Touro Law Review Podcast

Professor Randy E. Barnett is a well-known professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Among other things, he has argued before the United States Supreme Court, written a number of books and many law review articles, and taught Constitutional Law and Contracts for decades. Barnett’s academic accomplishments make it all the more interesting that his first job after law school was working as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago during the late 1970s and early 1980s.In Felony Review: Tales of True Crime and Corruption in Chicago, Barnett provides a fascinating account of his time in the State’s Attorney’s Office. In this podcast with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Barnett discusses why he became a prosecutor, what he learned as a Harvard Law student to prepare for the job, and the many things he learned about professional ethics, charging defendants, and trying cases during his time in the office. As Barnett explains, the title of the book comes from his stint in the Felony Review Unit, a specialized office responsible for reviewing felony charges before they could proceed to court. The unit’s greatest contribution to law enforcement may have been its screening out cases that lacked sufficient evidence to go forward – as Barnett describes, the unit rejected approximately 40 percent of the requests for felony charges that it received.This podcast will be of great interest to attorneys practicing criminal law, students thinking of becoming prosecutors or defense attorneys, and the professors who teach them.

Few works of American literature have enjoyed the cultural longevity of Charles Portis's True Grit, which has been adapted into two successful films – the first, released in 1969, starred John Wayne while the second, made by the Coen brothers, appeared in 2010. This Touro Law Review podcast with Professor Robert Cochran, the author of Haunted Man's Report: Reading Charles Portis, explores the enduring appeal of the 1968 novel. In True Grit, Mattie Ross recounts the story of how, as a young Arkansas woman, she avenged the murder of her father with help of a fearsome U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn, and a vain Texas Ranger named La Boeuf. Mattie hires Cogburn because, she says, she needs help from a man with “true grit.”In his discussion with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Professor Cochran examines True Grit through the lens of law and literature, exploring the novel's depiction of justice at the border between Arkansas and what was known in the 19th century as the Indian Territory. Among other things, Cochran discusses the way in which Portis's research into Judge Isaac Parker informs the novel's depiction of the struggle to establish the rule of law in a violent frontier world. Cochran also describes Mattie's remarkable legal knowledge and negotiating skills. He concludes with thoughts on how True Grit reflects Portis's broader concerns about American culture, violence, and the thin line separating civilization from chaos.

On the last day of the 2025-26 term, the Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Barbara, the birthright citizenship case. As has been long settled, under the Fourteenth Amendment, with limited exceptions, any childborn in the United States is a citizen of the United States. Chief Justice John Roberts’s majority opinion decisively upheld the district court’s judgment invalidating President Donald J. Trump’s executive order seeking to restrictthe scope of birthright citizenship.  Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion was joined by four other justices regarding the Fourteenth Amendment and five other justices regarding federal nationality law. Ultimately, six justices wrote opinions in the case. In this Touro Law Reviewpodcast, Professor Rachel Rosenbloom analyzes the Court’s decision and explains the significance of each justice’s opinion.

Every law student engages with the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Civil War Amendments in the Constitutional Law course. Few, however, know the story of two seventeenth-century ships that sailed from Europe and landed in America and subsequently shaped the way in which the Founders and their successors understood the nation’s history. Professor David S. Reynolds explores this history in his most recent book, Two Ships: Jamestown 1619, Plymouth 1620, and the Struggle for the Soul of America. Two Ships tells the story of the arrival of the White Lion in 1619, which brought the first enslaved Africans to Virginia, and of the Mayflower in 1620, which carried the Pilgrims to Plymouth. As Reynolds recounts, the ships became dueling symbols in the American imagination. In his discussion with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Reynolds tells the story of each vessel’s voyage and explains how they became linked in the history of the colonies and then the United States. As Reynolds explains, one of the most striking features of Two Ships is how the history of the two ships has been cast and recast in response to the political and cultural context of each era. The discussion concludes with Reynolds’ thoughts on what this history means for the United States as we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Every law student learns about New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in their Constitutional Law course. In 1964, the Supreme Court revised First Amendment law by holding that a public officialmust show “actual malice” in order to prevail on a libel claim—that is, the public official must show that a defamatory statement was false and that the speaker made the statement knowing that it was false or “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”But not every student knows the fascinating civil rights history behind this seminal case. Professor Samantha Barbas recounts that history in Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in New York Times v. Sullivan, published in 2023. In this podcast with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Barbas discusses the research that inspired her to write the book, the historical context in which Sullivan and other libel cases were litigated, and Justice William Brennan’s role in writing the opinion for a unanimous court. 

The Supreme Court’s decision this year in the tariffs case, Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, involved an important test of the scope of the President’s power. Professor Peter Shane discusses the Court’s ruling setting aside President Donald Trump’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by a six-three vote. Significantly, Professor Shane explains, the Court engaged in an extensive debate over the application of the major questions doctrine (MQD). Under the MQD, as Professor Shane has written, government officials who undertake novel, “unheralded” administrative initiatives of unusual economic and political significance must be able to cite statutes that authorize their initiatives “clearly.” In Learning Resources, three justices in the majority said the MQD applies and supports ruling against the President andthree said the MQD was not needed for such a ruling. Ultimately, seven justices wrote opinions in the case, and much of the discussion was about the MQD. The conversation then turns to an article Professor Shane recently wrote in the Washington Monthly about how the Supreme Court’s decision in Learning Resources could be applied to a legal challenge to a recent change in civil service rules by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that could enable the at-will firing of any government career professional whose work affects government policymaking. (See How the Supreme Court’s TariffRuling Could Save the Civil Service | Washington Monthly.) It’s an intriguing suggestion, and the discussion concludes with Professor Shane explaining how the Court could rule in such a case.        

The Erie doctrine delights Civil Procedure professors and often bedevils law students. On this Touro Law Review podcast, Touro’s Civil Procedure faculty explore and explain the doctrine in their discussion of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Berk v. Choy. Professor John Quinn summarizes the case, Professor Laura Dooley explains Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s concurring opinion, and Professor Deseriee Kennedy discusses the aims of the Erie doctrine and how Berk furthers them. Professor Rodger Citron moderates the discussion, in which the professors also talk about how they plan to use Berk when teaching Civil Procedure.

On January 21, 2026, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Trump v. Cook, one of two cases pending before the Court involving challenges to the President’s exercise of his Article II removal power. Cook arises from President Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, which, thus far, has been preliminarily enjoined by a federal district court in Washington, D.C. The district court stated, “Cook has made a strong showing that her purported removal was done in violation of the Federal Reserve Act's ‘for cause’ provision.” The other removal case before the Supreme Court is Trump v. Slaughter, which involves the termination of Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter of the Federal Trade Commission and was argued before the Court in December 2025. The issue in this case is whether the President has the authority to dismiss Commissioner Slaughter “at will” – that is, for any reason, including a policy disagreement – despite Congress’s restricting the President’s authority to remove a commissioner and a 1935 Supreme Court decision upholding that restriction.The cases raise interesting and important questions about separation of powers doctrine, the President’s removal power, and Congress’s role in creating administrative agencies. Perhaps the most important question in Cook is whether, if at all, the Federal Reserve differs from other agencies regarding the President’s removal power. Professor Ilan Wurman discusses the issues raised by both cases in this podcast discussion with Associate Dean Rodger Citron. Among other things, Wurman explains why he believes the Federal Reserve is not different from other agencies but discusses why a number of justices – perhaps a majority – may not agree with him.

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on November 5 in two cases involving challenges to President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs imposed pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Professor Susan Morse discusses the legal issues raised by the cases and how the Court may address them. Ultimately, Morse concludes, the safest (and perhaps most likely) path for the Court may be to decide the case as a matter of “ordinary” statutory construction without resorting to either the major questions doctrine or the nondelegation doctrine.

This episode explores the intersection of fiction writing and the practice of law. Victor Suthammanont, a writer and attorney, discusses his first novel, Hollow Spaces, published earlier this year. Hollow Spaces explores race and racism, the legal system and the search for truth, and, perhaps more than anything else, family – the enduring impressions, connections, and relations between husband and wife, parents and children, and brother and sister. In his conversation with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Suthammanont describes his journey from student actor to experienced attorney and published author. Even now, Suthammanont continues to draw on skills he developed as an actor in his legal practice. Suthammanont then discusses various aspects of the novel, including the characters’ efforts to learn the truth about the underlying events that shape the stories told in the novel. Whether you are an attorney or a law student, a writer or a theater kid considering a career in law, you will enjoy listening to this episode.