Stanford Legal
Law touches most aspects of life. Here to help make sense of it is the Stanford Legal podcast, where we look at the cases, questions, conflicts, and legal stories that
affect us all every day.
Stanford Legal launched in 2017 as a radio show on Sirius XM. We’re now a standalone podcast and we’re back after taking some time away, so don’t forget to subscribe or follow this feed. That way you’ll have access to new episodes as soon as they’re available.
We know that the law can be complicated. In past episodes we discussed a broad range of topics from the legal rights of someone in a conservatorship like Britney Spears to the Supreme Court’s abortion decision to how American law firms had to untangle their Russian businesses after the invasion of Ukraine. Past episodes are still available in our back catalog of episodes.
In future shows, we’ll bring on experts to help make sense of things like machine learning and developments in the regulation of artificial intelligence, how the states draw voting maps, and ways that the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling will change college admissions.
Our co-hosts know a bit about these topics because it’s their life’s work.
Pam Karlan studies and teaches what is known as the “law of democracy,”—the law that regulates voting, elections, and the political process. She served as a commissioner on the California Fair Political Practices Commission, an assistant counsel and cooperating attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and (twice) as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. She also co-directs Stanford’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, which represents real clients before the highest court in the country, working on important cases including representing Edith Windsor in the landmark marriage equality win and David Riley in a case where the Supreme Court held that the police generally can’t search digital information on a cell phone seized from an individual who has been arrested unless they first get a warrant. She has argued before the Court nine times.
And Rich Ford’s teaching and writing looks at the relationship between law and equality, cities and urban development, popular culture and everyday life. He teaches local government law, employment discrimination, and the often-misunderstood critical race theory. He studied with and advised governments around the world on questions of equality law, lectured at places like the Sorbonne in Paris on the relationship of law and popular culture, served as a commissioner for the San Francisco Housing Commission, and worked with cities on how to manage neighborhood change and volatile real estate markets. He writes about law and popular culture for lawyers, academics, and popular audiences. His latest book is Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History, a legal history of the rules and laws that influence what we wear.
The law is personal for all of us—and pivotal. The landmark civil rights laws of the 1960s have made discrimination illegal but the consequences of the Jim Crow laws imposed after the civil war are still with us, reflected in racially segregated schools and neighborhoods and racial imbalances in our prisons and conflict between minority communities and police. Unequal gender roles and stereotypes still keep women from achieving equality in professional status and income. Laws barring gay people from marrying meant that millions lived lives of secrecy and shame. New technologies present new legal questions: should AI decide who gets hired or how long convicted criminals go to prison? What can we do about social media’s influence on our elections? Can Chat GPT get copyright in a novel?
Law matters. We hope you’ll listen to new episodes that will drop on Thursdays every two weeks.
To learn more, go to https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-legal-podcast/.
Latest episodes
May 18, 2020 • 28min
A Path Back to Normal? Previewing the New Google-Apple COVID-19 Contact TracingTools
Early in May, tech competitors Google and Apple shared sample code for their new contact tracing technology. Hopes are high that apps developed with partnership's technology will help to slow the spread of COVID-19 by using Bluetooth technology in cell phones to contact trace infection. Consulting Director of Privacy at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society joins Pam and Joe to discuss the new tools and privacy concerns surrounding tech in contact tracing
Apr 27, 2020 • 28min
Regulating in a Pandemic: COVID-19 Legal Issues with guest Michelle Mello
As the number of COVID-19 cases across the U.S. continues to rise, with shelter in place orders in place throughout most of the country, America’s preparedness for a pandemic has been thrown into question. What went wrong with testing and protective gear, and why are we still behind? Can tech help the country safely open up again? And who is in charge—the president or the governors? Health law expert Michelle Mello joins the show today to discuss these developing issues.
Apr 27, 2020 • 28min
Covid-19 Mental Health and Supreme Court Issues
Stanford Legal co-hosts Pam Karlan and Joe Bankman discuss the ramifications of the the COVID-19 pandemic, both on mental health issues and procedural issues faced by the Supreme Court during this time.
Originally aired on SiriusXM on April 25, 2020.
Apr 27, 2020 • 28min
Democracy During a Pandemic: Securing the 2020 Presidential Election with guest Nate Persily
With a vaccine and effective treatment still months away, it is increasingly likely that the COVID-19 pandemic will fundamentally change the 2020 presidential election. After the Wisconsin primary in April reportedly to low turnout and, as recently was reported, the spread of the virus, can in-person voting happen safely? Is mail-in balloting the answer? Here to help us understand how a secure November election can be planned is election law expert Nate Persily. Originally aired on SiriusXM on April 25, 2020.
Mar 30, 2020 • 28min
Racial Justice: Key NAACP Legal Defense Fund Cases with guest Sherrilyn Ifill
From the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education case to voting rights and education, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has been the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality since its founding in 1940 by legendary civil rights lawyer (and later Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall. Sherrilyn Ifill, LDF’s President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), will discuss important NAACP cases and issues.
Originally aired on SiriusXM on March 28, 2020.
Mar 16, 2020 • 29min
Key Civil Liberties Issues with guest David Cole
The ACLU has been the nation’s premier defender of civil liberties since its founding 100 years ago. David Cole, the ACLU’s national legal director who oversees its entire legal docket, will discuss key civil liberties issues facing the country today including two LGBTQ rights cases that he recently argued before the Supreme Court in a live taping of the Stanford Legal podcast. For more Stanford Radio and past episodes, visit: https://stanford.io/2SqmNob
Mar 2, 2020 • 28min
Virtual Briefing at the Supreme Court with guest Jeffrey Fisher
The open secret of Supreme Court advocacy in a digital era is that there is a new way to argue to the Justices. In this episode of Stanford Legal, Pam Karlan and Joe Bankman sit down with co-director of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Jeff Fisher, to discuss his recent article, Virtual Briefing.
For past episodes, visit: https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-legal-on-siriusxm/
Feb 18, 2020 • 28min
How We Elect the President with guest Michael McConnell
In the wake of the first wave of primary voting, former judge and Constitutional Law Professor Michael McConnell will discuss how we elect the President in a live taping of the Stanford Legal podcast. What are the caucus, primary, and convention systems? Why do we have an electoral college? Is there a good system for resolving disputed elections?
For more episodes visit: https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-legal-on-siriusxm/
Feb 3, 2020 • 28min
Mandating Diversity on Company Boards
Equality for women in the U.S. is still an uphill battle, the wage and leadership gap a challenge 100 years after passage of the19th Amendment. But can gender equality be regulated with law and quotas? California is trying in one narrow area—the boards of public companies—with a new law mandating gender diversity on those boards. Joe Grundfest, a former SEC commissioner and expert on corporate governance, and Gail Harris, who serves as lead director of investment banking advisory firm Evercore Inc., discuss the law, possible challenges to it, and why it matters in this episode of "Stanford Legal."
For past episodes, visit: https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-legal-on-siriusxm/
Jan 20, 2020 • 28min
The Trump Impeachment with guest David Sklansky
In December, the U.S. House of Representatives passed articles of impeachment against the president focusing on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Only three U.S. presidents have been formally impeached by the House, including Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and now Donald Trump. So far, not one has been removed from office. In this episode, we are joined by former prosecutor and Stanford Law Professor David Sklansky to look at impeachment through the lens of the prosecutor. Did the House make a good case? What are the legal procedural questions?
