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Welcome to rationally BASED, a podcast about law and politics, on the edge. Law professor Ilan Wurman, with co-hosts Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, cover cutting-edge, and edgy, legal and political news, ideas, and developments.
14 Episodes
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Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, explore a series of issues involving both executive and judicial "lawmaking." Would the President have the power to "wipe out" Iranian civilization without Congress? Can the President on his own initiative order the postal service to deliver only certain kinds of election-related materials to advance his election integrity agenda? Can the President order the destruction of an entire wing of the White House pursuant to a statute authori...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, devote their episode to election integrity and the meaning of "election day." Does a federal "election day" preempt state laws providing that ballots can still be received days after the election? Is someone "elected" once the final selection is made by the voters, or when those selections are transmitted to election officials? Or perhaps it's only when the count is done? Our hosts penetrate this thicket of possibilities, and discuss t...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, break down what they just heard at the Supreme Court oral argument over President Trump's birthright citizenship executive order. They prognosticate on the result. Wong Kim Ark will not decide this case. Justice Barrett will be the critical vote: what is her theory of what connects ambassadors, invaders, and Indian tribes? What is the government's theory of domicile? What is the plaintiffs' theory of extraterritoriality? They are joine...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, finally take their promised deep dive into the birthright citizenship case that the Supreme Court will hear next week. Ilan recently testified in Congress on the issue, and has a lot to get off his chest. He and Kathryn discuss Peter Schweizer's testimony about Saipan, an island north of Guam for which there is statutory birthright citizenship and lax visa rules for Chinese citizens. Schweizer estimates that upwards of hundreds of thou...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, are joined by conservative law students at the podcast’s first ever live taping, at ASU. The hosts tackle one of the most important and controversial legal issues of the day: the asymmetrical lawfare and “barfare” against Trump and Republicans. Does the left play by the rule of law? Do they like the rule of law for themselves, but not for others? Should conservatives start playing by their rules? In terms of legal doctrine, should they...
In this bonus episode, our host, law professor Ilan Wurman, gives a talk to a conference of conservative law students on Trump vs. the courts. Are we in a constitutional crisis? Is it because the executive is disrespecting the courts, or because the courts are disrespecting the executive? Can the President ever ignore a court order? What if the court doesn't have jurisdiction? Who decides that question? And what can courts do better to respect the President and ensure they have jurisdiction? ...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, are joined by special guest host Will Chamberlain. They take a deep dive into the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and study it as a microcosm of immigration law and the immigration bar. What is the difference between asylum and withholding of removal? Can Kilmar be deported to a third country? Why can't the government detain him? Are district judges playing interference and engaging in lawfare against the Trump Administration? Do immigration...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, take a deep dive into the legal questions surrounding the military strikes in Iran and the earlier capture of Maduro. What is international law? Is it really "law"? What is "law" anyway? Hear our hosts talk about the surprising connection to basketball. But even if it's law, should we care about it? What does that have to do with the President's constitutional authority? Our hosts investigate the Office of Legal Couns...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, take a deep dive into the Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating many of the Trump Tariffs enacted under IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Are tariffs taxes? Or can they be used for regulatory purposes? Our hosts cover the question from the perspective of the American Revolution through the twentieth century. Putting the statutory question aside, what should we do now that the statute used to have a legislat...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, start this episode with major news out of the EPA: it has rescinded the Obama-era "endangerment" finding the supported the regulation of C02. Find out how EPA came to regulate this greenhouse gas in the first place, whether it's really a "pollutant" within the meaning of the Clean Air Act, and whether Massachusetts ever had standing to bring a lawsuit in the first place over claims that it might lose some coastline. O...
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, start this episode with a lightning round of legal news. Learn why it's totally fine for the Supreme Court to be "secretive" (whatever that means). Our hosts discuss a DEI victory for the Trump Administration and a judge's concurring opinion to his own opinion, and why it seems so hard from some liberal judges to keep their politics out of their rulings. Hear about the constitutional distribution of power over electio...
On this episode of rationally BASED, our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, discuss Don Lemon and the freedom of the press and what that also teaches us about Citizens United. They recall the famous State of the Union where Justice Alito made a face at President Obama, and discuss whether judges like Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson should be allowed to be political and attend the Grammys. They trace the origins of the New Deal state and the expansion of the ...
In the first episode of rationally BASED, our hosts cover Minnesota’s lawsuit against the federal government’s ICE surge, which they deem dead on arrival. They explore the historical underpinnings of state-federal cooperation. The Insurrection Act explained. They even cover the attempted assassination of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice by a former California Supreme Court Justice in the 1800s and what that tells us about executive power. Find out why everybody is wrong about administrative warra...
Who's excited for the very first episode of the Rationally Based Podcast feat. Ilan Wurman, Kathryn Johnson, and Grace Keating, presented by the American Experiment! Dropping tomorrow at 6am, here is a sneak peak at what we are covering:
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