Why Do We Give Constitutional Rights to Criminal Defendants?

Legalization of Marijuana: This week's episode cover topics that include; but are not limited to, jury duty, learning when you hate your job, why cigarettes are awesome, federalism, standing, Bush v. Gore, and ultimately the legalization of marijuana. Brett and Nazim talk... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

45 min listen

The Consitutionality of Income Taxes: The thesis of this week's episode is that taxes are nothing to be trifled with. First, Brett and Nazim discuss the many ways that citizens have failed trying to make income taxes unconstitutional. Afterward, Brett and Nazim discuss... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

42 min listen

The Importance of Jury Duty: Stop scoffing at that title. This week's episode covers all aspects of the American Jury system, along with the current case of Warger v. Shauers, to help motivate you to celebrate, instead of cringe, when you receive your summons for jury... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

45 min listen

Equal Protection and Private Discrimination: Brett and Nazim start a three-part discussion on Equal Protection and the Gay Marriage decision this summer that begins with how the Constitution has used creative means to ban private discrimination in states and private businesses. The... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

44 min listen

Same Sex Marriage & the Supreme Court: This week discusses the Supreme Court's decision on whether a State can ban gay marriage. Brett & Nazim cover this history of gay rights in the Supreme Court (spoiler:its bad), and how the current court may decide the issue (spoiler:its... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

56 min listen

Grand Juries, Govt. Immunity and Police Use of Deadly Force: This week's episode discusses the legal issues surrounding the police in Ferguson, MS and Staton Island, NY. The goal here was to take a strictly legal and objective overview of the issues in each case, specifically what a grand jury does, why... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

45 min listen

Supreme Court Name Game: Brett and Nazim revel in their professional failures and discuss the nine justices that make up the Supreme Court. To solve the problem of remembering their names, the two share an acronym that is easy to remember and objectively related to... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

35 min listen

Hobby Lobby: Brett and Nazim break down one of the more controversial decisions of 2014, by discussing their initial thoughts on the case and then expanding on those thoughs after actually reading the decision for the first time. by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

51 min listen

How Does Equal Protection Work?: Brett and Nazim discuss the convoluted way that the Supreme Court evaluates Equal Protection Claims. In addition to walking through the three major tests used by the Court, the primary cases discussed involve why Virginia Military Academy could... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

45 min listen

The Catch 22 of Free Speech: There is no good resolution to the case of Walker v. Sons of Confederate Soldiers. Whether you are a free speech advocate or someone who simply doesn't appreciate images of slavery, the determination of whether or not Texas should allow... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

44 min listen

D.C. v. Heller & Heien v. North Carolina: This week's episode discusses two Supreme Court cases in the context of how Supreme Court cases move the needle with the general public. D.C. v. Heller deals with guns, the second amendment, and whether a State can ban the private ownership of... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

47 min listen

Child Abuse and the Confrontation Clause: This week's episode covers Ohio v. Clark, which asks whether or not a teacher may testify on behalf of a three year old child who was the only witness to a child abuse case under the Confrontation Clause. This presents a good example of how the... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

46 min listen

4th Amendment Privacy and Smart Phones: This week handles a hypothetical only a paranoid conspiracy theorist could love. Through the lens of whether police could solve crimes by searching fingerprints given to access smart phones, Brett and Nazim discuss how the 4th amendment has... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

44 min listen

Mailbag and Updates - Part 1: Brett and Nazim open up the listener mailbag to answer questions posed by listeners and update previous cases that have since been decided. The topics this week include Holt v. Hobbs, smart phone technology, why DUI checkpoints are acceptable... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

41 min listen

With Great Power, Comes Justice Elena Kagan: We're getting to the end of the relevant cases for the 2015 term, so this week ties up the loose ends that haven't been covered so far. In particular, Brett and Nazim discuss Kimble v. Marvel, a case patent case by day that serves as an... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

47 min listen

Evolutionary v. Originalist Perspectives: Brett and Nazim discuss three important issues. (1) How to get to the Supreme Court. (2) The two main viewpoints of the Supreme Court. (3) Why the they do not passive agressively hate each other. by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

44 min listen

Mailbag and Updates - Part 2: Brett and Nazim continue to empty out the mailbag, discussing whether the Federal or State government could require mandatory vaccinations, the inner workings of the Supreme Court, and the difference between judicial interpretation of the law and... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

41 min listen

Indiana RFRA: Fact or Fiction: The Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act is a real law with history, scope, thoughts and feelings, and this episode gives that devil its due. Brett and Nazim address popular conclusions regarding the law to help shape ways to address the... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

48 min listen

Why Do We Give Constitutional Rights to Criminal Defendants?: This week's episode is in response to an email we received in response to the "When Can Police Search Your Car Episode", which addressed reasons why giving police too much discretion to invade privacy has practical consequences. Going off that... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

50 min listen

Facebook and Free Speech: Brett and Nazim discuss the case of Elonis v. U.S., which covers whether or not the Supreme Court will afford special protection to threatening statements made on Facebook and/or prosecute people who share pictures of food. That last part is a... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

44 min listen

The Failures of Equal Protection: Like most great story arcs, our discussion into Equal Protection has a depressing epilogue. Through cases concerning equal protection and affirmative action, Brett and Nazim talk about how the Court's rigid approach to Equal Protection has... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

46 min listen

Origins and Limits of the Supreme Court's Power: It's been a while since we've gotten into the background of the Supreme Court, so this week, Brett and Nazim discuss the self-imposed scope of the Supreme Court's Power by way of a weird behind-the-scenes nuance of the San Francisco v. Sheehan case on... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

36 min listen

Facebook, Abercrombie, and the Supreme Court: This week's episode reviews the recent decisions of Elonis v. U.S. and Abercrombie & Fitch v. EEOC. Within this episode, Brett and Nazim talk about how the decisions were more limited than expected, but how that may be in the best interests... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

44 min listen

Technical Aspects of the Death Penalty: Brett and Nazim discuss the technical side of the death penalty, including how it is administered, the jury requirements and why Nazim thinks it costs too much. The cases, Kansas v. Carr and Brumfield v. Cain, help show how the death penalty... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

43 min listen

Is This Ineffective Assistance of Counsel?: In connection with the case of Mata v. Lynch, Brett and Nazim discuss how bad an attorney has to be to overturn a criminal conviction. Afterward, they play a game called "Is This Ineffective Assistance of Counsel?", which discusses whether or... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

42 min listen

How Does Criminal Law Punish Defendants?: This week's episode about the criminal elements needed to convict someone is the converse to last week's episode about Constitutional elements that protect criminal defendants. In addition to talking about how criminal law works at a fundamental... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

45 min listen

Decisions in Obergefell and Glossip: This week's episode covers the Court's most recent decisions regarding same sex marriage and lethal injection. In both cases, Brett and Nazim discuss technical legal issues with the decisions and why it is not unreasonable to feel one way about... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

48 min listen

Money, Politics, and Free Speech: AKA, the Devil's Threesome. This week, Brett and Nazim cover the case of Williams-Yullee v. Florida Bar, which decided whether restrictions on a Judge's campaign donations were a violation of the First Amendment. This leads to a bigger... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

42 min listen

Same Sex Marriage Oral Argument: We're running back the same sex marriage case to talk about the Oral Argument held on April 28, 2015. Brett and Nazim discuss the nuances of oral argument, who should be panicking based on the judge's questions, and which N'Sync member can be... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

53 min listen

Consumer Protection Claims & the Concept of Standing: This week covers Spokeo v. Robbins, a case where one intrepid, mischaracterized plaintiff attempts to take down Big Credit Report under an poorly-written Congressional statute (stop us if you've heard this before). The key legal concept here is... by The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

47 min listen

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Why Do We Give Constitutional Rights to Criminal Defendants?

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