Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss Richard’s recent essay for Defining Ideas, defending classical liberalism against the recent critiques of conservative political philosopher Patrick Deneen and others. From there they move on to other critics of classical liberalism—namely, modern-day advocates for socialism. And finally they touch on Harvard Medical School’s removal of portraits of white men, and the debate over statutes honoring confederate soldiers.

In Georgia and Alabama, state legislatures have enacted laws on abortion, perhaps teeing up new legal challenges to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade precedent. Meanwhile, in Washington, the House Democrats’ subpoenas to President Trump’s former White House Counsel and to his longtime accountants are sparking debates and litigation over the scope of Congress’s investigative powers and the options for presidential immunity against such investigations. Hoover fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss these political and legal conflicts.

Hoover fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss the decline of Congress as a constitutional institution, as exemplified by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing with Attorney General Barr—and the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing without him.

On the first day of baseball season, Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White call balls and strikes on the apparent end of the Mueller investigation as detailed in Attorney General Barr’s four-page letter to Congress. They still disagree about Mueller, but they agree that the investigation reached a good conclusion. Will we ever see a full Mueller Report — and should we?

Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to break up tech companies; former Attorney General Eric Holder wants a future Democratic President and Congress to pack the Court, which would break it. What do Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White think of these proposals? They disagree with both of them … but they also disagree with one another about how to think about what Google does today. But before they start to debate those issues, they begin by applauding the Senate’s move toward confirming Neomi Rao’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss President Trump’s nomination of William Barr to be Attorney General, a position that Barr previously held under President George H.W. Bush. They also discuss the possibility of President Trump invoking “emergency powers” to build a border wall without new congressional authorization.

Recorded January 15, 2019

Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss Senator Elizabeth Warren’s call for an unprecedented “wealth tax,” and the constitutional problems that it raises. They also discuss the Supreme Court’s upcoming case on judicial “deference” to agencies’ legal interpretations (Kisor v. Wilkie).

Hoover fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss the latest news surrounding the Mueller Investigation, and then turn to timeless questions of America’s Constitution and its greatest chief justice, John Marshall.

Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White debate Attorney General Sessions’s resignation, and the appointment of Matthew Whittaker as his temporary replacement.

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In the aftermath of the Senate’s confirmation of Kavanaugh, Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss the need (or not) to change the Senate’s process, and recent criticism of the Court’s “legitimacy.”

Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White look back at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, and then look ahead to the effect that Kavanaugh may have on constitutional law and the administrative state.

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The day after a federal jury convicts the Trump Campaign’s former chairman, Paul Manafort on tax and fraud charges, and President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, plead guilty to campaign finance violations. The Hoover Institution’s Richard Epstein and Adam White analyze these developments and argue about fundamental issues surrounding Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation of President Trump.