May It Please the Court
May It Please the Court immerses listeners in the dramatic history of the Supreme Court’s most consequential rulings and unpacks how the same constitutional sentence has been reinterpreted across generations, shaping the world we live in today.
May It Please the Court
Latest Episodes
Centennial Crisis (The Election of 1876)
Alex discusses the chaotic 1876 Presidential election, involving disputed ballots, voter suppression, and political brinkmanship that led to end of Reconstruction Era and turned the tide against racial equality.
Radical Republicans (The Reconstruction Amendments)
Alex retells the story of Abraham Lincoln navigating the Civil War, Radical Republicans, and a divided nation to abolish slavery and secure equal rights. From the abolition of slavery to the drafting of the 14th Amendment, this episode explores...
A House Divided (Dred Scott v. Sandford) | The Equal Protection Clause
Alex retells the dramatic story of Charles Sumner’s fiery Senate speech, the brutal caning that followed, and the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision, showing how these events set the stage for Abraham Lincoln, the 14th Amendm...
Introduction to Season 2 | The Equal Protection Clause
Creator and host Alex Akhavan introduces Season 2 of May It Please The Court: the story of the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Effectively the story of race and discrimination in the United States from the lens of the...
#LoveWins (Obergefell v. Hodges) | The Due Process Clause
In the season finale of May It Please The Court, the justices decide the issue of same-sex marriage. In 2015, twelve years after the Court's landmark decision that had invalidated anti-sodomy laws, Justice Anthony Kennedy is once again the tieb...
