Julie Suk discusses her new book, an important contribution to feminist legal theory and the study of misogyny!

Duncan Kennedy talks about Yale Law School in the 1960s and the birth of Critical Legal Studies!

Samuel Issacharoff discusses populism and democracy around the world!

Jake Mazeitis and Andrew Porwancher give us the scoop on the “prophet of Harvard Law:” James Bradley Thayer!

Tim Shenk talks about coalition building, majority-making, and realignment in American history!

Greg Sargent of The Washington Post joins us to break down the midterm election!

Kate Klonick, a leading expert on tech companies and content moderation, explains the Elon Musk takeover of Twitter and its implications!

This week we have Jacob Grumbach on the pod! Jake is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington and the producer of fantastic Twitter content @JakeMGrumbach. His new book Laboratories against Democracy discusses the causes and consequences of the nationalization of state politics.

Cambridge Professor Gary Gerstle enters the arena to join our ongoing debate about neoliberalism. We discuss his brilliant new book The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era.

Throughout our discussion, we situate this book against other scholars and existing theories (see the lengthy reading list)! This is a fascinating topic and we know you’ll enjoy hearing about Gary’s latest scholarship.

Another podcast, another Metropolitan movie reference. This time we are joined by our colleague and friend, Taisu Zhang, Professor of Law at Yale Law School. We give you a sneak peak of Professor Zhang’s new book The Ideological Foundations of Qing Taxation: Belief Systems, Politics, and Institutions, which comes out in November. Taisu starts by explaining why understanding the Qing dynasty is a prerequisite to understanding the modern era of Chinese history and modern Chinese politics. We then debate theories of the Great Divergence, or why many countries in the Western world emerged as the most powerful economies in the 19th and 20th centuries while Qing China, Mughal India, and others failed to launch.

We are thrilled to welcome Professors Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan to the podcast to discuss their groundbreaking new book on immigration in America! Ran is the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Economics at Stanford and Leah is a Professor of Economics at Princeton, where she also serves as the Director of the Industrial Relations Section. They are on the forefront of economic research on immigration and just published Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success.

After a summer of landmark Supreme Court cases, we are excited to start the season with Mary Ziegler, one of the nation’s leading experts and historians of U.S. abortion politics. She has written four books on the social movements around reproductive rights, including, most recently, Dollars for Life: The Anti-Aboriton Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment.

For the last episode of the season, Digging a Hole hosted its first live show in front of a live student audience! David interviewed two current Yale Law School students – Nina Oishi and Caroline Grueskin – about recent papers they’ve written.

On this week’s pod, Dave welcomes one of his former professors – Rick Pildes! He’s a leading scholar on the legal issues concerning democracy, and in this episode, we focus on his recent article “Political Fragmentation in Democracies of the West.”

This week Digging a Hole explores global legal theory and history to match up with Sam’s European adventures! We are lucky to be joined by two of our Yale colleagues, Lauren Benton and Rohit De. Among other things, we discuss Lauren’s project “On Small Wars: Legalities of Violence in European Empires” and the Yale Law and Modernization Project.

An emergency podcast on the Ukraine war and the legal theory tie-ins and implications!

On this week’s pod we have Osita Nwanevu! In the interview, Osita discusses many of the major issues around media institutions today. Somehow David relates journalism to both roasted vegetables and dessert, so we either got really metaphorical or were just hungry!

For the second episode of Season 4, Linda Greenhouse joins the pod to discuss her new book Justice on the Brink about the Supreme Court! In our discussion, we ask Linda the major questions about the Court and its future. Should the Court be public facing and, if so, how? As the Court breaks the fourth wall, engaging fully with today’s politics and polarization, is what is really on the brink the idea of a Court separate from politics? How will justices operate as the Court engages more explicitly in politics and who are their intended audiences in their opinions and public engagements? What does this Court do next after taking on abortion and affirmative action?

We’re thrilled to kick off this season with Joseph Fishkin and William Forbath discussing their upcoming book The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy. In this episode, sub-fusc adorned Sam and noted constitutional law scholar David ask the guests how their highly anticipated book addresses how the United States Constitution could and should force legislatures to tackle economic inequality and oligarchy. We discuss why only one side of the political spectrum appears to make strong claims on the constitution regarding economic life during a time of mounting inequality, and, to do so, we trace the tradition of thought regarding the Constitution’s relationship to economic power.

You asked -- we answered! In Digging a Hole’s first AMA (or really Ask Us Anything) episode, we answered your most pressing questions: Is it ethical to move into a gentrifying neighborhood? How should one read articles when considering potential academic appointments? What is cooler -- SCOTUS or the Federal Reserve? What is a professional failure we’ve experienced? Who is our dream sponsor for the pod?

Come for the legal theory and hot takes, stay for Dave's unified field theory of Sam Moyn projects. There’s something for everyone!