Your Weekly Constitutional

A year before Little Rock, twelve brave African-American students in Clinton, Tennessee, participated in the first court-ordered integration of an all-white high school after Brown v. Board of Education.

Retired attorney Jerry Shattuck, who was a student at Clinton High at the time, tells the tale. This one will bring tears to your eyes.

Ever since the release of the Mueller Report, we’ve all been hearing about something called “obstruction of justice.” But what, precisely, does that mean? And what is this thing called the "OLC" that apparently prevented an indictment of Donald Trump, regardless of the evidence against him?

Former federal prosecutor Benjamin Vernia enlightens us.

Many people bemoan the growing gaps in wealth and income in our country, as well as their negative effects on our political discourse and our trust in our government. Akram Faizer has some concrete proposals to fix at least part of the problem. Some of his proposals are quite controversial. All of them are interesting.

You’re young, innocent, female. Perhaps 18 years old. You’re walking down the street in your hometown on a fine spring day.

A car pulls to the curb. A man gets out. He has a gun. And a badge.

“Come with me,” he says.

“Why?” You think perhaps someone has been hurt.

“You’re under arrest.”

“What? Why?”

The cop gives you a hard look. “Suspicion of promiscuity.”

Seems unlikely, doesn’t it? Laughable. But it’s no joke. Such things really happened, and not so long ago, to thousands of American women. One of those women was Nina McCall. Author Scott W. Stern tells us all about it.

Professor Pat Baker of the University of Tennessee at Martin has noticed something troubling about small private colleges. They’re closing down. At an alarming rate. Why is this? And is there anything we can do about it?

Some people have tried lawsuits, but the courts haven’t been very helpful, for a couple of very constitutional reasons.

Linda Monk has been on our show before, to discuss her wonderful books, "The Words We Live By" and "The Bill of Rights: A User's Guide." She was also this year's keynote speaker at Montpelier's celebration of Presidents' Day, where she confessed to Stewart that she has a longtime crush on James Madison.

Since the Democrats overwhelmed the House of Representatives with their Blue Wave, there’s been a lot of talk about investigations and hearings.

Investigations and hearings and even impeachment are part of something called “congressional oversight” of the Executive. Dean Ronald Weich of the University of Baltimore’s law school tells us all about some common myths and misperceptions about this very important part of constitutional checks and balances.

Andrew Boyle works for the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. He and Stewart start at the very beginning of a very current issue: What, precisely, constitutes a “national emergency?” Who gets to declare one? And what happens then?

Specifically, can Donald Trump use the powers granted to the Executive during a national emergency to build his wall? He’ll face a fair amount of resistance, and Andrew and Stewart consider the various forms it might take.

Justin Driver is a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is concerned about the extent to which public school students are paddled, searched, stifled and otherwise denied their constitutional rights.

He’s so concerned that he's written a book about it called "The Schoolhouse Gate." Recently, he sat down with Stewart to talk about it.

We haven't heard much from the Supreme Court lately on the Second Amendment. That may soon change. So the Law Review at Lincoln Memorial University’s law school decided to host a symposium, bringing together leading Second Amendment scholars from around the country.

Two of the scholars at the symposium sat down with Stewart to share their contrasting views. We'll hear from Stephen Halbrook, a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, and Robert Spitzer, a Distinguished Service Professor at the State University of New York-Cortland.