Constitutional Context

On Tuesday, December 5, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in one of the most high-profile cases of its Term. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission is sure to trigger substantial news coverage and strong opinions.  This podcast instead focuses on the case as a textbook example of three important realities about […]

You probably don’t need reminding about the controversy swirling around NFL players “taking a knee” during the national anthem to protest mistreatment of racial minorities. The dispute has been a regular subject in speeches and tweets by the President.  It’s been prominent on news, sports, and talk shows. What I find especially interesting as a […]

The U.S. Senate recently confirmed President Trump’s choice to become Solicitor General of the United States.  This reminded me of how important and interesting this position is to the Supreme Court and the adjudication of constitutional and other questions. The U.S. Solicitor General is the 3rd-highest official in the Justice Department and is expected to […]

Happy “First Monday in October!” — the day the Supreme Court comes back from summer recess and begins oral arguments and case decisions through next June. This Term the Supreme Court is jumping right into its work. The day after “First Monday,” the justices are confronting one of the most consequential and long-delayed questions in […]

The recent tragedy in Charlottesville – when compared to a different event occurring at the same time in a foreign land – provides an especially graphic illustration of how U.S. free-speech doctrines differ from the approaches of other major democratic nations. As Americans are painfully aware, on August 12th, 2017 neo-Nazis and white supremacists gathered […]

You’ve got to love a Supreme Court decision in which six justices in the majority split 4 to 2 over a footnote. That’s right:  In ruling that Missouri violated the Constitution by administering a grant program in a way that discriminated against a religious-affiliated entity, the dispute boiled down to whether the justices would fully […]

“Executive privilege” is in the air a lot these days.  Amid speculation about whether President Trump would claim executive privilege to limit the testimony of officials at congressional hearings — and with high-profile officials declining to answer legislator questions amid hints that they wanted to give the President room to eventually claim executive privilege — […]

Tradition!  No — you don’t need to worry that I’m going to break into Tevye’s song from Fiddler on the Roof! Rather, I refer to another tradition recently taking place at the Supreme Court chamber in Washington, D.C.   On June 12, 2017, newest Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered his first written judicial opinion, reflecting the unanimous […]

By the time this podcast posts, the controversy over the President’s May 9th firing of FBI Director James Comey will have gone through innumerable news cycles and countless commentaries. So, what can a podcast committed to placing controversies in their “constitutional context” and bringing light rather than more heat seek to add?  One contribution might […]

Welcome to CONSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT. This is Professor Glenn Smith with another “five-minute bite of background about the Court and Constitution.” Viewers of the July 22, 2015 Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC probably thought that Ms. Maddow’s interview with former Senator (and presidential candidate) Rick Santorum was just another argument about same-sex marriage. But the Maddow/Santorum […]