Christian nationalists want to turn America into a theocracy, a government under biblical rule.

If they gain more power, it could mean fewer rights for you.

I'm Heath Drusen and on the new season of Extremely American

I'll take you inside the movement. Listen to Extremely American from Boise State Public

Radio, part of the NPR Network.

For the conviction of the accused, every weapon is provided and used, even those poisoned by wrong and injustice.

But what machinery is provided for the defense of the innocent.

None, absolutely none.

It's 1893 and a well-known lawyer named Clara Foltz has traveled halfway across the country all the way from her home in California to give a speech at the world's fair in Chicago.

Council for the defense is an absolute essential to the just examination of a case.

A trial without it would be little less than a farce.

26 million people would pass through the fair that year.

People flock there to see new inventions,

like the Ferris Wheel and Cracker Jacks,

and to hear new ideas.

The remedy for many of the evils of the present criminal court practice lies in the

election or appointment of a public defender. For every public prosecutor

there should be a public defender, chosen in the same way and paid out of the same fund. This speech in 1893 cemented Clarifolds as a pioneer in US legal history because her proposal was revolutionary.

She was one of the first people who came up with this whole idea of the

public defender in the United States.

Clara Foltz was actually the first woman to be licensed to practice law in California. As a woman, it was difficult to get hired at a law firm or take on paying clients.

And so what she would do was go to the criminal courts and see if the judges

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