Your Weekly Constitutional

Yep, it's that time of year again! Time for our annual Roundup of interesting and important cases now before the United States Supreme Court. We'll talk about abortion, free speech, the environment, unions, and even a murder conspiracy involving a transgendered man.

We'll also hear from our friends at Montpelier - the Riddler will make an appearance - as well as a listener who did NOT like our "I Love Boobies" episode, and who tells us precisely why.

The Harlem Shake! Last spring, a bunch of kids at Tennessee High in Bristol, Tennessee, got permission from their school to make a spoof video featuring the then-current dance craze, the Harlem Shake. Hilarity did not ensue. In fact, according to the students, local school officials pressured them to remove the video from YouTube. Wait, can they do that?

After we finish dancing, we'll talk about another topic near and dear to many people: traffic cameras. Now, now, calm down. Watch your blood pressure. This story has a happy ending.

Join us!

We love boobies! We're betting that you do, too. But if you wear a bracelet expressing that sentiment in a public school, you might get kicked out. Even if all you're trying to do is promote breast cancer awareness. First Amendment, anyone?

After we've (ahem) gotten abreast of the free speech issues, we'll shift our attention to another of our favorite subjects, the Third Amendment. You remember that one -- it covers . . . it deals with . . . with . . . calling Quiz Lady Kelly Carmichael!

You don't have to be big and strong to defend the Constitution. You just have to be brave and determined. Just ask Mary Beth Tinker, who wore a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War despite warnings that she would be punished. Then she took her case all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Join us and we'll tell you what happened next.

Hmm - that doesn't sound very pleasant.

Actually, the Beard in question is a person, Charles Beard, and he's dead. Hmm - that doesn't sound very pleasant, either.

But it's fascinating. You see, Beard was a historian who wrote the most important book you've never heard of, "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States," published precisely a century ago, in 1913.

Beard's book has been causing academic fistfights since the day it was published, and that's why we're still talking about it a century later.

Please join historians Woody Holton and Gordon Wood for a rollicking discussion. But restrain yourself. It's just a book.

Never heard of Tule Lake? Consider yourself lucky. It's where the United States concentrated those Japanese-Americans who dared to protest their unlawful incarceration during World War II.

We speak with Barbara Takei, some of whose relatives were imprisoned at Tule Lake, and who has spent years researching it.

A sobering but fascinating episode.

Truancy is a serious problem: serious for the school, for the student, and for society. It's also presents several serious constitutional issues.

We speak with Professor Dean Rivkin of the University of Tennessee College of Law, and with his student, Anna Swift, who are working hard to make the truancy courts of Tennessee better for the students and for the United States Constitution.

Join us!

Our best field trip ever! We visit the historic City Tavern.

When the delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia in May, 1787, there were no modern hotels. They stayed at boarding houses or private homes, and they ate (and drank) in taverns. The most prominent of those was the City Tavern, which has been authentically re-built so that that you can go and eat (and drink) the same way that the delegates did. It is easily the most enjoyable historical research we have ever done.

Join us! Huzzah!

Is he a whistle-blower, or a traitor?

We'll leave that judgment to history, or perhaps to the federal courts. In the meantime, we'll put Ed Snowden's Big Adventure in historical context, aided by Professor Joseph Fitsanakis, the Director of King University's Institute for Security and Intelligence Studies.

Join us for some cloak and dagger and a little dash of J. Edgar Hoover.

Dolley Madison started life in Virginia as a Payne - no pun intended.

Then her Quaker family moved to Philadelphia, where she married lawyer John Todd, and had two children.

Then, after the death of Todd and one of their children, Dolley faced financial hardship and was forced to sell bread on the streets of Philadelphia.

And all of this before she married James Madison - and you'll never believe who introduced them, and who served as James's wingman during the courtship.

We talk to Lynn Uzell, Scholar-in-Residence at Montpelier, who not only studies Dolley, but portrays her. We also take a tour of Todd House with Karie Diethorn, a historian with the National Park Service.

Join us!