In this episode, associate editor Delaney Ferrer discusses the intersection between faith, pop culture, and environmental justice. Lately environmental justice has been framed as a new or controversial topic--especially when it intersects with race. But in this episode, Delaney challenges that narrative by exploring how environmental justice has been recognized for decades in our media and faith. Drawing on law, Catholic teachings, and pop culture references from The Jungle to Avatar and Star Wars, this episode examines how storytelling shapes our understanding of environmental harms and responsibility. This conversation aims to reframe environmental justice as not just a political trend, but as a longstanding moral and legal issue rooted in dignity, stewardship, and solidarity.

If you're interested in this week's topic, please check out these resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nsn4Sxy8r8

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/25/us-louisianas-cancer-alley

https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/care-for-creation

This week, associate editor Nicole Polisar revisits the 1865 military trial of Mary E. Surratt, the first woman executed by the United States government. Set in the immediate aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the episode reconstructs the courtroom’s drama surrounding a civilian defendant tried by a military commission during a moment of national trauma. Nicole examines the prosecution’s theory of treasonable conspiracy, the defense’s constitutional challenge to military jurisdiction, and the role of circumstantial evidence in securing a death sentence. The episode explores how wartime fear reshaped the boundaries of due process, executive power, and civilian justice and why the legal questions raised by Mary Surratt’s execution continue to resonate in modern debates over emergency authority and the rule of law.

If you're interested in this week's topic, please check out these resources:

https://lincolnconspirators.com/the-trial/

https://andyreiter.com/wp-content/uploads/military-justice/us/Government%20Documents/United%20States%20-%201865%20-%20The%20Assassination%20of%20President%20Lincoln%20and%20the%20Trial%20of%20the%20Conspirators.pdf

https://www.famous-trials.com/lincoln/2178-defenseofsurratt

In this week's episode, associate editor Addison Fouts takes listeners on an overview of Loyola’s comparative advocacy program in London. This includes what you can expect taking the class as well as Addison's experience studying abroad as a first generation college and law student. "This was my first time leaving the country and I have grown a lot as a person due to this trip." This episode details some of the notable things Addison learned in lectures as well as recommendations if you travel to London or get to study abroad. Addison goes through the differences between a barrister and solicitor, family law, criminal law, and health law comparisons from the US and UK. She encourages you all to get outside of your comfort zone and study abroad if the opportunity arises for you!

If you are interested in this episode's topic and want to find out more please check out these resources:

https://bowstreetmuseum.org.uk/about-us/history/

https://www.iclr.co.uk/knowledge/topics/the-english-legal-system/

https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/the-bar/the-inns-of-court

This week the Podvocate and associate editor Caleb Stokes present a Double Feature Episode! The first half of this episode is a summary and exploration of an upcoming survey in development to be given out to law students at Loyola Chicago, while the second half of the episode is a comparative analysis of the three models states use regarding the legality of prostitution, and the impacts of each model on efforts to reduce Human Trafficking.

in this week's episode, associate editor Carter Pasternak, examines Louisiana v. Callais, a pending Supreme Court case placing the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause on a direct collision course. It explores the history and mechanics of gerrymandering and how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act functions as a remedial tool against vote dilution. The episode walks listeners through the case’s factual background, procedural history, lower-court rulings, and the arguments presented to the Supreme Court by both sides. It concludes by analyzing why the case matters nationally and what each possible outcome could mean for voting rights and redistricting going forward.

If you're interested in the episode's topic please check out these resources to learn more:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/24-109?utm_source.com

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-louisiana-redistricting-majority-black-districts-ea09df430fa850d4eb7497ae1be9667d

https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/justices-reinstate-louisiana-voting-map-that-is-being-challenged-under-voting-rights-act/

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-arguments-conclude-in-landmark-voting-rights-case

This week, associate editor Nicole Polisar revisits the 1936 Mary Astor custody trial, the Hollywood courtroom spectacle that turned a private diary into a national obsession. Set in Los Angeles at the height of the studio era, the episode reconstructs the drama of a movie star fighting her ex-husband, Dr. Franklyn Thorpe, for custody of their four-year-old daughter, Marylyn. As tabloids and subpoenas threaten to swallow the proceeding whole, the courtroom begins to resemble a public stage as much as a forum for justice. Nicole examines how “fitness” was argued and weaponized in a courtroom culture that treated a mother’s private relationships as evidence of parental unworthiness. The episode explores how media frenzy, moral judgment, and evidentiary battles transformed a child-welfare proceeding into reputational warfare.

If you're interest in the episode's topic please check out these resources to learn more:

https://archive.org/details/mystoryautobiogr00asto

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-aug-12-me-a2anniversary12-story.html

How serious were the January 2026 arrests of independent journalists, Don Lemon and Georgia Fort? In this episode Senior Editor Alyssa Pacheco reflects on the power of the press and historical attacks on its First Amendment protections to answer that question.

In this episode, senior editor Neha Alety provides a brief history of maternal health policy in the United States. She discusses how these policies have disproportionately affected low-income, vulnerable populations, and people of color. She ends the episode with a discussion on how we can advocate for more just policies as future lawyers.

“The Rule of Law and the American Experiment” was presented by the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and Loyola University Chicago Rule of Law institute on October 24, 2025, covering a litany of issues related to law in Trump’s America; this episode is a recording of “The Rule of Law, Peace, and National Security.” The panelists were: John C. Dehn, Associate Professor & Faculty Director, National Security and Civil Rights Program, Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Scott Carlson, Associate Executive Director of Global Programs, American Bar Association; Laura A. Dickinson, Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School.

In this episode, Associate Editor Ashvini Kartik-Narayan explores history of digital surveillance in public benefits programs and how it has set the stage for data grabs under the Trump administration. Millions of Americans receiving SNAP and Social Security will have their personally identifiable information subject to data disclosures under the guise of “reducing fraud and waste” in welfare programs. Ashvini examines the ways that low-income communities of color have long been subject to surveillance, the legal strategies used to resist surveillance in the past, and how those strategies must evolve to meet the current threat of artificial intelligence.