More Perfect
Producer / Reporter
September 18, 2018
27: The Most Perfect Album is like a Constitutional mix-tape, a Schoolhouse Rock for the 21st century. The album features original tracks by artists like Dolly Parton, Kash Doll, and Devendra Banhart: 27+ songs inspired by the 27 Amendments. Accompanied by short stories deep-diving into each amendment's history and resonance (More Perfect Season 3) and an interactive website, this project offers a new angle on civics education that doesn’t taste like medicine.
October 2, 2018
The first eight amendments to the U.S. Constitution are literal, straightforward, and direct. But when we get to Amendments nine, 10, and 11, things get… hazy. In this episode we chase astrologers, rock bands, and gut doctors to get to the real meaning of the three least literal amendments in the U.S. Constitution.
November 14, 2018
On first read the 16th and 22nd Amendments are at best sleepers and at worst, stinkers. The 16th Amendment sets up the income tax, sinking dread into the hearts of millions of Americans every April and the 22nd sets up presidential term limits. But if taxes are so hated, why do we keep paying? And if U.S. citizens are happy with our president, why shouldn’t we be able to keep electing the same leadership over, and over… and over again?
November 30, 2017
On a fall afternoon in 1984, Dethorne Graham ran into a convenience store for a bottle of orange juice. Minutes later he was unconscious, injured, and in police handcuffs. In this episode, we explore a case that sent two Charlotte lawyers on a quest for true objectivity, and changed the face of policing in the US.
October 24, 2017
Should the U.S. Supreme Court be the court of the world? In the 18th century, two feuding Frenchmen inspired a one-sentence law that helped launch American human rights litigation into the 20th century. The Alien Tort Statute allowed a Paraguayan woman to find justice for a terrible crime committed in her homeland. But as America reached further and further out into the world, the court was forced to confront the contradictions in our country’s ideology: sympathy vs. sovereignty. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Jesner v. Arab Bank, a case that could reshape the way America responds to human rights abuses abroad. Does the A.T.S. secure human rights or is it a dangerous overreach?