TikTok - an app with around 170 Million American users - is under intense scrutiny by the U.S. government, including a bill passed by the House of Representatives which issues a threat: "sell or be banned." But how and why can the government do that? What does this kind of business restriction look like? We talked to Steven Balla of George Washington University to get the low down on regulations and bans in the United States. TLDR: This episode goes beyond the current legislation, but it's updated from an earlier version which dropped in April, 2023. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

When the Supreme Court says something is or isn't constitutional, what does that really mean? What are the effects, or lack thereof, of their decisions? And what do we do if we don't agree with what they say?Today Linda Monk, author of The Bill of Rights: A User's Guide, walks us through four times in US History that the Supreme Court was not the be-all-end-all decision maker.Here are some links to shows we reference in the episode:Dred Scott v SandfordBrown vs. Board of Education of Topeka CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

The process is pretty straightforward. Plenty of people want to make some change. And yet? We've only done it 27 times. So what does it take to amend the U.S. Constitution and why does it barely ever happen?Robinson Woodward Burns, Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University, is our guide.Want more Civics 101? Sign up for our newsletter and enjoy the pure delight of an extra dose of (genuinely fun) civics musing twice a month. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

Listen to our full, two-part series from 2023 on the history of civics education, and the current legal and ideological debates around social studies happening in across the country today. Walking us through the past, present, and future of social studies and civic education are Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Adam Laats, Historian and Professor of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University. We also hear from Louise Dube, Executive Director of iCivics and member of the Implementation Consortium at Educating for American Democracy, Justin Reich, Director at MIT Teaching Systems Lab and host of the TeachLab podcast, and CherylAnne Amendola, Department Chair and teacher at Montclair Kimberly Academy and host of the podcast Teaching History Her Way. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

When the cats are away...well...you know. In this special episode, Executive Producer Rebecca Lavoie and Senior Producer Christina Phillips follow up on some recent discussions sparked by our newsletter Extra Credit. How do you have a legitimate discussion with someone who has the facts wrong? And what's going on with all of these different trials involving former President Donald Trump?Click here to read Nick's essay on responding to someone who's wrong. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!Click here to make a donation to Civics 101. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

The president has the power to release someone from prison, restore their voting rights, or stop a federal criminal investigation with little more than the wave of a hand. How did the president get this power, and are there any limitations? What would it mean for a president to pardon themselves? Brian Kalt, constitutional law professor at Michigan State University, helps answer these questions. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

Machine learning is being used in police precincts, schools, courts and elsewhere across the country to help us make decisions. Using data about us, algorithms can do almost instantly what it would take human beings both time and money to do. Cheaper, faster, more efficient and potentially more accurate -- but should we be doing it? How should we be using it? And what about our privacy and our rights?Aziz Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, is our guide to the new world order. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!

Federalist 10 was one of the Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 essays that were published in New York to encourage ratification of the newly drafted Constitution. This essay is taught in classrooms across the country and often referred to as the most important. So what's it about?Taking us through the ideas of faction, republicanism, and Madison's inability to predict Facebook are Jeffrey Rosen, President of the National Constitution Center, Alison LaCroix, Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and our dear friend Ryan Werenka, AP Government and Politics teacher at Troy High School in Michigan. Click here to listen to our episode on the Federalist and Antifederalist Papers.And click here to support our show and get yourself some wool socks and a hat! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!