ELB Podcast

To what extent have abortion politics been the driver of campaign finance fights in the courts? How much of a force has anti-abortion lawyer Jim Bopp been in the campaign finance cases? Are new efforts to make it harder to pass abortion initiatives going to change voters’ access to direct democracy? On Season 4, Episode 8 of the ELB Podcast, we speak with law professor and historian Mary Ziegler,...

How do Republican voters think about Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen 2020 election? What are voters’ attitudes towards authoritarianism and the rule of law? How will election denialism play out in the 2024 Republican presidential primary? On Season 4, Episode 7 of the ELB podcast, we speak with GOP pollster and publisher of The Bulwark, Sarah Longwell.

Does our decentralized system of government create conditions to strengthen or weaken democratic institutions? Why have red and blue states adopted different sets of election rules, with some Republican states adopting restrictive registration and voting laws? Would more a more national election process in the United States protect against the risk of election subversion? On Season 4, Episode 6 of...

Can an attempt an election subversion in the 1940s teach us how to handle current threats to American democracy? Do failed attempts to hold Nazi sympathizers in the American government accountable through criminal litigation show the limits of the law in protecting democracy? What role can and should journalists play in safeguarding free and fair elections today? On Season 4, Episode 5 of the ELB...

Did the 2022 U.S. midterm elections demonstrate that we have moved beyond risks to American democracy? What explains continued, persistent divisions across the American public along party lines? Does there remain a potential for violence associated with future U.S. elections? On Season 4, Episode 4 of the ELB Podcast, we speak with Lynn Vavreck and Chris Tausanovitch of UCLA’s political science de...

Does former president Donald Trump know—and does he care—that the statements he has made undermining the integrity of the 2020 electionrun the risk of undermining the core of American democracy? Is election denialism bigger than Trump’s hold over the GOP? What should the Republicans, Democrats, the Press, and others do to counter concerns about threats to free elections in the United States? On Se...

What is the “independent state legislature theory,” and does a potential Supreme Court embrace threaten American democracy? Will use of the doctrine raise the risk of election subversion or stolen elections? How far could the theory go in insulating legislative voting rules from state constitutional review? On Season 4, Episode 2 of the ELB Podcast, we hear a recent conversation that I moderated w...

Will Congress pass bipartisan legislation to fix the Electoral Count Act, that Donald Trump tried to exploit in 2020? Is the new Electoral Count Reform Act the right way to go to stop election subversion? Are there ways of improving the act before Congress may pass it as soon as this fall? On Season 4, Episode 1 of the ELB Podcast, we hear a recent conversation that I moderated with Norm Eisen, Ne...

Why has it gotten harder rather than easier to vote in the United States over the past decade? What can be done about the risk of stolen elections in the United States? How have the Supreme Court’s decisions on redistricting, voting rights, and gerrymandering affected the quality of American democracy? On season 3, Episode 8 of the ELB podcast, we speak with Wendy Weiser, Vice President for the De...

How did Wisconsin go from the gold standard for election administration in the United States to its laughing stock? What does the partisan investigation into the 2020 election say about how to once again achieve bipartisan cooperation in running elections? What is the future of free and fair elections in Wisconsin and beyond? On season 3, Episode 7 of the ELB podcast, we speak with longtime Wiscon...

ELB Podcast Episode 3:6: Deuel Ross: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Alabama Voting Rights Redistricting Case But Were Too Confused to Ask Why did the Supreme Court put on hold a federal district court order requiring the state of Alabama to draw another Black majority congressional district? What does the stay order in Merrill v. Milligan mean for the future of the Voting Rights Act? Are...

ELB Podcast Episode 3:5: Bart Gellman, Jessica Huseman, and Margaret Sullivan: What Can (and Should) Journalists Do to Prevent Election Subversion and Another January 6? How can journalists best report on stories about the risks to election integrity in the United States? Should journalists be taking sides between the forces of those supporting and opposing free and fair elections in the United St...

Can the United States continue to run free and fair elections amidst a sea of election disinformation? What has the path of the voting wars looked like since the disputed 2000 election? How should journalists cover stories like election subversion, and deal with those who make claims about elections being stolen or rigged? On Season 3 Episode 4 of the ELB Podcast, we speak with Pam Fessler, the de...

Is the Voting Rights Act effectively dead as a superstatute? Is the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act the best way to protect minority voters in the United States? Are the dangers of election subversion and voter suppression more closely linked than some have said? On Season 3, Episode 3 of the ELB Podcast, we talk to Guy Charles, the Charles Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law Sc...

Is the United States at risk of election subversion and stolen elections? Is the key to secure American elections having people of integrity running them? What role can law play in protecting the rule of law and elections? On Season 3, Episode 2 of the ELB Podcast, we speak with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Harris County, Texas Election Administrator Isabel Longoria. (This epi...

How will the new round of redistricting go, with late census numbers, courts refusing to police partisan gerrymanders, and a weakened Voting Rights Act? Will redistricting cost Democrats control of the U.S. House? How will redistricting commissions fit into the rushed process? On Season 3 Episode 1 of the ELB Podcast, we speak with Stanford law and political science professor Nate Persily.

Is the state of Georgia going to disenfranchise voters over missing hyphens on voter registration cards? What can be done about new strict voting rules, such as the North Dakota residential address rule that may disenfranchise Native American voters? Will the Supreme Court with new Justice Kavanaugh protect minority voting rights? On Season 2, Episode 3 of the ELB Podcast, we talk with Kristen Cla...

Does Michael Cohen's guilty plea to campaign finance violations implicate the President in criminal campaign finance activity? What about the defenses that the President has raised to these charges? Did Trump or the Trump campaign violate the prohibition on soliciting foreign contributions with their summer 2016 meeting with Russian government operatives at Trump Tower? On Season 2, Episode 2 of t...

After a long hiatus, the ELB Podcast is back in time for the midterm election season with a great first guest! What is the state of voting rights in America? What did the ACLU's lawsuit against Kris Kobach over the state of Kansas's "show us your papers" citizenship voting law teach us about the extent of the voter fraud problem? What's at stake in the litigation over the citizenship question whic...

What is the connection between Republican Party extremism before Trump and the rise of Trump? What kinds of economic and political reforms can best preserve American democracy? What will life after Trump, and Trumpism, look like in the United States? On Episode 19 of the ELB Podcast, we talk with Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein, co-authors with E.J. Dionne of the new book, One Nation After Trump: A Gui...

Is the Supreme Court ready to finally rein in partisan gerrymandering? Can social science give us a manageable standard to decide when there's too much politics in redistricting? Is the "efficiency gap" Justice Kennedy's holy grail? On Episode 18 of the ELB Podcast, we talk with Eric McGhee of he Public Policy Institute of California and Nick Stephanopoulos of the University of Chicago Law School...

In this era of polarization in politics, how much power does Congress have compared to the President and the courts? Is the Republican Congress a meaningful check on President Trump? How well does Congress do at policing ethical lapses of its own members? On Episode 17 of the ELB Podcast, we talk with Josh Chafetz, Cornell Law School professor and author of the new book, Congress's Constitution: L...

Will earlier work to improve the voters' experience at the polls be abandoned thanks to unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud? Is the "Election Integrity" commission established by President Trump going to undermine efforts to improve voting rights? Is there a future for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, one of whose members is joining the Trump-established commission? On Episode 16 of the...

Is this year's concern about "election rigging" and violence at the polls unprecedented? Where do Donald Trump's claims fit within disputes over American elections? Have we as a country gotten better since Bush v. Gore at resolving our election disputes? On Episode 15 of the ELB Podcast, we talk with Ohio State's Ned Foley, author of Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United...

Did Justice Ginsburg go too far in her comments against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump? Should comments like Justice Ginsburg's be protected by the First Amendment, and would they be grounds for recusal in a future Clinton v. Trump case? Are judicial rules which bar endorsements of candidates and political statements by judges unconstitutional? On Episode 14 of the ELB Podcast, we tal...