The Context

Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed joins host Alex Lovit to discuss Juneteenth’s history and the transformative potential of reckoning with our country’s complex past. Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard, where she teaches both history and law. She’s the author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family and On Juneteenth.

Who should make decisions about what kinds of health care American minors can receive: their parents and doctors, or their state governments? A growing number of states are claiming the right to ban gender-affirming health care for minors—but only if the person being treated is transgender. This month, the Supreme Court will decide if those power grabs are constitutional. Host Alex Lovit is joined by Chase Strangio, one of the lawyers who argued the case in question, United States v. Skrmetti, before the Supreme Court. Their conversation explores the legal reasoning of that case and how American citizens can influence the court and build a society that embraces LGBTQ+ people. Chase Strangio is the codirector of the LGBT & HIV Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. He was one of the advocates who argued the Skrmetti case before the Supreme Court and is the first openly trans lawyer to appear before that court.

Pro-democracy progressives are their own worst enemy when it comes to recruiting conservative Americans to their cause. In part two of our conversation, political strategist Sarah Longwell offers suggestions for how to connect with anti-Trump conservatives. Her ideas draw on what she hears from voters in her frequent focus groups, as well as on her experience as a gay conservative fighting for inclusion in American society and politics in the 2010s. Longwell is the publisher of The Bulwark and the cofounder and executive director of the advocacy organization Defending Democracy Together. She hosts The Focus Group podcast and is a senior fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. https://www.thebulwark.com/ https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/

How did one of our major political parties abandon its principles? And what do voters make of that shift? Host Alex Lovit is joined by Sarah Longwell—a political strategist who broke from the Republican party when it acquiesced to Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. She went on to cofound a media outlet (The Bulwark) and an advocacy organization (Defending Democracy Together) to advance pro-conservative causes. She’s also the host of The Focus Group podcast and a senior fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. This episode is part one of a two-part conversation. Come back next week for part two. https://www.thebulwark.com/ https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/

Public schools are essential for democracy—and they’re under attack. But the very policies that are being championed as their salvation may have a catastrophic impact on American education for generations. Public education advocate and historian Diane Ravitch unpacks how school choice policies like vouchers and charter schools are dangerous for democracy. Diane Ravitch is a former assistant secretary in the United States Department of Education. She is the author of several books on the history and policy of American public schools. Her memoir, about her life as a leading public education reformer, will be published this fall. It’s called An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Almost Everything. https://dianeravitch.net/

US institutions are being pressured into compliance with the Trump administration’s capricious demands. Many law firms, philanthropic organizations, and higher education institutions are choosing the path of least resistance. But will it keep them safe? Sharon L. Davies is the president and chief executive officer of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. Davies’ career experiences span both academic and nonacademic fields. From 2017–2021, she was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Spelman College. She joined Spelman from The Ohio State University, where she was vice provost for diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer. Davies was also a member of OSU’s Moritz College of Law faculty for 22 years, serving as the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. In addition, she directed the university’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity. Davies has an undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a law degree from Columbia University School of Law. https://kettering.org/

Life under an authoritarian regime can erode one’s faith in humanity. Today's guest says that’s why it’s more important than ever for Americans to lean into building human connection. Ece Temelkuran is a Turkish political thinker, writer, and award-winning journalist. Her two most recent books are How to Lose a Country: Seven Steps from Democracy to Fascism and Together: Ten Choices for a Better Now. https://ecetemelkuran.net/

A former member of the Hungarian Parliament tells us what interventions Americans need to take right now to avoid the authoritarian backsliding that has dismantled democracy in Hungary since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán came to power in 2010. Gábor Scheiring served in the Hungarian Parliament from 2010–2014. He is an assistant professor of comparative politics at Georgetown University, Qatar, and author of The Retreat of Liberal Democracy: Authoritarian Capitalism and the Accumulative State in Hungary. He is also a Charles F. Kettering Global Fellow. https://www.gaborscheiring.com/ https://kettering.org/fellow/gabor-scheiring/

Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign promised “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Will he be able to achieve this goal? What would this kind of mass deportation look like, and what would its human costs be? And what is the current “largest deportation operation in American history,” anyway? We get answers from Adam Goodman. Goodman is an associate professor in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies and Department of History at the University of Illinois Chicago, and the author of the award-winning book, The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691182155/the-deportation-machine https://immpolicytracking.org/ https://www.icirr.org/ https://ndlon.org/

The Constitution is under attack—and not just by Trump and the executive branch. For a long time, the conservative justices on the Supreme Court have been inconsistently interpreting the Constitution. But our guest, Madiba Dennie, says focusing on their decision-making processes is a trap. She says there’s a better way for concerned citizens to take action against the backsliding of social progress fueled by the Supreme Court. Madiba K. Dennie is an attorney, columnist, and professor whose work focuses on fostering an equitable multiracial democracy. She is the deputy editor and senior contributor at the critical legal commentary website Balls and Strikes and the author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back. Dennie previously served as counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, and her legal and political commentary has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, the BBC, and MSNBC. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/735353/the-originalism-trap-by-madiba-k-dennie/