What is a Constitutional crisis?

Civics 101

NHPR

Society & Culture, Government, History

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's a term thrown around quite a bit lately, but what does it actually mean? This is an episode about the basics of the Law of the Land, the three branches of government and what happens when they're don't work the way they're supposed to. Our guide is Aziz Huq, Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. His books include The Rule of Law: A Very Short Introduction, The Collapse of Constitutional Remedies and How to Save a Constitutional Democracy. If you want some extra context for this one, check out these other episodes: Checks and Balances So Long, Chevron What is "originalism"? How Should We Govern the Algorithm? The Fourteenth Amendment CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone. We are in a new administration, which means we at Civics 101 are not getting a whole heck of a lot of sleep.
0:07.1	So I'll make this quick. It is our winter fundraiser. We have one item on offer this year. And it's my favorite so far.
0:14.7	It is a large, robust, beautiful black Civics 101 coffee mug that says,
0:22.2	Democracy is my cup of tea.
0:24.8	Because it sure is mine, even if this cup will probably only hold coffee.
0:29.4	The mug will be yours for a one-time $60 gift or $5 a month.
0:35.0	Click the link in the show notes to check it out.
0:37.1	We are so grateful for your support.
0:40.1	Like, really, really.
0:43.1	We've talked for a long time about approaching a constitutional crisis.
0:49.7	We are now in it.
0:53.8	Revolution within a constitutional crisis.
0:58.0	It almost certainly would have precipitated a full-blown constitutional crisis.
1:01.4	And thus we have a constitutional crisis.
1:03.0	Yesterday's constitutional crisis brought to you by Trump.
1:05.3	This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today.
1:09.8	Let's call it what it is.
1:18.5	Hi there, Nick. How are you?
1:22.0	I am well. And yourself, Hannah?
1:24.8	If you are well, I am well.
1:27.1	Ah, si to salve, salveo.
1:30.5	Wait, is it salvei, salveo, or is it salweo?
	...

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