Author: Slate Podcasts

The House Judiciary Committee is set to vote on holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress, for failing to provide a full and unredacted copy of the Mueller report. It’s the latest in a series of clashes between the legislative and executive branches—clashes that don’t show any signs of letting up. Was our 230-year-old Constitution designed for this highly partisan, highly confrontational moment?

Guest: Noah Feldman, Harvard Law School professor and host of Deep Background, available on Luminary.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We got our files mixed up this morning! This is the corrected show for Tuesday, May 7.

The proposed Equal Rights Amendment is simple: It would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. To become part of the U.S. Constitution, the ERA has to be passed not just in Congress, but in 38 state legislatures. In 2017, Nevada became the 36th state to pass it. Last year, Illinois became the 37th. And last week, Congress held a hearing on the plan.

Guest: Carol Jenkins, co-president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With all the breathless enthusiasm for the presidential race, no one seems very interested in the U.S. Senate. Why not?

Guest: Slate writer Jim Newell. 

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Anna Martin, with help from Samantha Lee. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deutsche Bank was the one lender that couldn’t quit Donald Trump. Now the bank holds the key to understanding President Trump’s finances.

Guest: David Enrich, finance editor for the New York Times.  

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Anna Martin, with help from Samantha Lee. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Attorney General William Barr showed up to the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify, but the spotlight was also on his colleague, Special Counsel Robert Mueller. What will it take to resolve the growing divide between these two men and their views of the Mueller investigation?

Guest: Jeremy Stahl, senior editor at Slate. 

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Anna Martin, with help from Samantha Lee. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in 1991, when a 35-year-old law professor named Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, it was Joe Biden who got to decide how to handle the allegation. Why does Hill think Biden failed her and all subsequent women who would bring a harassment allegation before the Senate? And what does Biden owe those women now, as he seeks the Democratic nomination for president?

Guest: Dahlia Lithwick, writer for Slate and host of the Amicus podcast. 

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Anna Martin, with help from Samantha Lee. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Brigham Young University, students and alumni are forcing a conversation about the severe enforcement of the school’s strict Honor Code. How did BYU’s high standards lead to some students feeling less safe? 

Guest: Erin Alberty, reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The NRA is in a financial mess of its own doing. A number of executives, vendors, and contractors have used their positions to enrich themselves, extracting hundreds of millions of dollars from the organization in the process. How did secrecy, poor judgement, and sweetheart deals toss the NRA into an existential crisis?

Guest: Mike Spies, reporter at The Trace.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in 2014, a mysterious hashtag started trending on Twitter: #EndFathersDay. The accounts tweeting the extremist sentiments appeared to be the accounts of black women. But black feminists on Twitter knew something was amiss. So they got to the bottom of the hashtag—and used their own to fight back. 

Guest: Rachelle Hampton, Slate writer. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices