Your Weekly Constitutional

A friendship for the ages. One of the most important intellectual collaborations in human history. Fifty years of harmonious cooperation on profound issues of government and philosophy.Lewis & Clark? Nah, they just wandered in the wilderness.Lennon & McCartney? Nah, but we have to admit that Lennon was quite a philosopher, at least when he wasn't high.We're talking about Jemmy & Jeffy, a/k/a James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. They weren't much for roughing it, and neither wrote any songs (that we know of) but their lifelong friendship produced some of the most important ideas in American constitutional history. Professor Jeffry Morrison of Regent University and the James Madison Foundation tells us all about it.

The Constitution protects the fundamental right of parents to rear and educate their children as they see fit.It also protects the free speech rights of teachers and students.And, somewhere in this mix is the important concept of academic freedom, which makes the courts reluctant to second-guess the educational choices of teachers.Sometimes, all of these rights and interests seem to conflict, and the result is a struggle over the banning of a book - perhaps from a public school library or from the school's curriculum.And that's just what happened at Watauga High School in Boone, North Carolina.

Do we have a constitutional right to smile? Seems silly, but we probably do - after all, smiling is expressive activity, and such expression is protected by the First Amendment.But not every country has a First Amendment. One of those unfortunate countries is Romania, especially when it suffered under the heel of a communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu.One of Stewart's students at the Appalachian School of Law, a young woman named Irina Dan McGarry, grew up during the last few years of that dictatorship and its aftermath. Her story is a chilling reminder of the often under-appreciated value of our constitutional rights.

In this final installment of our three-part series on Colonial Williamsburg, Stewart interviews two CW interpreters: Richard Schumann, who portrays Patrick Henry, and Bryan Austin, who interprets James Madison.The beginning of the interview is in character: Madison and Henry square off in a spirited debate over the ratification of the Constitution.Then Stewart interviews Richard and Bryan as themselves, and they explain the many challenges and rewards of assuming the roles of two such important Founders.

We're back with the second installment of our three-part series on one of our favorite places in the world: Colonial Williamsburg.This week Stewart speaks with CW staffers Bill Weldon, Frances Burroughs, Lisa Heuvel and Bill White. Together, they explore CW's extensive educational outreach efforts - things like the online/in-person/online adventure game, REVQUEST - and also the many other programs provided by Colonial Williamsburg that make it one of the premiere places in America for civic education.And while we still highly recommend that you visit CW, it's nice to know that you can enjoy many of CW's extensive resources from the comfort of your own home or classroom.

This week Stewart visits with Cash Arehart, our friend and interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, one of the coolest places on the planet.Stewart and Cash talk about the history of the city of Williamsburg, the establishment of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1920's, and the evolution of this unique institution of living history over the past century.Listen in. It's epic.

Was anesthesia invented in Georgia? Or was it in Massachusetts? Or maybe Rhode Island? All three states have historical markers claiming this major medical breakthrough as their own. Did the first powered flight take place in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina? Or in Pittsburg, Texas? A Texas state marker gives the hat tip to Pittsburg.To unravel this unsettling problem, Stewart welcomes James Loewen to discuss his book, “Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Got Wrong.” Mr. Loewen is also the author of the best-selling, “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.”Stewart also discusses a current controversy over historical markers with Bryan Stevenson, the Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.Join us!

You've got a right to have your day in court. Indeed, the Constitution guarantees you a right to a lawyer, and even requires the government to pay for representation -- at least in a criminal case.But what if you have other legal needs? What if someone sues you, and you can't afford a lawyer? How much is a constitutional right worth -- if you can't afford it?Johnson City, Tennessee attorney Tony Seaton has been doing his part to answer these tough questions for years. And now he'll tell us how.

Mark Couvillon is back to round out the three part series on Patrick Henry and Red Hill!Give us Couvillon, or give us death!Sorry, got a little carried away there . . . .

He's back! By popular demand! Patrick Henry, as explained by author Mark Couvillon!Part I of this can't-miss series took us from Henry's birth in small-town Virginia as a British subject through his "liberty or death" speech, in which he risked the hangman's noose. But that was just the beginning of his fascinating life story.Draw near, and attend!

We've been meaning to do an episode on Patrick Henry for a long time. Finally, we've had a chance to visit his final home, his rustic, little-known estate in rural Virginia known as Red Hill. And boy, were we impressed. The ladies at Red Hill arranged for us to visit with Mark Couvillon, who knows more about Patrick Henry than anyone we've ever met. In fact, Mark knows so much that we couldn't cram all of his knowledge into one episode, or even two! Yep, that's right: this will be the first of three full episodes devoted to Patrick Henry. It turns out that he did much, much more of importance in our constitutional history than just giving one speech. Did you know, for example, that . . . Sorry, not enough space here. Guess you'll just have to listen.

You've heard of Thomas Jefferson. You've heard of Monticello. Perhaps you've even visited Jefferson's famous plantation. But did you know that our third President had another home, a secret hideaway deep in the forests of western Virginia, where he could escape the madding crowds that descended upon him at Monticello? No? Never heard of Poplar Forest? Well that was kind of the point, wasn't it? But we love visiting historical sites and sharing their secrets with you. So please join us as we visit Poplar Forest, T. Jeffy's secret man-cave.

This week's episode is all about blueberry soup. Whaaa? Oh, sorry for the confusion -- blueberry soup is Icelandic comfort food. Think chicken and dumplings, or perhaps grits.But, again: whaaa?This week we're talking about Iceland. Why? Because in the wake of the recent financial crisis, Iceland had itself a full-blown, grass-roots constitutional reform process. And documentary filmmaker Eileen Jarrett was there. And now she'll tell us all about it.Join us!

In a 2012 poll, the Pew Research Center noted that almost 20% of Americans responded to a question about their religious affiliation with "none of the above." That's the highest percentage in history. And it may change the way we interpret the Religion Clauses of the Constitution.We'll talk to Garrett Sheldon, a Southern Baptist minister and a member of the Political Science Department at the University of Virginia's College at Wise; we'll also speak with John Shuck, a Presbyterian minister and the host of Religion for Life, a public radio show produced at WETS, the same station that produces our show. Finally, we'll hear from a college student, Ben Harris, a second-year at the University of Virginia, who'll share his experience with the role of religion on campus.Correction: our host, Stewart Harris, states twice in this episode that the Supreme Court is currently composed of five Roman Catholic Justices and four Jewish Justices. The actual number is six Roman Catholics and three Jews. We regret the error

Our good friend Ed Kelly is quite a storyteller, which makes sense, given the wide range of interesting cases he deals with as the general counsel of East Tennessee State University, where our show is produced.In our fascinating interview, we focus upon Ed's many constitutional cases, which run the gamut from free speech to due process - and also upon some interesting stories from Ed's checkered past.Join us!

You've heard of the famous plot to kill Hitler in 1944, code-named Valkyrie. But did you know that the last of the Valkyrie plotters only recently died? His name was Ewald von Kleist, and we'll be talking about him with one of his American relatives, Eric von Kleist. It turns out that the von Kleists, an old aristocratic family from what is now Poland, were anti-Nazi before anti-Nazi was cool. And their adventures make quite a cool story.

Never heard of John Bingham? That's a shame. He shouldn't be mysterious at all. For while Thomas Jefferson claimed that "all men are created equal," John Bingham actually wrote equality into the Constitution.What a novel idea.

What can you do if an ex-lover posts explicit photographs of you online? Aren't there laws against such behavior?There are, indeed, according to our two guests. But are such laws effective? And, even if they might be effective, do they violate the First Amendment?Join us for a timely, and disturbing, discussion.

Part II of our fascinating interview with Simon Winchester. Go back and listen to Part I, then come back here and finish it up. Now! Go!After we finish speaking with Simon, we'll discuss fashion with Charlie Condon, Associate Dean at the Appalachian School of Law -- he's such a snappy dresser. Actually, we'll discuss an important labor case pending in front of the Supreme Court with Charlie - but the case does revolve around clothing, the sort one wears in a steel mill. So, perhaps we should call it Labor Law Fashion. In any event, it's an important case and an interesting discussion.

Best-selling author Simon Winchester discusses his new book, "The Men Who United the States." The unity of our nation is not just a political or social phenomenon. It is also physical, made possible throughout our history by roads, canals, railroads, telegraph lines – up to and including the Internet. The story of how Simon Winchester came to write the book is as fascinating as the book itself.Also, Stewart talks to Matt Reeves, the Chief Archeologist at Montpelier, James Madison’s historic home in Orange, Virginia.