The Eccentric Amendments with The Kominas

More Perfect

WNYC Studios

Wnyc, Scotus, Perfect, History, Court, More, Documentary, Courses, Supreme, Education, Society & Culture

4.8 • 14.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2018

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The first eight amendments to the U.S. Constitution are literal, straightforward, and direct. But when we get to Amendments Nine, 10, and 11, things get hazy. These are some of the least literal amendments in the Constitution: they mean more than they say, and what they say is often extremely confusing. So in the third episode of the new More Perfect season, we take these three blurry amendments and bring them into focus, embarking on a metaphorical, metaphysical, and somewhat astronomical journey to find the perfect analogies to truly understand each one.

Episode Three reaches for lofty metaphors of moon shadows, legal penumbras, and romantic relationships — as well as more guttural, frankly gross ones, like the human appendix, to describe the three amendments that define the nature of our union and the powers of the government and the people.

And when you're done with the episode, listen to the songs by The Kominas, Lean Year, and Field Medic inspired by Amendments Nine, 10 and 11 on "27: The Most Perfect Album."

In Season Three, More Perfect is taking our camera lens off the Supreme Court and zooming in on the words of the people: the 27 amendments that We The People have made to our Constitution. We're taking on these 27 amendments both in song and in story. This episode is best listened to alongside "27: The Most Perfect Album," an entire album (an ALBUM!) and digital experience of original music and art inspired by the 27 Amendments. Think of these episodes as the audio liner notes.

Follow us on Instagram, Threads and Facebook @moreperfectpodcast, and X (Twitter) @moreperfect.

Transcript

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0:00.0	O Yay, Yay, Yay, Yay. The Be what you get in your head in your hands. hands is more perfect. Season 3. That right there what you're hearing are the
0:52.0	Caminas. a South Asian American punk band that chose
0:56.5	the 9th Amendment. You can hear the whole song at the most perfect album.org.
1:01.3	We have released an album, as I have mentioned in the past two episodes. We're
1:04.1	really excited. We made this album called 27 the most perfect album where we
1:09.0	asked a bunch of musicians to write a song that interprets one of the amendments to the US Constitution.
1:17.0	A bunch of different artists participated again you can hear the whole thing at the
1:19.4	most perfect album.org or on iTunes Spotify Spotify, all the stuff. On the podcast, we are releasing what I like to think of as
1:28.8	audio liner notes to the songs. These short little stories that illuminate some aspect of the amendment.
1:35.8	Now the first state amendments were very clear.
1:38.9	Right to free speech, right to bear arms.
1:43.4	Third Amendment, whatever.
1:45.3	But then, you know, you get to the amendments to talk about the rights you have when you
1:48.9	are arrested by the police.
1:51.0	Super, matter of fact concrete.
1:53.0	But then things get spacy,
1:58.0	unhinged, untethered,
2:02.0	especially when you get to the next three.
2:04.6	Ninth Amendment, 10th Amendment, 11th Amendment.
2:08.7	These three amendments.
2:09.7	P.
2:10.9	P. They're a little bit trippy.
	...

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