Last year in the wake of the attack in Las Vegas, reporter Sean Rameswaram took a deep dive into America's twisty, thorny, seemingly irreconcilable relationship with guns. It's a story about the Second Amendment, the Black Panthers, the NRA, and a guy named Dick Heller, who in 2008 brought the Second Amendment to the Supreme Court for the very first time.
Sep 2018
The Criminal Justice Amendments with Adia Victoria
<p>The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments enshrine some of our most important civil liberties. They tell us about the rights we have when the government knocks on our door, including protections from "unreasonable searches and seizures," self-incrimination, "crue ... Show More
28m 34s
Oct 2018
The Eccentric Amendments with The Kominas
<p>The first eight amendments to the U.S. Constitution are literal, straightforward, and direct. But when we get to Amendments Nine, 10, and 11, things get hazy. These are some of the <em>least</em> literal amendments in the Constitution: they mean more than they say, and what th ... Show More
33m 44s
Sep 2024
Why is the voting age 18?
<p>For most of our nation's history, the voting age was 21. So how'd we get it down to 18? In one sense, it was the fastest ratified amendment in history. In another, it took three decades. Our guide to the hard-won fight for youth enfranchisement is Jennifer Frost, author of <a ... Show More
36m 16s
Oct 2024
The World's First Constitution
The world's oldest oldest continuously surviving constitution, was adopted in the tiny country of San Marino on 8th October, 1600.
This was a good 187 years before the United States adopted its own constitution and, during his presidency, Abraham Lincoln frequently held San Mari ... Show More
11m 48s
Jul 2017
Episode 21, Thomas Hobbes's Political Philosophy (Part I)
<p>Everything you could need is on www.thepanpsycast.com! Please tweet us your thoughts at www.twitter.com/thepanpsycast. Few political thinkers can be considered as influential as Thomas Hobbes. Published in 1651, Hobbes's most famous work, the Leviathan (or The Matter, Forme an ... Show More
37m 13s