Liberty Under Law

by The Robert H. Jackson Center

A podcast of the Robert H. Jackson Center that explores contemporary issues of equality, fairness, and justice with a Jacksonian lens through in-depth conversations with experts, academics, innovators, and those doing the boots-on-the-ground work. Liberty under Law also addresses important historic events in the life and legacy of Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Chief U.S. Prosecutor at Nuremberg. Hosted by Kr ...   ...  Read more

Podcast episodes

  • Season 2

  • Democracy on Trial - The Year 2022 in Review

    Democracy on Trial - The Year 2022 in Review

    Staffan I. Lindberg of the V-Dem Institute joins Kristan again to wrap up the year's theme and discuss their most recent (as of recording) Democracy Report, which analyzes the characteristics of democracy and each country's movement toward democracy or autocracy.Staffan I. Lindberg is a Professor of political science and Director of the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and a founding Principal Investigator of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem).

  • The Movement to a Level Playing Field (Part 2) - featuring Brad Snyder

    The Movement to a Level Playing Field (Part 2) - featuring Brad Snyder

    This podcast is drawn from a multi-part program the Center hosted on October 12, 2022 entitled The Movement to a Level Playing Field. This second installment features Professor Brad Snyder commemorating the 50th anniversary of the landmark Flood v. Kuhn case. After the 1969 season, the St. Louis Cardinals traded Curt Flood, their star center fielder, to the Philadelphia Phillies. At that time, when a player was traded, he had two options – to report to his new team or retire. Unwilling to leave St. Louis and influenced by the civil rights movement, Flood instead sued Major League Baseball for his freedom. His case reached the Supreme Court, where Flood ultimately lost. By challenging the system, he created an atmosphere in which, just three years later, free agency became a reality. Flood’s decision cost him his career, but dramatically changed baseball. Professor Snyder published A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports in 2007. He teaches constitutional law, constitutional history, and sports law at Georgetown University Law School.To see the video of this presentation, please visit the Jackson Center's YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/N41LPh0-qw0

  • The Movement to a Level Playing Field (Part 1) - featuring David L. Crane

    The Movement to a Level Playing Field (Part 1) - featuring David L. Crane

    This podcast is drawn from a multi-part program the Center hosted on October 12, 2022 entitled The Movement to a Level Playing Field. This first installment features David L. Crane speaking about how the ephemera of the Civil Rights Movement contributed to the non-violent protests and the advancement of civil liberties. David L. Crane, the founder and curator of Making the Movement: Civil Rights Museum. Making the Movement is an exhibit that explores the use of non-violent weapons to combat Jim Crow and made its debut at the Jackson Center in 2013. Crane is a history instructor at Alamance Community College in North Carolina and is the author of Making the Movement: How Activists Fought for Civil Rights with Buttons, Flyers, Pins, and Posters.To see the video of this presentation, please visit the Jackson Center's YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/iTpH3KkYkZs.

  • Free Speech and Press in Challenging Places

    Free Speech and Press in Challenging Places

    Bay Fang, President, Radio Free Asia joins Kristan to discuss the challenges and importance of news reporting in and from Asian countries without strong press freedoms, including China, Cambodia, Laos, Tibet, and the Uyghurs. Bay Fang oversees award-winning journalism with the mission of bringing free press to closed societies in Asia. She spent most of her career in print journalism, as the Beijing Bureau Chief and covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for US News and World Report, and later as the Diplomatic Correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. She served in government during the Obama Administration as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Press and Public Diplomacy. Ms. Fang earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, was a visiting fellow at Oxford University and a Fulbright scholar in Hong Kong.

  • The Living Legacy of Plessy v. Ferguson - From Versus to And

    The Living Legacy of Plessy v. Ferguson - From Versus to And

    For our 2022 Constitution Day commemoration, the Robert H. Jackson Center hosted Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson to share how they have come together to advance justice. Keith and Phoebe are the descendants of the named parties in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case that codified the separate but equal doctrine, until that was overturned in 1954 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education (The 69th anniversary of that decision was marked on May 17, 2023.)Keith M. Plessy is a New Orleans native and is the great grandson of Gustave Plessy – Homer Plessy’s first cousin. He is co-founder and President of the Plessy and Ferguson Foundation.Phoebe Ferguson is a native of New Orleans and the great-great granddaughter of Judge John Howard Ferguson, the named defendant in the case, Plessy v. Ferguson. In 2009, she co-founded the Plessy and Ferguson Foundation with Keith Plessy, the descendent of Homer Plessy, and is currently the foundation’s executive director.This event was moderated by Gregory L. Peterson, the co-founder of the Robert H. Jackson Center.