Substantive Due Process | Episode 8

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1. 

   S2 · E2 · 14 Dec 2020 · 1 hr 5 min

   Death By a Thousand Cuts | Season 2, Ep. 2

   For victims of government misconduct, whether you can sue the officials who violated your constitutional rights often depends on whether the officials are federal, state, or local government employees. On Episode 2, we look at federal officials. We’ll head out to Wyoming where a rancher subjected to a 12-year campaign of harassment found out the hard way that all too often the Constitution simply isn’t enforceable against federal officials. Click here for transcript. Click for Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Google Podcasts , TuneIn , and Stitcher .

2. 

   S2 · E1 · 25 Nov 2020 · 38 min

   They’re Going to Kill This Man | Season 2, Ep. 1

   In 2014, two members of a joint state-federal fugitive task force beat up an innocent college student, James King, after mistaking him for a suspect who looked nothing like him. The officers had James prosecuted for resisting arrest, which a jury quickly threw out. Then, in 2015, he sued the officers for violating his rights. In 2020, James’ suit reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the question the Court faced was a narrow one: Can he even sue the officers in the first place? On Season 2 of Bound By Oath, we’ll explore why it is so hard to sue government officials who violate the…

3. 

   S2 · E1 · 23 Nov 2020 · 3 min

   Trailer: Season 2

   Why is it so hard to sue officials who violate the Constitution? Season 2 of Bound By Oath is coming soon. Click here for transcript . Click for Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Google Podcasts , TuneIn , and Stitcher .

4. 

   S1 · E9 · 20 Feb 2020 · 1 hr 3 min

   Episode 9 – Excessive Fines

   Prohibitions on excessive fines date back at least as far as Magna Carta in 1215, and the U.S. Constitution has barred excessive fines since 1791. But the Supreme Court has only recently begun to interpret what the Excessive Fines Clause means, and it wasn't until 2019 that the Court said the Clause applies to the states. On this episode: the story of how the Supreme Court finally began to incorporate the Bill of Rights rights against the states and the history of excessive fines.

5. 

   S1 · E10 · 16 Jan 2020 · 46 min

   Special Episode: Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue

   On January 22, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in an IJ case, Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue. At issue is a Montana school choice program that allowed families to send their children to private schools, including religious ones. The Montana Supreme Court said the program violated the state’s Blaine Amendment, a relic of 19th-century anti-Catholic hysteria that lives on today in 37 states constitutions, and struck the program down in 2018. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, will consider whether discriminating against religious options violates the First Amendment. On…

6. 

   S1 · E7 · 23 Aug 2019 · 40 min

   Incorporation, the Lack Thereof | Episode 7

   In 1842, the city of New Orleans prosecuted Father Bernard Permoli, a Catholic priest, for conducting an open casket funeral. A violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment? The Supreme Court said no: The protections in the Bill of Rights did not bind state and local governments. Then in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, and it incorporated the Bill of Rights against the states–or did it? On this episode, the failure of incorporation after Reconstruction.

7. 

   S1 · E6 · 5 Jul 2019 · 1 hr 8 min

   Procedural Due Process | Episode 6

   Before the government can take away your life, liberty, or property, it must first give you due process: fair and meaningful procedure. On this episode, we trace the history of due process from 1215 to today. And we head to Harris County, Texas, which operates the the third-largest jail in the country, to see why federal courts say its system of money bail violated that ancient guarantee.

8. 

   S1 · E5 · 17 Apr 2019 · 1 hr 2 min

   Tangled: The Equal Protection Clause | Episode 5

   After the Civil War, what many Americans needed most was protection from violence. That’s what the Equal Protection Clause was meant to guarantee, but today the Clause does entirely different work. On this episode: a tour of the history and meaning of the Clause and how African-style hair braiders use it today to protect their right to earn an honest living.

9. 

   S1 · E4 · 20 Feb 2019 · 40 min

   The Navigable Waters | Episode 4

   In 1873, the Supreme Court said that the Privileges or Immunities Clause protects a right to “use the navigable waters of the United States”—and not much else. But in the nearly 150 years since, the Court has never examined what the right to use the navigable waters means in practice. On this episode: a pair of brothers from Stehekin, Washington, try to change that.

10. 

    S1 · E3 · 30 Jan 2019 · 51 min

    All But Redacted: The Privileges or Immunities Clause | Episode 3

    The Privileges or Immunities Clause was meant to be one of the key liberty-protecting provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Clause says: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” That sounds like a big deal, right? It’s not. The Clause has been virtually read out of the Constitution, and for people trying to vindicate their civil rights in court, it’s been of little practical use. That story—the near redaction of the Clause—begins with the Slaughterhouse Cases, which the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1873.