Your Weekly Constitutional

The Curator at Montpelier, Teresa Teixeira, tells us all about the ongoing treasure hunt for James and Dolley Madisons’ furniture, books, and other belongings, most of which were sold after their deaths.

Teresa’s found quite a few items already, but the hunt continues.

Mary Anne Franks teaches constitutional law at the University of Miami. She’s noticed that some people don’t just admire the Constitution, they worship it. Or, at least they worship the parts that they like, parts like the First and Second Amendments.

But there are lots of parts of the Constitution, and many of them are, arguably, just as important as the First and Second Amendments. How should we balance them all?

Join Mary Anne and Stewart for a fascinating and enlightening conversation about how modern Americans view their most basic law.

Elizabeth Chew is the Vice President of Museum Programs at James Madison's Montpelier. In this episode, she joins Stewart in the Potter Family Studios to talk about what Montpelier has done with patriotic philanthropist David Rubenstein's recent ten-million-dollar gift. Short version: a lot, including reconstruction of several slave quarters and the creation of a remarkable new exhibit, "The Mere Distinction of Colour."

Breaks Interstate Park, the "Grand Canyon of the South," was formed by a compact between the Commonwealths of Kentucky and Virginia. And as Park Director Austin Bradley tells us, that compact required congressional approval.

Austin also tells us about an upcoming PBS documentary on the park. You won't want to miss it, especially since it includes Stewart's movie debut.

Join us!

Jason Silverman has done something rare: he's actually found something new to say about Abraham Lincoln.

Jason is the Ellison Capers Palmer, Jr. Professor of History, Emeritus, at Winthrop University. His new book, "Lincoln and the Immigrant," explores Lincoln's attitudes and actions toward those who made their way to our shores in the mid-Nineteenth Century.

This is history, of course, but Jason thinks that perhaps Lincoln has something to say to us about immigration today.

You meet the nicest people at Montpelier. That definitely includes Harvard Law School Professor Noah Feldman, who has just published a new, comprehensive biography of James Madison.

Noah recently sat down with Stewart in the Potter Family Studios at Montpelier, and talked all about Madison's life. As a bonus, Noah's son, Jaemin, joined the conversation -- and he didn't always agree with Dad.

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission reversed an Obama-era regulation requiring something called “net neutrality.”

What, precisely, is “net neutrality,” and how might it affect free speech? Turns out, nobody’s sure, but it could be “a lot.”

We’ll speak with Roy Gutterman, the Director of Syracuse University’s Tully Center for Free Speech. We'll also speak with Daniel Lyons of Boston College Law School.

Recently, the Court of Appeals of New York rejected a constitutional challenge to that state’s prohibition of physician-assisted suicide.

Should you have the right to kill yourself? Or, more specifically, should you have the right to do so with the assistance of a physician?

We’ll speak with Norman Cantor, an Emeritus professor from Rutgers Law School, who is sharply critical of the New York court’s decision, and with Samantha Crane, from an organization called Not Dead Yet, who supports it.

Several lawsuits are moving through the courts, claiming that the President has violated something called the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution. But what, precisely are these Emoluments Clauses? And how has the President allegedly violated them?

We’ll speak with two experts, on opposite sides of the issue: Jed Shugerman of Fordham Law School, and Josh Blackman of the South Texas College of Law in Houston.

Are we good, or evil, or perhaps both?

We’ll speak with Professor Alan Gibson of California State University at Chico, about James Madison’s views on human nature, and how those views affected the way he designed our national constitution.