The Constitution Is Precarious, Right?

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The thing i love most about the constitution is the potential. There's so much potential there to be a great society, one as inclusive and representative and fair. One at really makes us worthy of the country that we think we are. We have more power than we realize. We just have to claim it, and we have to demand it. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. This was said by escaped slave statesman, abolitionist and orator frederick douglas, 18 57. So the full passage is, power concedes nothing without a demand. Never did and it never will.

If you've never read The Constitution, you're like most of us. What does it even say?! Most Americans aren't law scholars, which is why we sat down with a Dean of USC's Gould School of Law, Professor Franita Tolson, to have her give us the crib sheet on the most important document in the free world. What's up with the amendments? What are the articles? What does it mean to be an American? What rights do we have? How did we get them and how do we keep them? We also discuss what it was like having Barack Obama as her law professor, if she reads the Apple Terms & Conditions, the Civil Rights Movement, Hamilton, whether Trump can be impeached, how to get familiar with the best SCOTUS gossip and Shonda Rhimes. By the end of the episode, you'll be able to wink at the Constitution and say "I get you" and you also might be engaging in more peaceful protests or applying to law school or hanging Professor Tolson's portrait on your wall.

Follow Franita Tolson at Twitter.com/ProfTolson and read more about her work here.

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Theme song by Nick Thorburn

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