Episode 168: Galaxy-Sized Diamond

Do you believe that once upon a time, before the rise of the administrative state, our legislature mainly legislated, our executive just carried out laws, and judges resolved individual disputes? Prepare to have your mind blown, as Maggie McKinley explains the central and evolving role that individual petitions for redress before Congress played from before the dawn of the Republic until the 1940s. She argues that our participation in government rather than formal, institutional separation has been the historical guarantor of democratic legitimacy.

This show’s links:

Maggie McKinley's faculty profile and writing

Maggie McKinley, Petitioning and the Making of the Administrative State

Maggie McKinley, Lobbying and the Petition Clause

Sonja West, First Amendment Neighbors

Oral Argument 1: Send Joe to Prison (guest Sonja West)

Special Guest: Maggie McKinley.