straightforward. So, here's some of what you need to know.
07.26.2022 Why You Should Vote (Even When They Don't Want You To) We're supposed to vote because our government is "by the people" (we vote officials into office) and "for the people" (the officials in office are supposed to represent our interests). But it’s not so straightforward around here.
07.19.2022 The Declaration Does Not Apply The founders left three groups out of the Declaration of Independence: Black Americans, Indigenous peoples, and women. This is how they responded.
07.12.2022 The 1965 Voting Rights Act We needed an Act of Congress to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment. Is it still doing its job?
07.04.2022 The 4th of July Myth (and Other Patriotic Trivia) Today, after one of the busiest civics-related news weeks in history, we take a break to talk about some of the history and ephemera tied to Independence Day.
06.28.2022 The National Park Service Nearly a hundred million acres of the truth about America.
06.21.2022 M, F & X: Gender Markers & Government Documents Why some states (and the federal government) are adding "X" to your options for gender I.D. markers.
06.14.2022 What Does The 2nd Amendment Say? 27 words which have been interpreted and reinterpreted by historians, activists, judges, and philosophers. What did the 2nd Amendment mean when it was written? What does it mean right now? And what happened in between?
06.10.2022 Precedent and the Leaked Draft SCOTUS Opinion Is the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion a roadmap for how this court could overturn landmark cases in the future?
06.07.2022 Precedent and the Supreme Court Why does judicial precedent matter, and why might it be overturned?
06.03.2022 Update: Happy the Elephant is Not a Person An update on the Happy the Elephant case.
06.02.2022 Should Animals Have Human Rights? A court case about a Bronx Zoo elephant could pave the way for animals to gain basic human rights.
05.31.2022 Quick Update What we're working on and what's coming out on Thursday.
05.24.2022 District, Circuit, Supreme: How does the federal court system work? We follow a case from trial all the way up to the highest court in the land.
05.17.2022 Freedom of the Press, Part 2 The truth is out there... amidst a lot of misinformation.
05.17.2022 Freedom of the Press, Part 1 What does a free press look like, and does the U.S. really have one?
05.10.2022 The Shadow Docket Today we learn about the Supreme Court decisions that we don't hear much about; the "shadow docket." These are orders from the highest court in the land that are (often) unsigned, inscrutable, and handed down in the middle of the ...
05.03.2022 Roe v Wade: Facts of the Case The history of a case which no longer applies.
04.26.2022 The First National Park How Yellowstone came to be.
04.19.2022 What is NATO? How does a security alliance between dozens of countries with different governments, interests, and military power, even work? And why does NATO exist in the first place?
04.12.2022 Citizens United v FEC Today we explain one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions in modern history; the case that defined campaign donations as speech and therefore protected under the First Amendment, regardless of who made them. This episode explains the history of ...
04.05.2022 US vs: Constitutions What is the history of constitutions and where do we come in?
03.29.2022 Why Is The Senate Parliamentarian So Powerful? There's someone who knows the rules in the Senate. All the rules. And nothing gets by them. Today we learn about one of the most powerful, least-seen, and most nonpartisan positions in Washington DC.
03.22.2022 The Constitution and the Bill of Rights We're revisiting the origins of United States government and rights.
03.15.2022 Election Security What is the truth -- and what is the misinformation -- behind election security in the U.S.?
03.08.2022 Why You Should Care About the Federal Reserve Look up a definition of the Federal Reserve, and you'll see things like "central bank," "monetary policy," and "regulation and stabilization of the financial system." What do they mean, and why does it matter?
03.01.2022 When the Supreme Court Got It Wrong: Civil Rights and Dred Scott The Supreme Court is considered by some to be the most powerful branch of US government. So what happens when the Court gets it wrong?
02.24.2022 How Realistic is National Treasure? Just how, ahem, realistic is National Treasure?
02.22.2022 What are Committees? 90% of proposed bills die in committee. What happens in there? Today's episode consists of two parts. First, the Schoolhouse Rock definition of congressional committees (what they do and why we have them) and second, an exploration of money, power, ...
02.15.2022 Who Writes the President's Speeches? The ghostwriters behind a president's public words.
02.08.2022 How Does Security Clearance Work? From "top secret," like the names and locations of intelligence agents, to "confidential," like the drinking habits of a prime minister, the federal government has a lot of sensitive information. What are the different levels of security clearance, and how ...
02.01.2022 The President and the Price of Gas How accurate is an "I did that" sticker? What do presidents, now and throughout history, have to do with the price at the pump? We speak to Robert Rapier, engineer and analyst at Proteum Energy and Irina Ivanova, economic reporter ...
01.26.2022 The Politics Of The Olympics How do nations -- and their athletes -- use the Olympic games?
01.18.2022 The USDA Marion Nestle and Jennifer Ifft take us through the department that does much, much more than we ever thought possible.
01.11.2022 Congressional Investigations What is the point of a congressional investigation and where did our lawmakers get that power to begin with?
01.04.2022 Declaring War Who has the power to take the United States to war, and how has the definition of war changed over time?
12.28.2021 A Civics Trivia Special! We test Hannah and Nick's civics knowledge....it's all about holidays at the White House, bad music, and more!
12.21.2021 The Lottery When it started, why states have them, and where the money goes.
12.14.2021 Federal Holidays How does a holiday become federalized?
12.09.2021 Civics at the Movies: NASA and Hollywood What's up with NASA's special relationship with the film industry?
12.07.2021 Emergency Powers of the President What a president can and cannot do after they break the glass.
11.30.2021 US vs: Two Party System Americans often take issue with our two-party system. So what other options are out there? Today, with the help of political scientists Guillermo Rosas and Robin Best, we explore the reason why we have (and may always have) such a ...

Older episodes

Civics 101

What's Civics 101 about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Civics 101 episodes:

Federal Courts: The Trial of the Chicago 7

How Powerful Is The President's Veto?

Disinformation and Misinformation

What's The Difference Between The House & The Senate?

Federal Courts: Espionage and the Rosenbergs

Everything You Need to Know About Midterms

Federal Courts: Our First Treason Trial

What is the National Debt?

How to Vote

Why You Should Vote (Even When They Don't Want You To)

The Declaration Does Not Apply

The 1965 Voting Rights Act

The 4th of July Myth (and Other Patriotic Trivia)

The National Park Service

M, F & X: Gender Markers & Government Documents

What Does The 2nd Amendment Say?

Precedent and the Leaked Draft SCOTUS Opinion

Precedent and the Supreme Court

Update: Happy the Elephant is Not a Person

Should Animals Have Human Rights?

Quick Update

District, Circuit, Supreme: How does the federal court system work?

Freedom of the Press, Part 2

Freedom of the Press, Part 1

The Shadow Docket

Roe v Wade: Facts of the Case

The First National Park

What is NATO?

Citizens United v FEC

US vs: Constitutions

Why Is The Senate Parliamentarian So Powerful?

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights

Election Security

Why You Should Care About the Federal Reserve

When the Supreme Court Got It Wrong: Civil Rights and Dred Scott

How Realistic is National Treasure?

What are Committees?

Who Writes the President's Speeches?

How Does Security Clearance Work?

The President and the Price of Gas

The Politics Of The Olympics

The USDA

Congressional Investigations

Declaring War

A Civics Trivia Special!

The Lottery

Federal Holidays

Civics at the Movies: NASA and Hollywood

Emergency Powers of the President

US vs: Two Party System

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