Episodes 341
Avg. Duration 28m
Activity Highly Active
Apple Rating 4.2 (2,539)
Since Jul 2017
Latest Episode Dec 2025

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Schedule
Weekly
Format
Episodic
Consistency
90%
Hosting
feeds.simplecast.com

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About This Podcast

How do landmark Supreme Court decisions affect our lives? What does the 2nd Amendment really say? Why does the Senate have so much power? Civics 101 is the podcast about how our democracy works…or is supposed to work, anyway.

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Recent Episodes

Restoring Civility in our Politics (on The Middle)

Dec 30, 2025 52m

This week Nick appears on The Middle, with Jeremy Hobson. The topic is civility in politics, and they're joined by former New Hampshire State Legislator Doug Teschner and Citizens Count Executive…

Probable Claus: Is Santa a Criminal?

Dec 23, 2025 23m

Today we answer this question from a listener, "Is Santa a criminal?"We get to the bottom of the myriad actions of the jolly old elf, and whether he could reasonably be tried for civil and criminal…

What is the filibuster?

Dec 16, 2025 27m

Why does it take, in practice, 60 votes for a bill to pass in the Senate? Why doesn't it seem like anyone is up there talking for days anymore? And why do we even have it in the first place?Today is…

The Lottery: How it happened, and what it pays for

Dec 09, 2025 30m

The lottery generates over $70 billion in revenue each year. Today on Civics 101 we explore how we got here; from failed lotteries in the Revolutionary War to the Golden Octopus to the Numbers Game…

What is SNAP?

Dec 02, 2025 33m

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, once upon a time called food stamps, helps nearly 42 million Americans every month. While the 2025 government shutdown showed us what happens when SNAP…

How did the Epstein Files Transparency Act happen?

Nov 25, 2025 23m

Today we talk about the myriad procedures involved in getting the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed in record time. How do discharge petitions work? What did HR 581 do exactly? How did it get…

What can we learn from the American Revolution?

Nov 18, 2025 42m

Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein spent nearly a decade making a twelve-hour documentary on the American Revolution. This is what they learned from the thousands of stories and events that resulted in the…

Billionaires

Nov 11, 2025 24m

In sixty years, we have gone from 2 billionaires in the United States to just under 2,000. How on earth did that happen?Today, Timothy Noah from the New Republic takes us all the way from our framers…

Why are so many voters sitting out this week?

Nov 03, 2025 28m

Off-year elections -- as in, not a presidential or a midterm -- have fairly dismal voter turnout. Yet they matter a great deal. Most of our lives are lived at the local, not the national, level. So…

Project 2025: What it is and what it's doing

Oct 28, 2025 27m

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has published a Mandate for Leadership since 1981, making policy recommendations to the federal government. The latest edition is part of something…

Who's the most outdoorsy president? (A trivia crossover)

Oct 21, 2025 32m

This episode is a crossover with our sister NHPR podcast, Outside/In.What do pastries have to do with environmental justice? Cat butts with the climate crisis? And what US president ate a half-chewed…

The government is shut down....again. But what does that mean?

Oct 16, 2025 24m

In this episode, we give a brief explanation of what's behind the current government shutdown. The, we explain all the ins and outs of government shutdowns. Have they always been part of our…

What Could Go Right: Whatever Happened to Civics?

Oct 14, 2025 52m

Today we’re bringing you an episode of What Could Go Right from our friends at The Progress Network.Each Wednesday on What Could Go Right, hosts Zachary Karabell and Emma Varvaloucas converse with…

What are the rules for making fun of politicians?

Oct 07, 2025 21m

Did you know cartoonists were on Nixon's enemies list? Or that LBJ prevented a cartoonist from getting a medal when he made a cartoon against the Vietnam War? Today we talk about the history of…

The Grievances in the Declaration (part 2)

Sep 30, 2025 28m

Click here to listen to part one of our airing of the grievances if you haven't yet! Today we tackle charges 13-27 against the King, as well as comparisons that have been made between George III and…

Can the president legally hide their health status?

Sep 23, 2025 31m

The American public has long been on the lookout for unsteadiness in the leader of the free world. It's important to us (or, historically, has been) that the president seems, well, well. If not…

The Grievances in the Declaration (part 1)

Sep 16, 2025 24m

"He" has done bad things. Twenty seven of them. And these things were so bad that the colonists used them to demonstrate that they had no choice but to become an independent nation. King George III…

Why does the government fund things, and what happens when it stops?

Sep 09, 2025 40m

Congress appropriates funds, the executive branch ensures those funds are spent and spent wisely. That is how it works. It is not, however, how it is working right now. The Trump Administration has,…

Civics Trivia: Taxes, terrifying birds, and The West Wing

Sep 02, 2025 50m

It's another edition of Civics 101 Trivia! This time, it's also the swan song for one of our own.Senior Producer Christina Phillips, our mastermind of minutiae and all things related to taxes, joins…

Is same-sex marriage in legal peril?

Aug 26, 2025 28m

In 2015, the Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land. However, for the first time in over five years, Kim Davis (an opponent of same-sex marriage) petitioned for a writ of certiorari…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Civics 101 have?

Civics 101 has published 341 episodes since July 2017, covering topics in Government, History.

Is Civics 101 still active?

Civics 101 is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 28m.

How do I contact Civics 101 for sponsorship or guest appearances?

Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for Civics 101, including email and social media links.

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