PODCAST · government
The Law with D.K. Williams
by D.K. Williams
Fun and entertaining legal analysis of important historical and modern constitutional issues. thelaw.substack.com
Episodes
-
Ep 83 Presser v. Illinois (1886)
In a U.S. Supreme Court decision written between the passage of the 14th Amendment and when the Court started “incorporating” the Bill of Rights against the states, the Court upheld the conviction and $10 fine against Herman Presser. Presser had led a group of about 400 armed people calling...
-
Ep 82 Jacobson v Massachusetts (1905)
Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court denied a California church’s request to stop the enforcement of certain public health rules that negatively affected the way the church conducted religious services. In doing so, the Court relied upon the 115 year old Jacobson case that upheld a mandatory...
-
Ep 81 Bostock v Clayton County (2020)
SCOTUS, in a 6-3 decision, held that homosexual and transgender people are protected from discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Act prohibits discrimination against anyone “because of sex.” Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, concluded that firing someone due to their...
-
Ep 80 Chiafalo v. Washington (2020)
In the conclusion to the Rogue Elector saga we have been following, the Supreme Court applied what I refer to as the “Erosion Doctrine” to unanimously hold that states can turn their presidential electors into mere rubber stamps, thus depriving them of any discretion when selecting the president....
-
Ep 79 Ramos v. Louisiana (2020)
SCOTUS overturned precedent by a 6-3 margin and said states can not convict someone of a criminal offense unless the jury verdict is unanimous. Evangelisto Ramos had been convicted by a 10-2 verdict and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Louisiana. Ramos was granted…
more -
Ep 78 RNC v DNC (2020)
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a controversial 5-4 decision, overruled a lower court order expanding Wisconsin statutory deadlines for submitting mail-in ballots due to the state government’s response to the Coronavirus. The five justice majority were all appointed by Republican...
-
Ep 77 South Dakota v Dole (1987)
I was legal to drink during my freshman year of college, but not my sophomore year. Then I was legal again my junior year. Why? Because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. What authority does Congress have to set the drinking age for the states? That’s what South Dakota wanted to...
-
Ep 76 Allen v Cooper (2020)
Pirates! Blackbeard! Queen Anne’s Revenge! Sovereign immunity! Enumerated powers! And, sexiest of all, copyright law! Stare decisis and legislative history, and separation of powers, too. The US Supreme Court, just two weeks ago, dealt with them all. Did I mention PIRATES?! Avast, check it out,...
-
Ep 75 Ex parte Milligan (1866)
During the Civil War, Lambkin Milligan, a citizen of Indiana, was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to hang for alleged anti-Union activities. He argued his conviction was illegal and sought a writ of Habeas Corpus for his release. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled in Milligan’s favor. This...
-
Ep 74 Bad Elk v US (1900)
In a story that could have been an episode of Gunsmoke or Bonanza, in 1899 tribal police officer John Bad Elk shot and killed another tribal officer who was attempting to arrest him. Bad Elk was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The U.S. Supreme Court awarded Bad Elk a new trial based on the...
-
Ep 73 Miller v Wyoming (2020 WY)
In November, 2013, Robert Miller was driving through Wyoming on his way to his home in Illinois. During a traffic stop, a state trooper discovered $470,040 in cash in his car. Just last week, the Wyoming State Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the State of Wyoming had to return the cash it had...
-
Ep 72 Texas v Johnson (1989)
In this 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that burning an American flag was speech the government could not punish pursuant to the First Amendment. Gregory Johnson, a member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, participated in an anti-government protest during the 1984 Republican...
-
Ep 71 US v. Nixon (1974)
In this unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court rejected President Nixon’s contention that all communication involving the Chief Executive of the US - which just happened to be him - was immune from production in a criminal investigation. The case arises out of the investigation of the Watergate...
-
Ep 70 West Coast Hotel v Parrish (1937)
This is the U.S. Supreme Court case that ended the Lochner era of jurisprudence. It is allegedly the “switch in time that saved nine,” a reference to the Court abruptly changing course shortly after FDR announced his court packing plan. Justice Owen Roberts, in a span of a few months, changed his...
-
Ep 69 Blumenthal v Trump (DC Cir. 2020)
Just this week, a unanimous D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a lawsuit filed by over 200 members of Congress alleging Donald Trump is in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. The court held the members of Congress did not have standing to bring the lawsuit. So this week…
more -
Ep 68 Lochner v NY (1905)
This 5-4 Supreme Court decision, which struck down a state regulation that made it a crime to allow an employee to work more than 60 hours a week as a violation of an individual’s liberty to contract, is largely ridiculed in law schools today and by modern central planners. Find out why. Check it...
-
Ep 67 The Death Penalty
The death penalty is back in the news this week as the Colorado General Assembly considers a bill to ban the punishment. Nationwide, the practice is on the decline. While the concept of a death penalty is constitutional, is it a good idea? Should the government be trusted with the power of...
-
Ep 66 Juliana v US (9th Cir. 2020)
Just last week, in a 2-1 decision, the 9th Circuit correctly tossed out the “Climate Kids” lawsuit seeking a judicial order requiring the executive and legislative branches to design and implement policy the plaintiffs had been unable to convince the political branches to enact. The plaintiffs...
-
Ep 65 A Republic, If You Can Keep It, by Neil Gorsuch
United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch’s book attempts to explain to non-lawyers the importance of the constitutional framework of our federal government, and he succeeds. He discusses how the separation of powers, when followed, protects our rights and liberties. He clarifies...
-
Ep 64 Texas v. U.S. (5th Cir. 2019)
Just last month, the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that the individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is no longer constitutional. Despite wailing from some who support the ACA, the 5th Circuit is correct. The Supreme Court, in 2012, upheld the mandate on the...
-
Ep 63 Legal lessons from Richard Jewell
The recent movie directed by Clint Eastwood, Richard Jewell, dramatizes the actual events surrounding a pipe bomb explosion during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. When I first saw the trailer for the movie, I was yelling at the screen “DON’T TALK TO THE POLICE, RICHARD! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Fortunately,...
-
Ep 62 Printz v United States (1997)
In this 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared certain key provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act unconstitutional. While the Brady Act was an attempt at federal gun control, this is not a Second Amendment case. It is a Tenth Amendment case. Justice Scalia, writing for the...
-
Ep 61 Knick v. Township of Scott (2019)
The Township of Scott, Pennsylvania, ordered Mary Jane Knick to allow the public on her property because it contained a private cemetery. She opposed that directive. This Supreme Court case from earlier this year deals with two important topics: The Fifth Amendment Takings Clause and stare…
more -
Ep 60 An Interview with Rogue Elector Micheal Baca
This is a special edition of The Law. We discussed the 10th Circuit opinion Baca v. Colorado (2019) back in episode 48 of The Law. Michael Baca is the plaintiff in that case, and he graciously agreed to talk to me about how he became a Presidential Elector, why he did not vote for Hillary Clinton...
-
Ep 59 U.S. v. Paramount Pictures (1948)
In this 1948 Supreme Court case, the US Department of Justice brought an antitrust case against most of the major movie studios and movie distributors for anti-competitive practices. This case is another example of how the judiciary rewrites statutes passed by Congress. The case itself: U.S. v....
-
Ep 58 Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1971)
The Fourth Amendment prohibits federal agents from wrongfully arresting you and searching your house without a warrant. But what if they do? What if they enter your house without permission, ransack your house without a warrant, wrongfully handcuff you in front of your wife and child, take you…
more -
Ep 57 Miller v. California (1973)
Marvin Miller was convicted of violating California’s criminal obscenity law when he sent unsolicited mailings advertising the availability of some dirty books and a movie. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, upheld his conviction. This is one of several cases from this era where the Court...
-
Ep 56 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)
Birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment have been in the news recently. President Trump does not believe birthright citizenship is required by the 14th Amendment. The U.S, Supreme Court discussed the issue in some detail in an 1898 case, U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark. Wong was the son of Chinese...
-
Ep 55, D.C. v. Wesby (2018)
This case, otherwise known as the Peaches’ House Party Case, deals with probable cause and qualified immunity of police officers. Justice Thomas wrote the opinion for a unanimous court overturning judgments of almost $1,000,000 awarded to partygoers for what the lower court found to be their...
-
Ep 54 Nixon v. U.S. (1993)
Impeachment has been in the news lately. In this 9-0 decision from 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court makes it clear that impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial by the Senate are purely political processes. There is no judicial review of either process. If a federal official is impeached...
-
Ep 53 Janus v AFSCME (2018)
In another recent case, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned one of its earlier decisions. The Court overruled a 1977 case, Abood v. Detroit Board of Ed., that said unions could deduct “agency fees” from non-members of the union without their consent. The Janus Court, in a 5-4 decision, ended that...
-
Ep 52 Bush v Gore (2000)
Almost 20 years ago, the presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was decided by the results in Florida. Due to the failure of Florida to execute the election and ballot counting process in a competent manner, the United States Supreme Court had to address the Equal Protection...
-
Ep 51 Korematsu v US (1944)
In a dark stain on the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence, a 6-3 majority of the Court held that the fear of potential “espionage and sabotage” from American Citizens of Japanese heritage, during World War II, was enough to justify interning (a euphemism for “jailing”) Japanese-Americans, even those...
-
Ep 50 Ray v Blair (1952)
Lower courts have come to opposite conclusions on whether or not states can bind their electoral college voters to rubber stamp the popular vote or if the electors can use their discretion to vote how they see fit. If this question is not decided by the U.S. Supreme Court by November 2020, our…
more -
Ep 49 Guerra v Washington (Wash S.Ct. 2019)
Whether or not members of the electoral college can use their discretion when voting, or if states can require electors to vote a certain way, remains in the news. Last week, in episode 48, we discussed the 10th Circuit’s ruling on the issue in Baca v Colorado. This week, we discuss a recent...
-
Ep 48 Baca v Colorado Dept of State (10th Cir. 2019)
Should presidential electors be free to vote however they wish? Political intrigue abounds! The electoral college is in the news! Progressives are quoting Alexander Hamilton and The Federalist Papers! A “progressive” anti-electoral college group is funding lawsuits to actually enforce Art II,...
-
Ep 47 NY Times v Sullivan (1964)
In this famous case, L. B. Sullivan, a Montgomery, Alabama, City Commissioner, sued the N. Y. Times for libel and won a $500,000 verdict in a state court. The Times had run a paid ad critical of the way Alabama and some of its local police had treated civil rights activists. It was undisputed…
more -
Ep 45 Gamble v U.S. (2019)
The “Dual Sovereign Doctrine” allows for a state court AND a federal court to punish you for the exact same thing. That’s what happened to Terance Gamble, who was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in Alabama state court where he was sentenced to one year of incarceration.…
more -
Ep 46 Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas (2019)
In this episode, we talk liquor and Prohibition! In this recent case, the U.S. Supreme Court had to apply the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, to a modern licensing regime in Tennessee. Tennessee had a two-year residency requirement to be eligible for a license to operate a retail…
more -
Ep 44 Tax Board v Hyatt (2019)
Two months ago the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturned a 40 year old precedent concerning the sovereign immunity of individual states. The majority opinion, written by Clarence Thomas, held that correcting the court’s constitutional mistakes outweighed the doctrine of stare decisis...
-
Ep 43 The FUCT trademark case - Iancu v Brunetti (2019)
The Lanham Act prohibited the federal registration of trademarks deemed “immoral” or “scandalous.” This provision kept Erik Brunetti from registering the name of his clothing line, FUCT. He argued that prohibiting trademark registration of his company name violated the First Amendment. The U.S....
-
Ep 42 The citizenship question and the census Dept of Commerce v NY (2019)
The court held that the administration offered only pretext and did not offer a genuine justification for reinserting the citizenship question, even though the question has been asked throughout most of the country’s history. The administration’s attempt did not violate any constitutional...
-
Ep 41 Indefinite detention and Moath al-Alwi (cert. denied 2019)
SCOTUS refused to hear the appeal of Moath al-Alwi, who has been detained without charge in Guantanamo Bay for over 17 years. We discuss Justice Breyer’s statement on the court’s refusal to hear the case, and why Breyer thinks the Court should potentially hear the next such appeal. We discuss the...
-
Ep 40 Rucho v Common Cause 2019
SCOTUS, in a 5-4 decision, held that gerrymandering by state legislatures is a political question that the federal judiciary has no authority to hear. There ARE other ways to address the issue. We talk about it. The case itself: Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 US _ (2019). Get full access to The Law...
-
The Law Ep 39 The Bladensberg Cross case (2019)
In a 7-2 decision, the US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a 40-foot cross in Bladensberg, MD, that was part of a World War I memorial. The Court held that the history and context of a religious symbol can result in additional, secular meanings being attributed to the symbol. They…
more -
The Law Ep 38 Schenck v United States (1919)
Schenck is the case responsible for the unfortunate “You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre’ quotation. The phrase was never binding law and the entire case was subsequently overruled. The quote “is worse than useless.” Do not use that quote. We discuss where it came from. The case itself:...
-
The Law Ep 37 McDonald v Chicago (2010)
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment applies to the states via the incorporation doctrine and states can not violate the right to keep and bear arms any more than the federal government can. The case itself: McDonald v. Chicago Get full access to The Law with...
-
The Law Ep 36 D.C. v Heller (2008)
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment’s constitutional prohibition on the government’s authority to infringe on the right to keep and bear arms applies to individuals and is not limited to those in a government operated militia. Then why is the militia…
more -
Ep 35 Flood v Kuhn (1972)
In this case, the Supreme Court upheld Major League Baseball’s “reserve clause,” which kept a player tied to his former team even after his contract had expired. The Court’s ruling was based on stare decisis, the idea that once the Court has made a ruling, it should stick with it, even as it...
-
Ep 34 Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
The State of Alabama had a state legislature based in part on geographic districts (like counties) and not population. Plaintiff Sims lived in a very populous district with the same representation as those living in much less populated areas. Sims alleged his rights to Equal Protection pursuant…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Fun and entertaining legal analysis of important historical and modern constitutional issues.
thelaw.substack.com
HOSTED BY
D.K. Williams
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Law with D.K. Williams have?
The Law with D.K. Williams currently has 83 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Law with D.K. Williams about?
Fun and entertaining legal analysis of important historical and modern constitutional issues. thelaw.substack.com
How often does The Law with D.K. Williams release new episodes?
The Law with D.K. Williams has 83 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Law with D.K. Williams?
You can listen to The Law with D.K. Williams on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Law with D.K. Williams?
The Law with D.K. Williams is created and hosted by D.K. Williams.
URL copied to clipboard!