Civics 101

The people who advise (or don't advise) the president, and how they get the job.

What Trump promises to do when he's "dictator" for a day.

What happens when you have to turn over the largest institution in the world?

You voted for president. So what happens to your ballot next? We talk about ALL of it.

Emilia's Thing: A story about a former Capitol Police officer who's life has been shaped by the events of January 6th.

How do we measure up to the rest of the world when it comes to taking care of the sick?

The Smithsonian's bone library and the conflict between ethics and science

We are told corruption is a force of nature. It is not.

Whenever there's a big strike in the news, someone inevitably invokes the phrase "Taft-Hartely Act" when talking about whether or not the president should intervene. But what is Taft-Hartley?

A special episode recorded in front of a live audience!

The relatively recent philosophy of channeling the people who wrote our founding documents.

How we turned one of our country’s biggest rivers into a machine - and what happens when that machine starts to break down.

Hannah and Nick face off on It's Been a Minute from NPR

Why focus on George Washington? Because the candidate was picked before they wrote the job description.

Let's just say it took a lot of fighting.

A breakdown of some common campaign jargon, along with some quasi-related trivia for your listening pleasure.

The courts don't have to listen to the experts anymore.

Games can teach us about civics in completely new ways.

Why they do it and what happens to them.

How we fill the shoes of the Commander in Chief. In certain circumstances.

How is a particular city chosen to be the site of the Olympic Games? You probably guessed it...politics.

What are the systems and processes when a presumptive nominee is replaced at the last minute?

You may have been surprised (or maybe not) when judge Aileen Cannon abruptly dismissed the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump. We dig into how and why that happened.

Introducing the newest series from NHPR’s award-winning Document team: “The Youth Development Center.”

Historian Doris Kearns Good talks about the 1960s, her own life as a historian, and her late husband Dick Goodwin, a presidential speechwriter and policy advisor who played a vital role in shaping contemporary American politics and life.

The Supreme Court decided it wouldn't decide.

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

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 for former President Donald Trump in a sweeping decision regarding presidential immunity. But what does the decision really mean?

The biggest museum, research, and education complex in the world. So how does it work?

What does it say, what does it mean, what did it mean when it was written, and does it even matter?

The history of Don't Tread on Me, An Appeal to Heaven, and the Inverted flag.

The American worker gets organized.

Why do we own a zoo? We do, by the way. It's the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC.

How do you get the truth from consummate storytellers?

From putting a marble in a jar to pulling a lever to filling in an oval, what is the history of ballot design? And how do we ensure they're fair?

When you trade a cow for a teapot and can't make change.

Your local government is the one you have to pay really close attention to. Especially when part of their job is to keep residents safe.

Hannah tells Nick what it's like to have real access to the Supreme Court. And then the pair pays a very emotional visit to the Lincoln Memorial.

The Civics 101 team's D.C. field trip takes them all kinds of places, including inside the highest court in the land during oral arguments. Listen in as they share those experiences.

The team is in Washington D.C. making episodes...and we're learning some wild stuff.

There's a landmark SCOTUS decision from two centuries ago that could end up influencing Donald Trump's current Supreme Court case. But why?

The Republican and Democratic National Committees used to be "the chair and his/her briefcase." But what do they do now?

Deductions, credits, W2s, audits. It's complicated out there, so we break it down.

Paying income taxes is a civic responsibility... but it hasn't always been. Where did it start, and where is it now?

Forget the rhetoric and hysterical political ads! Host Hannah McCarthy did the research, and she runs down all of the *actual* campaign promises being made by President Joe Biden and Donald Trump as they both make a second run for the White House.

Everybody agrees it's bad, nobody agrees on why.

TikTok - an app with around 170 Million American users - is under intense scrutiny by the U.S. government, including a bill passed by the House of Representatives which issues a threat: "sell or be banned." But how and why can the government do that?

What really happens when the Supreme Court decides something? What are the limits on their powers? And what can we do if we disagree with them?

The process for changing the Supreme Law of the Land.

Have we ever agreed upon a narrative for our nation that we can teach American students?

How do you have a legitimate discussion with someone who has the facts wrong? And what's going on with all of these different trials involving former President Donald Trump?

Can presidents pardon themselves?

How are algorithms deciding our fate and what is the country doing about it?

It's lauded as the most significant of the Federalist Papers, those 85 essays which defended our Constitution and encouraged it's ratification. So what's it all about?

Everything you gotta know this year.

How much do we pay our government employees? Who gets the most? And, more importantly, what kind of money do they make once they leave office?

The truth is out there.

Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has become the sixth person to be expelled from the House in US history. How does expulsion happen, and how will his seat be filled?

The problems with school meals range from unappetizing food to shaming children. Are we doing anything about it?

How we decided to feed kids in America's schools.

One our favorite subjects in recent memory: is Santa's method of present delivery... legal?

What makes a holiday a federal holiday?

Voters love the idea of term limits for Congress, so why don't we have them? And would they deliver on their promises?

If the President and Vice President are both unable to hold office, who comes next?

A brief summary of what's on the Supreme Court docket.

It's sometimes referred to as the second-most powerful job in Washington DC. Learn about the powers and history of the position that will likely be in the news for months to come.

The Satanic Temple brings 1st Amendment questions to town.

Author and historian Heather Cox Richardson on her new book, Democracy Awakening.

What is the federal government's role in predicting the weather?

The words "separation of church and state" might not be in our constitution, but the idea certainly is.

We hear from friends, and one very special social media account, about American Girl then and now.

How do shutdowns happen? Why do they happen? How are they prevented, and who do they affect?

Hannah, Rebecca, and Christina duke it out in three rounds of (sort of) civics trivia.

This episode of Civics 101 is the second chapter of a story about American Girl dolls, and what this beloved brand got right – and wrong – about the American experience.

For so many of us, American Girl dolls were more than just toys. They’re how we learned about the past. But is American Girl’s version historically accurate?

Our government has hundreds of millions of secrets.

What are RICO charges? Why do we have them? And how does a RICO case differ from a more run-of-the mill trial?

What are the origin stories of our two parties? How have they evolved? And what is "realignment" anyways?

When curricula, parents, legislators, students, and teachers collide.

What happens when race is, and then suddenly isn't, a factor in college admissions?

The only two people executed for violating the Espionage Act during peacetime.

What are presidential records? And to whom do they belong?

Shutting down the Independent State Legislator theory.

Who decides what gets taught in a classroom? Is it the teachers? The parents? The state? When did it all change? And while we're at it, how ARE we doing when it comes to civic education?

You probably associate the so-called "War on Drugs" with the Reagans. Or maybe, more correctly, with the Nixon administration. But the government's anti-drug policies started decades before that.

Today we learn about the Supreme Court decisions that we don't hear much about; the "shadow docket."

Justices are talking more than ever - but what are they saying?

Today we define three of the most used -isms in the media, and explore why we have -isms in the first place.

Citizenship, equal protection, due process and... debt?

Supreme Court justices are supposed to keep themselves removed from political bias or influence. But who makes sure they're actually doing that?

What's the deal with the debt ceiling, anyway?

Being fair and balanced on TV and the radio wasn't just a good idea, it was the law.

We spoke with Ryan Willard from The Ten News for tips on talking with younger kids about the news.

The laws, policies and legal cases that worked for and against Reconstruction.

The true history of America's first Civil Rights era.

Why America doesn't learn about our first Civil Rights Era.

Today we explain all the legalities surrounding the Dominion v Fox News lawsuit. We break down defamation, slander, libel, discovery, actual malice, and what this settlement means.

How free IS the land of the free? We talk with the co-author of the Human Freedom Index, Ian Vasquez, about how we rank in our measure of liberty. Then we do a deep dive into Freedom of the Press with Jenifer Whitten-Woodring, co-author of the Historical Guide to World Media Freedom: A Country-by-Country Analysis.

Can the government really ban a whole business? What does that mean and how does it happen?