John J. Miller is joined by Robert M. Woods of the Veritas Christian Academy to discuss Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes.'

John J. Miller is joined by Peter Manseau to discuss Jefferson's Bible.

John J. Miller is joined by Rachel Mackey of the Hudson Institute to discuss Jane Austen's 'Emma.'

John J. Miller is joined by Flagg Taylor of Skidmore College to discuss Vaclav Havel's 'The Memorandum.'

John J. Miller is joined by Missy Andrews of the Center for Literary Education to discuss Ernest Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea.'

John J. Miller is joined by Patricia Bart of Hillsdale College to discuss 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.'

John J. Miller is joined by Christopher Scalia of the American Enterprise Institute to discuss Evelyn Waugh's 'Scoop.'

John J. Miller is joined by Jenna Storey of Furman University to discuss Alexis de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America.'

John J. Miller is joined by Natalie Taylor of Skidmore College to discuss Herman Melville's 'Billy Budd.'

John J. Miller is joined by Brenda Wineapple to discuss Ralph Waldo Emerson's 'Self-Reliance.'

John J. Miller is joined by David Whalen of Hillsdale College to discuss Charles Dickens's 'David Copperfield.'

John J. Miller is joined by Nicholas Basbanes to discuss Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 'The Song of Hiawatha.'

John J. Miller is joined by Nicholas Basbanes to discuss Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 'The Song of Hiawatha.'

John J. Miller is joined by Mia Bay of the University of Pennsylvania to discuss Ida B. Wells's life and journalistic work.

John J. Miller is joined by Mia Bay of the University of Pennsylvania to discuss Ida B. Wells's life and journalistic work.

John J. Miller is joined by Jack Lynch of Rutgers University to discuss James Boswell's 'The Life of Samuel Johnson.'

John J. Miller is joined by Jack Lynch of Rutgers University to discuss James Boswell's 'The Life of Samuel Johnson.'

John J. Miller is joined by Spencer Klavan to discuss Aeschylus's 'The Persians.'

John J. Miller is joined by Spencer Klavan to discuss Aeschylus's 'The Persians.'

John J. Miller is joined by Haley Stewart to discuss Lucy Maude Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables.'

John J. Miller is joined by Haley Stewart to discuss Lucy Maude Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables.'

John J. Miller is joined by Paul Rahe of Hillsdale College to discuss Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron.'

John J. Miller is joined by Paul Rahe of Hillsdale College to discuss Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dutton Kearney of Hillsdale College to discuss James Joyce's 'Ulysses.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dutton Kearney of Hillsdale College to discuss James Joyce's 'Ulysses.'

John J. Miller is joined by Jessica Hooten Wilson of John Brown University to discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Notes from Underground.'

John J. Miller is joined by Jessica Hooten Wilson of John Brown University to discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Notes from Underground.'

John J. Miller is joined by Thomas Bruscino of the U.S. Army War College to discuss Theodore Roosevelt's 'The Rough Riders.'

John J. Miller is joined by Thomas Bruscino of the U.S. Army War College to discuss Theodore Roosevelt's 'The Rough Riders.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dedra Birzer of Hillsdale College to discuss J. M. Barrie's 'Peter Pan.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dedra Birzer of Hillsdale College to discuss J. M. Barrie's 'Peter Pan.'

John J. Miller is joined by Todd Mack of Hillsdale College to discuss Jose Saramago's 'Blindness.'

John J. Miller is joined by Scott Newstok of Rhodes College to discuss Shakespeare's Sonnets.

John J. Miller is joined by Michael Schmidt to discuss 'Gilgamesh.'

John J. Miller is joined by David Hein to discuss William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies.'

John J. Miller is joined by Francesca Wade to discuss Dorothy L. Sayers's 'Gaudy Night.'

John J. Miller is joined by Meghan Cox Gurdon of the Wall Street Journal to discuss Betty Smith's 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.'

John J. Miller is joined by Menachem Wecker to discuss O. E. Rolvaag's 'Giants in the Earth.'

John J. Miller is joined by Paul Cantor of the University of Virginia to discuss William Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra.'

John J. Miller is joined by Karen Swallow Prior of Liberty University to discuss Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.'

John J. Miller is joined by Carlos Eire of Yale University to discuss 'The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila.'

John J. Miller is joined by Daniel Kennelly of The American Interest to discuss Walter M. Miller Jr.'s 'A Canticle for Leibowitz.'

John J. Miller is joined by Lorraine Murphy of Hillsdale College to discuss Marilynne Robinson's 'Housekeeping.'

John J. Miller is joined by Kelly Scott Franklin of Hillsdale College to discuss Thornton Wilder's 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey.'

John J. Miller is joined by Brenda Wineapple to discuss Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter.'

John J. Miller is joined by Michael Ward of the University of Oxford to discuss C. S. Lewis's 'The Abolition of Man.'

John J. Miller is joined by Daisy Dunn to discuss Pliny the Elder's 'Natural History.'

John J. Miller is joined by Karen Swallow Prior of Liberty University to discuss Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dwight Lindley of Hillsdale College to continue their discussion of Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dwight Lindley of Hillsdale College to discuss Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick.'

John J. Miller is joined by Benedict Whalen of Hillsdale College to discuss William Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale.'

John J. Miller is joined by Matthew Mehan of Hillsdale College to discuss Sophocles's 'Antigone.'

John J. Miller is joined by Todd Mack of Hillsdale College to discuss Merce Rodoreda's 'Time of the Doves.'

John J. Miller is joined by Paul Rahe of Hillsdale College to discuss Niccolò Machiavelli's 'The Prince.'

John J. Miller is joined by Ilana Pardes of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to discuss 'The Song of Songs' from The Bible.

John J. Miller is joined by Lorraine Murphy of Hillsdale College to discuss Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dedra Birzer of Hillsdale College to discuss Owen Wister's 'The Virginian.'

John J. Miller is joined by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson to discuss Bram Stoker's 'Dracula.'

John J. Miller is joined by Andrew Latham of Macalester College to discuss Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War.'

John J. Miller is joined by Thomas G. West of Hillsdale College to discuss John Locke's 'Two Treatises of Government.'

John J. Miller is joined by Flagg Taylor of Skidmore College to discuss Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon.

John J. Miller is joined by Rachel Dankert of the Folger Shakespeare Library to discuss Edmund Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene.'

John J. Miller is joined by Neal Freeman to discuss William F. Buckley Jr.'s 'The Unmaking of a Mayor.'

John J. Miller is joined by Zena Hitz of St. John's College to discuss Gustave Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary.'

John J. Miller is joined by Lucas Morel of Washington & Lee University to discuss Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man.'

John J. Miller is joined by David Whalen of Hillsdale College to discuss William Shakespeare's 'King Lear.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dedra Birzer of Hillsdale College to discuss Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God.'

John J. Miller is joined by Tracy Hoffman of Baylor University to discuss Washington Irving's 'The Sketch Book.'

John J. Miller is joined by Veronica Brooks of Hillsdale College to discuss Thomas More's 'Epigrammata.'

John J. Miller is joined by Ursula Buchan to discuss John Buchan's 'The 39 Steps.'

John J. Miller is joined by John Rodden to discuss George Orwell's '1984.'

John J. Miller is joined by Marion Turner of the University of Oxford to discuss Geoffrey Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales.'

John J. Miller is joined by Adam Carrington of Hillsdale College to discuss Michael Shaara's 'The Killer Angels.'

Jay and Luke are back, this time discussing the future structure of this very podcast and giving a deep explanation of impeachment. 

John J. Miller is joined by Michael Bazzett to discuss 'The Popol Vuh,' the epic poem of the Mayan people.

John J. Miller is joined by Lorraine Murphy of Hillsdale College to discuss Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility.'

John J. Miller is joined by Spencer Klavan to discuss the book of Isaiah.

John J. Miller is joined by Natalie Taylor to discuss Henry James's 'The Portrait of a Lady.'

John J. Miller is joined by David Deavel to discuss John Henry Newman's 'The Idea of a University.'

John J. Miller is joined by Amy Sturgis to discuss Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein.'

John J. Miller is joined by Haley Stewart to discuss Sigrid Undset's 'Kristin Lavransdatter.'

John J. Miller is joined by Khalil Habib to discuss William Shakespeare's 'King John.'

John J. Miller is joined by Dedra Birzer of Hillsdale College to discuss Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'

John J. Miller is joined by Richard Langworth of Hillsdale College to discuss Winston S. Churchill's 'My Early Life.'

John J. Miller is joined by Jessica Hooten Wilson of John Brown University to discuss John Kennedy Toole's 'A Confederacy of Dunces.'

John J. Miller is joined by David Bellos to discuss Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables.'

John J. Miller is joined by Susan Orr Traffas to discuss Mark Twain's 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.'

Jay and Luke dive headfirst into the Louisiana Purchase to explore the battle over the Elastic Clause.

John J. Miller is joined by Russ Roberts of EconTalk to discuss Adam Smith's 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments.'

John J. Miller is joined by Todd Mack of Hillsdale College to discuss Cervantes's 'Don Quixote.'

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the origins of judicial review.

John J. Miller is joined by Robert M. Woods to discuss Ray Bradbury's 'The Martian Chronicles.'

John J. Miller is joined by Kelly Scott Franklin of Hillsdale College to discuss Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The House of the Seven Gables.'

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the Election of 1800. This contest, pitting Thomas Jefferson against John Adams, is not simply important because it was the first time power transferred from one party to another. It also marked the first time a party organization was integral in bringing about a victory for a candidate.

John J. Miller is joined by Lorraine Murphy of Hillsdale College to discuss Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year.'

John J. Miller is joined by Karen Swallow Prior of Liberty University to discuss Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find.'

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the foreign crisis of 1793 to 1795 and its impact on the development of executive power.

In this special episode, Luke speaks to the First Families and St. Andrew's Society of New York at the Down Town Association. His speech covers Alexander Hamilton's attitude towards the free press.

In this final episode from our Bill of Rights series, Jay and Luke read the Ninth Amendment and Tenth Amendments together, trace the political fight between Federalists and Antifederalists underlying these amendments, and show how they frame the relationship between the people, the states, and the federal government.

This week the guys dig into the Eight Amendment's prohibitions on excessive fines and bail, and on cruel or unusual punishments.

Luke and Jay spend this episode digging into the peculiar American institution of the civil jury: recruiting your fellow citizens to decide disputes over everything from a cow to a global corporation. The civil jury grows in response to concerns about courts of equity: In revolutionary America (and in England), parties could choose whether to have their cases decided according to law or according to a separate equitable judicial system. Americans aren't willing to let the equity system continue without juries, so we wind up with the Seventh Amendment. Yet this raises a question: When does the common law begin or end? As it turns out, the founding generation simply asserts that the English common law applies up to revolution and then lets things run after that. However, always skeptical of the citizenry, the states resist implementing the civil jury, and despite the 14th Amendment, the civil jury has never been incorporated against the states. The guys dig deeply into the ideology and the empirical evidence underpinning hostility to the civil jury, but ultimately side with the civil jury as a virtuous institution reflective of the Founders' devotion to citizen power. 

Jay and Luke take you through the parts of the Sixth Amendment, from speedy and public trials, to the subpoena power. What constitutes an impartial trial and why do we have to have trials in the locality where a crime is committed? The guys connect the Sixth Amendment back to the political and military amendments to outline exactly how Madison imagined using juries to enforce the liberties guaranteed by the early amendments in the Bill of Rights. 

Today, Jay and Luke talk about the second half of the Fifth Amendment, which means digging into the right against self-incrimination, the guarantee of due process of law, and finally the Takings Clause. 

Today, Luke and Jay talk about the first half of the Fifth Amendment. What's so grand about a Grand Jury? Where does it come from and why do we still use it? The guys unpack that and more, looking all the way back to Runnymede and beyond. They also unpack the martial law provisions of the amendment and explain how we think about the law in fundamentally different ways than Madison and his contemporaries did. Finally, they explain how the prohibition on double jeopardy illustrates the intermingling of the common and Roman legal traditions long before Blackstone. Next week, they are going to deal with self-incrimination, due process, or takings.

In this episode, Jay and Luke take a step back before diving into the jury amendments. We have a look at how the jury amendments turn from building institutions and rights around confidence in neighbors to protect one another from injustice, and towards enforcing those rights with neighborliness as a remedy.

In this week's episode, Jay and Luke take a look at the Fourth Amendment.

In this week's episode, Jay and Luke dig into the most successful, and therefore least controversial, of the the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights: the prohibition on quartering soldiers. But there's a lot more to the Third Amendment than meets the eye. Most striking to today's reader, it embodies a skepticism of armies with deep historical roots in the 30 Years War, Cromwell's New Model Army, and most immediately the British Occupation of Boston. Beyond historical experience, however, anti-army sentiment came with a rich ideological pedigree, rooted in classical republican ideas of citizenship, humanist, and Enlightenment ideas about the causes and consequences of war, and of course a general hostility to monarchy. Yet in ratifying the Third Amendment, Congress also set a pattern for civil-military relations that survives to this day. Why has the army been a major driver of economic development and social change? The Third Amendment is a major reason. Listen to find out why. 

In this week's episode the guys talk guns. It's the Second Amendment episode, and we're digging in to the right to bear arms: Where did it come from, what did it mean, how was it implemented, and does it still make sense? From James II and the Glorious Revolution to Little Turtle's War in the Ohio Valley, we walk through America's unique and fascinating history with firearms, the right to bear arms's relationship to both ancient and modern concepts of liberty, and why everybody wanted a militia even though they were terrible at actually fighting. 

This week, Jay and Luke dig into the second part of the First Amendment. They show how Congress curtailed Madison's original protections for free speech and a free press, while taking a look at what these freedoms meant as a practical matter to the founding generation. Politics was pretty wild in late eighteenth century. America had a robust publishing culture that mainly churned out pamphlets and broadsheets -- most famously Common Sense in 1776. Heated pamphleting mirrored and fed a robust protest culture. Rioting was common, and wasn't universally frowned upon, meaning the Framers understood “peaceable assembly” in broad terms. Hanging and burning effigies was common; people raised maypoles. There was a lot of fist-fighting and pretty much everybody was drunk. So the point of the freedom to assemble was a way of creating the latent potential for escalation, which the state would seek to avoid by coming to terms with the assembled. Petition, similarly, would allow the people to make a demand of government. The government might not do anything per se, but the government would face political pressure to give an account of itself. The colonists famously petitioned George III and used his indifference to their remonstrances as justification for revolution. 

In this episode, the guys discuss the First Amendment “Religion Clauses”, which prohibit the establishment of a national church and guarantee the right to free exercise of religion. They spend some time looking at Madison’s initial draft of the amendment and how Congress simplified it in the text that was ultimately ratified, leading some contemporary readers to incorrectly see the Founders as drawing a high distinction between religious and political activities. Madison is really pushing two larger ideas. First, he’s effectively outlawing prior restraints by the federal government when it comes to the pulpit and the press. Second, he’s trying to spark pluralism, which he views as generative of greater energy and, as a result, greater creativity. Finally, the guys wrap up breaking down the historical meaning of establishmentarianism and why the free exercise clause was just intuitive to early Americans.

Today, Jay and Luke begin digging into the Bill of Rights, starting with the First Amendment. Most Americans don't realize that what we know as the First Amendment was originally the Third Amendment in Madison's planned version of the Bill of Rights. The original First Amendment, which we call "Amendment A", dealt with the size of Congressional Districts. The original Second Amendment dealt with Congressional pay and, after 202 years, 7 months, and 10 days, was finally ratified as the 27th Amendment.

In this episode, Jay and Luke introduce the principles underpinning the Bill of Rights.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the rise of the political parties.

In this episode, Jay and Luke finish their discussion of Jay’s new book, 'The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy. They focus on politics and policy during the Age of Jefferson and beyond.'

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke continue their discussion of Jay’s new book, 'The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy.'

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss Jay’s new book, 'The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy.'

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke examine the first session of the First Congress, which met from the spring through the fall of 1789.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the first federal election, held in 1788-1789.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke finish their discussion of the ratification debates with a look at Virginia and New York.

In this week’s episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke continue their discussion of ratification.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke continue their review of the ratifying conventions.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke begin their discussion of ratification.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke finish their discussion of the Anti-Federalists by asking: What did they get right?

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke continue their discussion of the Anti-Federalists.

In this week’s episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke continue their discussion of the Anti-Federalists.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the Anti-Federalists, the politicians and polemicists who opposed the Constitution during the ratification debate of 1787-1788.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss Alexander Hamilton’s theory of the executive branch.

In this episode, Jay and Luke discuss the importance of a written Constitution.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke take on the myth that our government is one of “co-equal branches.”

In this week’s episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the Electoral College, the Rube Goldberg device the Founding Fathers created to select the president.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the role that slavery played at the Constitutional Convention.

In this week’s episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss opposition against the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the first two weeks of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where the nationalists — led by James Madison and James Wilson — make remarkable headway in crafting a new government in late May and early June 1787.

In this week’s episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke begin their review of the Constitutional Convention, held in Philadelphia during the spring and summer of 1787.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke discuss the views of Alexander Hamilton.

In this episode, Jay and Luke discuss the political philosophy of James Madison, the author of the “Virginia Plan” of government submitted to the Constitutional Convention.

In this episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay and Luke continue to discuss the Articles of Confederation (a.k.a. America’s Mulligan), arguing that there were two major failures.

In the second episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay Cost and Luke Thompson look at the Articles of Confederation, the first government of the United States. The Articles were too weak to […]

In this inaugural episode of Constitutionally Speaking, Jay Cost and Luke Thompson make the case for the average American to study the Constitution.