Civics In A Year
What do you really know about American government, the Constitution, and your rights as a citizen?
Civics in a Year is a fast-paced podcast series that delivers essential civic knowledge in just 10 minutes per episode. Over the course of a year, we’ll explore 250 key questions—from the founding documents and branches of government to civil liberties, elections, and public participation.
Rooted in the Civic Literacy Curriculum from the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University, this series is a collaborative project supported by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. Each episode is designed to spark curiosity, strengthen constitutional understanding, and encourage active citizenship.
Whether you're a student, educator, or lifelong learner, Civics in a Year will guide you through the building blocks of American democracy—one question at a time.
Episodes
117 episodes
How Tinker v. Des Moines Empowered Student Speech
A simple black armband became a turning point for student rights. We sit down with Mary Beth Tinker to revisit the 1965 protest that led to Tinker v. Des Moines and the Supreme Court’s declaration that students do not shed their constitutional ...
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Season 1
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Episode 113
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50:55
How The Pentagon Papers Redefined Free Speech And Government Accountability
We trace the 15-day showdown over the Pentagon Papers and how the Supreme Court drew a bright line against prior restraint. The story moves from Ellsberg’s leak to the Court’s ruling that the press serves the governed, not the governors.
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Season 1
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Episode 112
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10:29
New York Times v. Sullivan
Professor Samantha Barbas traces how New York Times v. Sullivan reshaped libel law, empowered investigative reporting, and protected the civil rights movement, then tests the standard against today’s social media landscape. She unpacks “actual ...
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Season 1
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Episode 111
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10:50
Baker v. Carr Explained: From Unequal Districts To One Person, One Vote
Imagine sharing a district with nine times as many people as the voters next door and getting the same single representative. That stark imbalance was common before Baker v. Carr, and it’s the starting point for our deep dive into how the Supre...
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Season 1
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Episode 110
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16:39
How Brown v. Board Ended Legal School Segregation
A nine-page Supreme Court opinion changed the course of American education—and it wasn’t an accident. We walk through the legal strategy that chipped away at Plessy, the political maneuvering that elevated Earl Warren, and the consolidated case...
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Season 1
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Episode 109
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12:59
From Schenck To Social Media: How Free Speech Law Evolved
Free speech law didn’t spring fully formed; it was hammered out case by case, crisis by crisis. We unpack how Schenck v. United States, a 1919 wartime case that actually upheld a conviction, planted the “clear and present danger” idea and nudge...
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Season 1
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Episode 108
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23:27
Dred Scott, America’s Breaking Point
A Supreme Court tried to settle the slavery question and instead set the country ablaze. We unpack Dred Scott v. Sandford with Dr. Beinberg, tracing how a case about one man’s claim to freedom morphed into a sweeping judgment that denied Black ...
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Season 1
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Episode 107
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15:32
Gibbons v. Ogden: How The Commerce Clause Shapes Interstate Trade
A steamboat monopoly, a federal license, and a constitutional power that still shapes our economy—this is the story of Gibbons v. Ogden told through clear facts and sharp reasoning. We dig into how a seemingly straightforward dispute over navig...
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Season 1
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Episode 106
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10:47
Why McCulloch v. Maryland Cemented Federal Supremacy And Shaped Implied Powers
A state tax, a national bank, and a constitutional reckoning—this is the moment McCulloch v. Maryland turned a revenue measure into a blueprint for federal power. We bring Dr. Beienberg back to trace the story from the first bank fight of the 1...
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Season 1
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Episode 105
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11:47
Why Marbury v. Madison Still Shapes Constitutional Power
A delivered commission goes missing, a new Chief Justice takes the bench, and a dry jurisdictional dispute turns into a lodestar for American constitutional law. We dive into Marbury v. Madison to unpack what John Marshall actually did: not con...
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Season 1
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Episode 104
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15:50
How FDR’s Date Change Rewrote A Holiday And Tested Presidential Power
A holiday felt so fixed that few imagined it could move—until the president did exactly that. We dive into the surprising civic journey of Thanksgiving, from Sarah Josepha Hale’s decades-long campaign that convinced Abraham Lincoln to set a nat...
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Season 1
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Episode 103
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9:43
How Presidential Proclamations Made Thanksgiving A Civic Tradition
Gratitude didn’t just arrive with pumpkin pie; it was engineered through careful words and bold timing. We sit down with Dr. Paris Careese to explore how presidential proclamations by George Washington in 1789 and Abraham Lincoln in 1863 shaped...
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Season 1
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Episode 102
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25:38
How Judges Read The Constitution: Text, History, And Precedent
The loudest fights about the Supreme Court are usually about outcomes. We pull back the curtain on the methods that shape those outcomes—text, history, precedent, and values—and explain how different approaches to constitutional interpretation ...
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Season 1
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Episode 101
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19:02
Remember The Ladies
A century of episodes calls for a wider lens, and we open it fully: the founding wasn’t just hammered out in halls and pamphlets by famous men—it was argued, nurtured, and lived by women whose ideas changed the course of American liberty. We pu...
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Season 1
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Episode 100
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13:23
How A Territorial Delegate Shapes National Policy From The Northern Mariana Islands
Ever wondered how a member of Congress can shape national policy without casting a floor vote? We sit down with Representative Kimberlyn King Hines, the delegate from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, to explore the real power c...
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Season 1
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Episode 98
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11:44
Kids Edition: Founding Women
What if the founding of the United States could be heard not only in speeches and volleys but in quilts mended by firelight, farm ledgers balanced in winter, and poems that dared to test the nation’s conscience? We open the door to the women wh...
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Season 1
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Episode 99
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12:59
Phillis Wheatley, First Poet Of A New Nation
We trace Phillis Wheatley’s journey from captivity to literary force, exploring how her poems speak to faith, freedom, and belonging during the American founding. We highlight her craft, the battle to be believed, and why her voice reframes the...
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Season 1
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Episode 97
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17:41
Judith Sargent Murray and the Roots of American Feminism
A forgotten voice sharpened the edge of American liberty—she did it with clarity, courage, and a printing press that didn’t always want her words. We sit down with Dr. Kirstin Burkhaugto explore the life and legacy of Judith Sargent Murray, the...
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Season 1
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Episode 96
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11:26
Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen That Pressed for the Bill of Rights
We trace the life and ideas of Mercy Otis Warren, the writer who helped secure a culture of liberty—and a Bill of Rights—without a seat at the Convention. From a rare classical education to salons with the Sons of Liberty, her pen shaped policy...
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Season 1
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Episode 95
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15:09
Martha Washington And Deborah Sampson: Two Paths Of Courage
We explore how Martha Washington and Deborah Sampson advanced the Revolution through very different forms of leadership. One shaped morale and public life; the other broke barriers to fight and spy under a borrowed name.• Pairing Martha...
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Season 1
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Episode 94
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13:39
Incorporation: From Congress To The States
Start with a single word—Congress—and watch the ground shift beneath your feet. We pull back the curtain on how rights that began as limits on the federal government became limits on states, tracing the winding path from Reconstruction’s ambiti...
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Season 1
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Episode 92
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16:20
Abigail and John: How a Marriage Shaped American Politics
Power changes when it meets a clear-eyed partner. That’s the thread that runs through our conversation with Dr. Kirsten Birkhaug as we trace the political and personal partnership of John and Abigail Adams—two sharp minds who treated marriage l...
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Season 1
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Episode 93
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14:40
Federalism In Practice
Power doesn’t just shift in Washington; it moves along a carefully drawn map between the federal government and the states. We dive into that map by tracing the Tenth Amendment through two centuries of clashes, from the Virginia and Kentucky Re...
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Season 1
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Episode 91
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20:18
What The Tenth Amendment Really Does
Power flows from a simple premise: if the Constitution doesn’t grant it to Congress and it isn’t taken from the states, it stays with the states or the people. We dig into that promise, unpacking the Tenth Amendment as more than a slogan and sh...
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Season 1
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Episode 90
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11:56
Why The Eighth Amendment Still Shapes Who We Are As A Society
Fairness is one of the first ideas we learn as kids, and it never stops shaping how we see justice. We sit down with Dr. Kerry Sautner, president and CEO of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, to unpack the Eighth Amendment’s compact prom...
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Season 1
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Episode 87
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28:38