Stanford Legal

Episoade

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  U.S. Elections Under Pressure from White House 18.09.2026 30min

  Nate Persily joins Pam Karlan to discuss efforts to change the rules governing the 2026 elections and the legal battles over how those changes would affect voting.
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  Who Fills In When Federal Jobs Are Vacant? 03.09.2026 27min

  Stanford’s Anne Joseph O’Connell examines who can step in when a top federal position is vacant and what recent court decisions could mean for how those positions are filled.
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  Best of Stanford Legal: Inside the ACLU’s Docket with Anthony Romero 20.08.2026 34min

  The ACLU’s Anthony Romero unpacks a sweeping docket—from a Supreme Court showdown over birthright citizenship to voting rights and free speech—as the rule of law is tested.
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  America's Promissory Note 11.08.2026 1h 9min

  In the final discussion of The Declaration at 250 series, Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, argues the Declaration’s natural-rights principles call Americans to civic virtue, substantive justice, and human flourishing—not license. Jonathan Gienapp, Professor of History at Stanford University, emphasizes the Declaration’s political core—non-domination and self-government—and shows how disputes over liberty, democracy, and inequality began almost immediately after the founding. Together they frame the Declaration less as settled creed than as an enduring argument Americans must continually work out.
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  The Growing Influence of State Solicitors General 06.08.2026 29min

  Former state solicitors general Michael Mongan and Kevin Gallagher discuss the evolving role of state solicitors general and how states work together to shape legal battles before the Supreme Court.
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  Countering Contemporary Criticism of America's Founding Principles 04.08.2026 1h 4min

  Peter Berkowitz, Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State, argues the Declaration’s principles remain essential despite rising left- and right-wing critiques. Stephen Haber, Stanford Professor of Political Science, History, and Economics, contends universities’ governance and leadership pipelines—not just faculty—are driving the drift away from civic-focused liberal education.
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  The Declaration In the Age of General Purpose AI 28.07.2026 1h 7min

  Alexander Tsesis argues the Declaration’s natural-rights logic limits First Amendment protection to conscious human beings, not AI systems. Anne Twitty adds historical nuance and asks whether abolitionists’ strong commitment to the public’s “right to hear” could inadvertently support a listener-centered case for protecting AI outputs. Tsesis replies that listener rights matter, but the First Amendment’s core remains human, speaker-centered expression.
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  The Iran War and the Limits of Presidential Power 23.07.2026 28min

  Stanford’s Allen Weiner examines how the U.S. war with Iran raises questions about the president’s power to wage war and negotiate peace.
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  Is the Declaration Our Law? 21.07.2026 1h 4min

  Barnett argues the Declaration of Independence is foundational law that sets government’s purposes and limits, so constitutional interpretation should presume liberty and demand clear authority for restrictions. Volokh agrees the Declaration is crucial but sees it mainly as political argument and inspiration, not binding law, except where anchored in constitutional text like the Ninth Amendment. Their debate turns on whether the Declaration’s first principles can function as legally relevant constraints on government power.
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  State Constitutions and the Declaration of Independence 14.07.2026 1h 4min

  Justice Clint Bolick argues the Declaration of Independence is woven directly into state constitutions and can be used to enforce stronger protections for liberty than the federal Constitution. Rich Ford broadens the lens, urging attention to state and local constitutionalism while warning that “natural rights” has historically supported competing visions of government power.
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  The Structural Declaration of Independence 07.07.2026 50min

  The episode argues the Declaration is both a statement of rights and a framework for legitimate government. Tino Cuéllar stresses the tension between universal ideals and state power, while Larry Kramer highlights the Declaration’s legal roots and its evolving meaning over time. Together, they show it as both blueprint and battleground.
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  Birthright Citizenship and the Future of the Fourteenth Amendment 06.07.2026 33min

  Stanford’s Fred Smith examines the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship decision, its historical roots in the Fourteenth Amendment, and the questions the Court leaves unresolved.
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  Inside the Supreme Court’s Key 2026 Decisions 02.07.2026 36min

  Jeff Fisher discusses a term marked by major rulings across executive power, voting, and civil rights, and what they signal about the Court’s trajectory.
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  The Declaration of Independence as Obligation 30.06.2026 43min

  The episode examines the Declaration of Independence’s claim that people may have a duty—not just a right—to overthrow tyrannical government. Martha Minow explores possible foundations for that duty in natural law, religion, international norms, and psychology, while Jenny Martinez emphasizes the Declaration’s mutual pledge as an enduring obligation to fulfill its promises across American history. Together, they highlight the tension between universal ideals and the duties of a particular political community.
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  The Case for a Public Share in AI 25.06.2026 25min

  Jeremy Bearer-Friend and Sarah Polcz discuss their proposal to require leading AI firms to pay taxes in equity, reshaping how the gains from AI are distributed
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  The Declaration of Independence and Conditions for Democratic Flourishing 23.06.2026 52min

  In the opening episode of The Declaration at 250, Michael McConnell introduces a discussion with remarks by Condoleezza Rice and a response from David Kennedy on what makes democracy work. Rice emphasizes institutions and civil society; Kennedy traces evolving ideas of equality and warns about declining trust.
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  Declaration at 250 Trailer 18.06.2026 1min

  Nearly 250 years after its adoption, the Declaration of Independence remains one of America’s most revered—and most disputed—texts. In Declaration at 250, Stanford Law’s Constitutional Law Center and Stanford Legal bring together leading scholars, historians, and jurists from across the ideological spectrum to ask a single urgent question: What does the Declaration mean for Americans today? Introduced by Professor Michael McConnell, the series explores the conditions that sustain democratic self-government, confronts modern criticisms of the founding, and considers whether the Declaration implies not only rights but duties. Across eight conversations, it examines the Declaration’s influence on state constitutions, its structural ideas about government, whether it has legal force, how its principles translate to emerging challenges like artificial intelligence, and whether it still serves—as Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. argued—as America’s enduring promissory note to the future.
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  Inside the Trump Administration's Immigration Agenda 11.06.2026 33min

  Lucas Guttentag discusses the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the legal battles reshaping the U.S. immigration system
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  The Law Must Be King 28.05.2026 55min

  Judge J. Michael Luttig on the Rule of Law in an Era of Executive Overreach
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  When Government Lawyers Draw the Line 14.05.2026 1h 3min

  Former Justice Department officials reflect on an institution at a crossroads