In the meantime, watch out for bonus episodes this summer and, later on, a revamped show with a new format. Stay tuned!

Judge Jed Rakoff, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, recently published a book arguing for major reforms: “Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System.” On April 29, 2021, he participated in a public web event with Adam, to discuss the limits of forensic science, prosecutors’ advantages over defense during trials, and other ways the criminal justice system is falling short. The recording of their conversation is today's podcast episode. 

Yet many of our most revered Founders –Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton – expressed deep concern for the new nation’s prospects for success. The framers’ worries, often overlooked in scholarship, is the subject of Syracuse University Political Science Professor Dennis Rasmussen’s new book, Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders. Listen as Adam and Dennis discuss the Founders’ fears – and one framer whose measured confidence was notable exception.

Claremont McKenna College professor of Government Joseph Bessette and frequent guest and AEI scholar Gary Schmitt join Adam on Unprecedential to discuss their recent AEI report, “Crafting a Republican Executive: The Presidency and the Constitutional Convention.”

Erika Bachiochi, fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, senior fellow at the Abigail Adams Institute, and author of the forthcoming book The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision, joins Adam to trace and evaluate the evolving debate over the political, legal, and cultural meaning of women’s equality. 

To discuss the political dynamics of religion, George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School professor Helen Alvaré joins Adam on Unprecedential. Adam and Professor Alvaré, who has written and edited three books on topics related law and religion, consider religion’s place in government, in politics, and in education.

Ryan Anderson, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment and Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, joins Adam to discuss how to think about the competing priorities of religion, law, technology, and speech. Ryan’s Public Discourse essay, “America, Liberalism, and Catholicism” and the University of Dallas’ recent JPII Conference also explore the themes discussed in this episode. 

In today’s episode, Adam is joined by Stuart Taylor, longtime Supreme Court journalist and co-founder of Princetonians for Free Speech, and Nicole Neily, president of Speech First and Parents Defending Education. They discuss how to defend open dialogue on campus–both legally and culturally. 

Often overlooked is the central role that human judgment plays in scientific discovery. Tony Mills, AEI resident scholar and expert in science policy, joins Adam to discuss the ways judgment and deliberation guide scientific discovery. They also consider how to weigh scientific knowledge with other forms of expertise relevant to public policy. Tony’s recent paper, “The Role of Judgment and Deliberation in Science-Based Policy,” explores the themes of this episode.

RFE/RL’s current president and CEO Jamie Fly joins Adam to discuss the organization’s Cold War history, its continuing work in today’s complex global scene, and RFE/RL’s role in American government. 

AEI’s Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow Ivana Stradner and Gary Schmitt, frequent Unprecedential guest and AEI Resident Scholar in Strategic Studies and American Institutions, join Adam to discuss how international law and American constitutionalism impact the United States’ role in global affairs. 

Kevin Kosar, a resident scholar at AEI and editor of the recent volume Congress Overwhelmed: The Decline in Congressional Capacity and Prospects for Reform, talks with Adam about Congress’ role in the new government, how it can refortify itself, and ways to expand Congress’ institutional capacity and expertise.

Jonathan Alter, acclaimed presidential biographer and political historian whose most recent book, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life is the first full-length biography of Jimmy Carter, joins Adam to discuss the first hundred days tradition and consider President Biden’s goals for this period. His other books, including The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, have examined the significance of presidents’ early accomplishments.

Adam is joined by Sarah Binder, a Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and expert in legislative politics, and Andy Rudalevige, Bowdoin College Professor of Government who specializes in interbranch relations and the presidency, discuss how executive and congressional powers stay separate even when unified by party. Listen as they explain consensus building amid bare Senate majorities, presidential appointments and Senate consent, and congressional oversight of the Presidency. 

Stephen Howard Browne, of Pennsylvania State University describes this in a terrific new book, The First Inauguration: George Washington and the Invention of the Republic. He joins Adam on today’s episode of Unprecedential to discuss it.

To explore the meaning of inaugural addresses in our constitutional order, University of Texas Professor of Government Jeffrey Tulis and AEI Resident Scholar Gary Schmitt join Adam on today’s episode of Unprecedential. Transitions, as Tevi Troy explained in the last episode, begin to translate campaign promises into policy. By contrast, Gary and Jeff note, inaugural addresses connect the president’s oath of office to the new administration’s agenda.

Tevi Troy is a presidential historian with firsthand experience in the White House, administrative agencies, and presidential transitions. In this episode of Unprecedential, he joins Adam to discuss the nuts and bolts of transitions. They also discuss the history of presidential transitions, with some especially famous examples. The discussion draws from Tevi’s 2013 article in National Affairs, “Measuring the Drapes,” and his recent Washington Post op-ed, “Five myths about presidential transitions.”

In today’s Thanksgiving episode, Yuval Levin, director of AEI’s Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies department and editor of National Affairs, sits down with Adam to discuss the role of gratitude in our political order, which was the subject of Yuval’s 2013 Bradley Prize remarks.

Marquette University Law Professor Chad Oldfather describes this in a new paper: “The Inconspicuous DHS: The Supreme Court, Celebrity Culture, and Justice David H. Souter.” He discussed it with Adam in today's episode—an episode first scheduled before the sad news of Justice Ginsburg's passing.

University of Virginia Law Professor Sai Prakash, author of The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument Against Its Ever-Expanding Powers, talks with Adam about the debates and decisions of the Founding that paved the way for the expansive executive office we see today. From early on, America’s unwritten constitution – its mores, civic culture, accumulation of practices – laid the foundation for today’s muscular presidency. To “recage the executive lion,” Sai suggests sensible reforms based on an astute originalist reading of the Constitution.

Dahlia Lithwick has been writing on the Court and the law for two decades, primarily at Slate. In today's episode, she and Adam discuss the press's work of covering the Court in politically and cultural fractious times. They consider Chief Justice Roberts's sometimes surprising moves to minimize the Court's political footprint, and the ways in which justices’ authentic camaraderie creates an institutional culture of spirited but largely amiable disputes that distinguish the Court from the government's political branches. Often these themes are more complicated—and more interesting—than momentary partisan disputes. 

*NOTE: This conversation was recorded shortly before the passing of Justice Ginsburg and the nomination of Judge Barrett to succeed her.

How can the U.S. government best cooperate with tech giants to achieve national security aims and stymie adversaries like China? What strategies have state actors like the U.S., China, and Europe employed to grapple with the rise of big tech? Klon Kitchen joins Adam to consider these themes and discuss his recent essay, “The New Superpowers: How and Why the Tech Industry is Shaping the International System” featured in National Affairs’ special issue, “Big Tech, Big Government: The Challenges of Regulating Internet Platforms.” Klon is the Director for the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Technology Policy. His newsletter, the Kitchen Sync, offers regular updates technology and global affairs.

In this episode of Unprecedential, two former Scalia clerks, Sixth Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton and the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s president Ed Whelan, join Adam to talk about the recent compilation of Scalia’s writings they edited, The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law.

Judge Sutton and Ed note that equally significant to Justice Scalia’s legal acumen was his amiable character. They discuss with Adam their memories of his generous mentorship of them as clerks, and his affable spirit even to those with whom he dissented vehemently. Justice Scalia’s playful disposition leaps out of his writings, providing his ideas with clarity, vividness, and pleasure uncommon in the legal profession. His faithfulness to originalism, as Judge Sutton and Ed point out, brought him both critics and admirers. But such principled jurisprudence is a sparkling example to all of judging at its very finest.

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