Civics 101

For most of our nation's history, the voting age was 21. So how'd we get it down to 18? In one sense, it was the fastest ratified amendment in history. In another, it took three decades. Our guide to the hard-won fight for youth enfranchisement is Jennifer Frost, author of "Let Us Vote!" Youth Voting Rights and the 26th Amendment.

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The Chevron Doctrine, or Chevron Deference, was an established judicial principle. When the law was ambiguous, the courts would let the agency experts interpret it. After a Supreme Court case called Loper Bright v Raimondo, that is no longer the case. So what does that mean? What exactly has gone away? What happens next?

Our guides to the wonkiest of  the wonk are Robin Kundis Craig and Mustafa Santiago Ali.

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Nick and Hannah both love board games. There I said it. So what are they doing in a Civics 101 episode? 

Well, from Student Council and Model UN to CIA intelligence acquisition scenarios, there is a fine line between games and simulation. We learn more about things when we pretend to do them. 

Today we talk to three designers about their civic-centric games; Tory Brown of Fort Circle Games discusses Votes for Women, Cole Wehrle of We...

Choosing to blow the whistle on the U.S. government is a big deal. It's a huge risk and, despite legal protections, can result in major negative repercussions. So why do people do it? What happens to them when they do? What protections do they have, and do those protections work?

Our guides to the process are Kathleen McClella, Deputy Director at WHISPeR, Danielle Brian, Executive Director and President of the Project on Government ...

America's first congress debated it in the 1790s, and it's been debated about ever since. Who should step into the president's shoes if the offices of President and Vice President are simultaneously vacant? Today we talk about the many different Presidential Acts of Succession that we've had in the US, as well as designated survivors, the "football," and the recurring question of the constitutionality of such acts.

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The Olympics are a global event. They take years of planning, negotiation and convincing -- not to mention billions of dollars -- to stage. This is how the games are used by the United States and others around the world. This is what it takes to host, what the games do for  a nation and what it means when you refuse to attend. Welcome to the Olympics. 

Our guests for this episode are Jules Boykoff, professor of government and politi...

You have questions about the future of the democratic ticket, and Civics 101's favorite explainer, Dan Cassino, has the answers. What happens to Biden's fundraising money? What will the delegates at the DNC do? Will there be any legal challenges? And finally, what does it mean for a party when they nominate a candidate different than the one that won the primary?

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Introducing the newest series from NHPR’s award-winning Document team: “The Youth Development Center.” New Hampshire has sent its most troubled kids to the same juvenile detention center for more than a century. It's a place that was supposed to nurture them, that instead hurt them – in some of the worst ways imaginable. It's now at the center of one of the biggest youth detention scandals in American history. How did this happen –...

Doris Kearns Goodwin is one of the country’s most beloved presidential historians and authors, having written books about the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, and Lincoln, among many others. 

Her latest book is An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s. The book is part memoir, part in-depth journey through the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and part love letter to her husband Dick Goodwin, a presidential speechwriter...

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, says certain hospitals have to provide stabilizing care to patients. Until the Dobbs decision in 2022, that care included abortion if necessary. After Dobbs, though, states with strict abortion laws make it difficult if not impossible to abide by EMTALA. Idaho is one such state, the United States sued, and that case made its way to the Supreme Court. In June of 2024, however...

What is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or the CPB? How does it all work? And why is it SO political?

In this episode, senior producer Christina Phillips explains it all. She first spoke with the CPB's Anne Brachman, and then did a deep dive to learn more. 

In the episode, Christina mentions 2024 legislation called the Defund NPR Act. You can read that bill right here. Since we taped the episode, there's a new effort afoot t...

On this special bonus episode of Civics 101, we talk about the Supreme Court’s decision on July 1st in the case of Trump v United States. The court ruled along ideological lines; it was a 6-3 decision that granted former president Donald Trump - and any president - some degree of immunity.  But it's a long opinion, and a  complicated one. 

To explain all of it, we reached out to Dr. Claire Wofford, an Associate Professor of Politica...

The Smithsonian is a heck of a lot more than its 21 museums. Today on Civics 101 Richard Kurin tells us all about about an institution that interacts with all three branches of government,  has a budget of over a billion dollars, and is dedicated to "the increase and diffusion of knowledge" among all.  

So how did it start? How does it run? What does the Chief Justice have to do with all this? And, finally, why do we collect items i...

On June 14 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that bump stocks are no longer illegal, reversing an order from Donald Trump and the ATF that was passed in the wake of the Las Vegas shootings. The words "Second Amendment" do not appear in the opinion, concurring opinion, or dissent. And yet, within minutes of the ruling, every news agency was calling it a Second Amendment case. So what is the Second Amendment?

It's short. 27 words. Words w...

Today we break down flags that have been in the news; from variations on the American flag to revolutionary flags like the Gadsden Flag and the "Appeal to Heaven" pine tree flag. 

These flags do not change in their design, but the meaning of these flags certainly does change.

For more flaggery, click here to hear our show about the history of the American flag and SCOTUS cases surrounding it, and click here to learn about why Nick th...

This is the story of what happens (and what's happening) when the American workforce tries to get a seat at the table.  Our guides to strikes, unions and the labor movement are Kim Kelly, journalist and author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, Eric Loomis professor of History at the University of Rhode Island and author of A History of America in Ten Strikes and our friend Andrew Swan, an 8th Grade Social St...

The Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC is sometimes called “the people’s zoo.” That’s because it’s the only zoo in the country to be created by an act of US Congress, and admission is free.

But why did our federal government create a national zoo in the first place?

Outside/In producer Felix Poon has the scoop – from its surprising origins in the near-extinction of bison, to a look at its modern-day mission of con...