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PODCAST

Civics In A Year

The Center for American Civics

What do you really know about American government, the Constitution, and your rights as a citizen?Civics in a Year is a fast-paced podcast series that delivers essential civic knowledge in just 10 minutes per episode. Over the course of a year, we’ll explore 250 key questions—from the founding documents and branches of government to civil liberties, elections, and public participation.Rooted in the Civic Literacy Curriculum from the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University, this series

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All Episodes

27:38

How The Fifth, Sixth, And Seventh Amendments Protect Us

Civics In A Year ·

2025/11/10

Want to know why a room full of ordinary people may be the strongest shield for your freedom? We sit down with Dr. James Stoner to unpack how the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amendments built a citizen‑powered brake on state power—and why those guardrails still shape trials, property, and civil justice today. We start with the founding clash over juries, where Anti‑Federalists demanded more than Article III’s broad promise. You’ll hear how vicinage, grand juries, and the fear of “the process as...

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14:43

The Fourth Amendment: From General Warrants To...

Civics In A Year ·

2025/11/07

We trace the Fourth Amendment from colonial protests against general warrants to modern rules for warrants, cars, phones, and digital surveillance. We explain probable cause, reasonableness, and how courts adapt old principles to new technology without watering them down. • roots in English common law and colonial resistance to general warrants • James Otis’s protest and John Adams’s influence on state constitutions • probable cause, sworn affidavits, and particularity in warrants • the auto...

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17:27

Understanding The Second Amendment Through History...

Civics In A Year ·

2025/11/06

What if the fiercest argument about the Second Amendment is solved by going back to grammar, history, and first principles? We bring on Professor Nelson Lund—constitutional scholar and author of Rousseau’s Rejuvenation of Political Philosophy—to cut through the noise with a clear reading of the text, a tour of English militia traditions, and a deep dive into the natural rights foundation that powered the founding era. We start where the framers started: with England’s uneasy balance between ...

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16:07

Hate Speech And The First Amendment

Civics In A Year ·

2025/11/05

Ever wonder why the law protects some of the most offensive speech you’ve ever heard? We sit down with Professor Eugene Volokh to map the real boundaries of the First Amendment—where protection is strongest, where it stops, and why those edges exist at all. No jargon, no euphemisms, just a clear guide to what the Constitution allows the government to punish and what it must tolerate. We start by untangling the core exceptions: defamation, true threats, and incitement of imminent lawless acti...

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10:31

Freedom Of The Press, Plainly Explained

Civics In A Year ·

2025/11/04

Do you want to know what “freedom of the press” protects when you hit publish, post a video, or record a public official? We sit down with Professor Eugene Volokh, a leading First Amendment scholar, to draw a clear map through press rights, speech doctrine, and the practical rules that shape what you can say—and how you can gather the facts to say it. We start with a plain-English definition: press freedom, not just credentialed journalists, belongs to everyone. That means the right to use m...

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18:39

How The Right To Petition Shapes Government Responses

Civics In A Year ·

2025/11/03

What if the most underrated line of the First Amendment is the one that asks for a reply? We sit down with Dr. Daniel Carpenter of Harvard to explore the right to petition—what it is, where it came from, and why it still shapes how power listens. From a Roman subject pressing Emperor Hadrian for attention to the barons who forced Magna Carta, petitioning has long been the channel that turns private grievance into public business. We walk through the pivotal moments that cemented this right: ...

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35:30

Inquiry-Based Learning That Sparks Agency In Civics

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/29

We push past rote coverage to show how inquiry turns students into investigators who ask better questions, weigh evidence, and communicate claims. We link inquiry to the EAD roadmap, Arizona standards, and practical frameworks teachers can use right away. • defining inquiry as student-driven questioning and evidence use • what inquiry looks like versus what it is not • teacher as facilitator and curator of sources • unsettled questions that anchor investigations • collaboration, civil discou...

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56:20

Debunking Constitutional Myths With A Historian’s Lens

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/28

Think you know the Constitution’s greatest hits? We pull back the curtain with Andrew Porwancher, a constitutional historian and Hamilton biographer, to test common “truths” against the record the founders left behind. We start with power: why Madison and Hamilton expected Congress to predominate, why the judiciary was “the weakest,” and how modern presidents and courts grew in strength, often with Congress’s blessing. Then we follow a surprising breadcrumb trail to the First Amendment, where...

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2:13

Civics In A Year Returns Soon

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/27

A short pause can sharpen the conversation, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re stepping back for a moment to gear up for a stronger return on November 3—bringing in sharp scholars, richer context, and practical insights on the ideas and institutions that shape American democracy. While we prep, we’re opening our library to you. We’ve curated standout episodes from the Arizona Civics podcast, produced by the Center for American Civics, that pair perfectly with our mission: making the ...

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26:26

Understanding The Freedom Of Speech: What It Protects...

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/24

We map the freedom of speech by categories, separating protected ideas from unprotected harms like libel, obscenity, true threats, and incitement, and explain why political speech sits at the core. We also clear up the biggest myth: there is no “hate speech” exception in American law. • meaning of “the” freedom of speech and core protection for political speech • libel and slander as tort-like harms outside First Amendment protection • evolution of incitement doctrine culminating in Brandenb...

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18:01

Free Exercise, Explained Clearly

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/23

We explore the Free Exercise Clause, trace the path from Reynolds to Smith, and examine how RFRA, vouchers, and the “tire case” shape modern religious liberty. We connect free exercise to establishment, show where they clash, and ask where the Court might go next. • Free exercise as anti-persecution baseline • Reynolds and limits on religiously motivated conduct • Smith’s rule on neutral, generally applicable laws • RFRA’s compelling-interest test in federal law • Hob...

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17:35

What The Establishment Clause Really Means

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/22

Forget the sound bite about a “wall of separation.” We dig into what the Establishment Clause actually says, why the founders cared, and how the Supreme Court’s view has evolved from strict separation to a history-and-tradition lens that prizes neutrality without scrubbing religion from public life. With Dr. Sean Beienberg, we unpack the founding-era landscape where some states still had established churches, walk through Jefferson’s letter and Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance, and contras...

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24:27

Religion, Liberty, And The First Amendment

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/21

What happens when a republic that relies on moral character also forbids any national church? We dig into the founding design for religious liberty, starting with the First Amendment’s twin protections—no establishment and free exercise—and the earlier Article VI commitments to oaths or affirmations and a flat ban on religious tests. By reading the text aloud and then setting it against the historical record, we show how the framers treated faith as a civic good while refusing to let the fede...

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16:51

Why the Bill of Rights Exists—and What It Really Limits

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/20

Start with a myth-buster: the First Amendment wasn’t originally first. We open the door to the real story behind the Bill of Rights—how a wary public demanded assurances, how Madison turned state models into national guarantees, and why the most overlooked provisions may be the ones that guard your freedom most effectively. Together we map the logic that shaped the first ten amendments: eight that name individual rights and two that anchor the Constitution’s core design—limited, enumerated fe...

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25:55

How the Constitution Faced Slavery without Saying Its...

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/17

We explore how three clauses—and what’s left unsaid—shaped slavery’s legal status at the founding while pointing toward its moral illegitimacy. Dr. Michael Zuckert traces the tension between federal structure, state authority, and the Declaration’s promise of equality, and follows that thread to Reconstruction. • abolitionist charge of a pro‑slavery Constitution vs Lincoln’s limited‑accommodation view • three clauses: three‑fifths, slave trade to 1808, fugitive return • deliberate omission o...

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12:40

More Perfect, The Role of Compromise in the Constitution

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/16

The Constitution didn’t materialize from harmony; it was hammered out line by line by people who disagreed on almost everything except one urgent fact: the Articles weren’t working. We sit down with Julie Silverbrook, Vice President of Civic Education at the National Constitution Center, to unpack how compromise created a nation—its brilliance, its fractures, and its moral costs. We start in 1787, where large and small states, commercial and agricultural interests, and slaveholding and non‑s...

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25:59

Amending The Constitution

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/15

What if the Constitution wasn’t meant to be a relic, but a living commitment we change only when we truly mean it? We dig into Article V with Dr. Sean Beienburg to unpack how the Constitution can be amended, why the framers chose supermajorities over unanimity, and how states can pressure Congress when Washington stalls. Along the way, we separate constitutional law from the Constitution itself, clarifying what courts can interpret—and what only the people can change. We trace the two propos...

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19:59

Electoral College, Explained

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/14

Think you already know how the Electoral College works? We go past the headlines to unpack why the system blends popular voice with state power, how states gained wide discretion over electors, and why most adopted winner-take-all rules. With Dr. Sean Beienberg, we trace the original “filtering” idea, show how party pledges transformed elector behavior, and examine the math that makes electoral-popular vote splits more likely when the House size is capped. We also stress-test the biggest cri...

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10:55

Understanding the Necessary and Proper Clause:...

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/13

What exactly does the Constitution's Necessary and Proper Clause allow Congress to do? Dr. Beienburg cuts through centuries of debate to reveal the true nature of this misunderstood provision. The podcast begins by addressing a common misconception—the name "Elastic Clause" originated not from the Constitution's defenders but from its critics seeking to portray it as dangerously expansive. Dr. Beinberg walks us through Article 1, Section 8's actual language, explaining that this provision co...

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18:43

Enlightenment to Constitution

Civics In A Year ·

2025/10/10

A lot of people say the Constitution is outdated; fewer can explain how its design actually came to be. We walk through the ideas that turned Enlightenment philosophy into a durable framework: why the founders insisted on a written constitution, how separation of powers disciplines ambition, and what makes federalism a bold way to scale a republic across a continent without flattening local life. Along the way, we unpack the surprising truth that America embraced a moderate Enlightenment—open...

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150 results

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