The Supreme Court’s understanding of the Reconstruction Amendments is “entirely ahistorical,” says constitutional expert @ProfMMurray. “There are all of these ways in which the Reconstruction Amendments are consciously thinking about: what does it require to live in a society that is not a slaveocracy, that is not about racial hierarchy?”

A strict scrutiny of the US Constitution. Constitutional expert @ProfMMurray, this week on Firing Line with @MargaretHoover. firinglineshow.substack.com/…

As America’s 250th approaches, legal scholar Melissa Murray says “The Reconstruction amendments, perhaps more than any other part of the Constitution, reflect the principles of the Declaration of Independence.” “The real question is, are we going to let the Reconstruction amendments live out the promise that they were structured to engender, or are we going to snuff them out? And big parts of this have been snuffed out. And this Supreme Court is doing real work to limit the reach of the Reconstruction amendments. But that's not what the framers of the Reconstruction amendments intended.” Check out the interview on PBS, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

“We have more than one Constitution,” says legal scholar Melissa Murray. “So there's the 1787 original Constitution. There's the Reconstruction amendments, which fundamentally alter the document in a number of ways, shifting power from the states to the federal government, recognizing that the states as much as the federal government could impose upon the rights of the people. That's a really important shift that happens with the Reconstruction amendments.” Check out the interview on PBS, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

The founders wanted citizens to understand the Constitution “inside and out” so they could defend their rights against tyranny, says Melissa Murray, legal scholar and author of the new book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader. “And right now, I'm not sure that's the citizenry that we have,” says Murray. “I can say unequivocally, [democratic institutions] are not going to survive if the people aren't engaged with the limits that we place on government in order to have a democracy.” Check out the interview on PBS, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts

The founders wanted citizens to understand the Constitution “inside and out” so they could defend their rights against tyranny, says @profmmurray, legal scholar and author of the new book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader. “And right now, I'm not sure that's the citizenry that we have,” says Murray. FRIDAY @pbs

How do you hold digital influencers accountable for lies and misinformation? "I quote-tweet them and I make sure that I push back," says @YouTube host @adammocklerr. But @nataliegwinters of @Bannons_WarRoom takes a different approach: “If they're lying, don't consume or share their stuff…You don’t have to feed the beast.”

“Republicans view immigrants in a fundamentally different way than they view everybody else,” argues @YouTube host @adammocklerr. “You guys view immigrants as net drains on the society, but that is not borne out.” “The American people have been abused by the legal immigration system,” @nataliegwinters, co-host of Steve Bannon’s War Room, responds. “It's too many people.”

"The algorithms currently incentivize and promote the most outrageous content," says @YouTube host @adammocklerr of social media. But @Bannons_WarRoom co-host @nataliegwinters says, "I don't think it's the platforms that are making us more extreme. I think it's the lived economic experience of Americans that is driving them to left- and right-wing populism." Follow on Apple: bit.ly/467xlkA

"I think foreign policy has always been first and foremost from the America First perspective about confronting the Chinese Communist Party," says @nataliegwinters. "And I think you've seen the [Trump] administration go very soft on them." On Spotify: bit.ly/4kAuUwX

Immigration is "making American culture into a third world derivative of itself," argues @nataliegwinters. "I don't want to live in Somalia. I want to live in America." But @adammocklerr says, "It feels like the natural conclusion of that is an immigration policy that restricts people from certain countries." Follow on Apple: bit.ly/467xlkA

“I don't want to tax all billionaires out of existence. I'm not Bernie Sanders," says @YouTube host @adammocklerr. "But I want to reform the tax code…Maybe we tone down the loopholes so the richest of the rich aren't getting these massive tax breaks while the working class people are getting cuts to their Medicaid or their SNAP.” On Spotify: bit.ly/4kAuUwX

"The Democratic Party...has been too risk-averse and too finger-wagging," says @YouTube host @adammocklerr. "We have candidates that are running that won't even go on mainstream podcasts because they're a little bit too nervous to misstep."

"I don't say I'm an unbiased person on the ground reporting the truth," says @YouTube host @adammocklerr. @nataliegwinters acknowledges her biases too, but she insists @Bannons_WarRoom is not "regime puppets for President Trump." FULL EPISODE: bit.ly/4rlEdDx

"I think people have lost touch with how just truly awe-inspiring and divine our founding was," says @nataliegwinters as the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence approaches. "I think that the founding of this country was amazing," agrees @adammocklerr. "Genuinely, I think the debates that you can read at some of the conventions are very, very interesting." Follow on Apple: bit.ly/467xlkA

"It just really bothers me when people are in high positions of power and spreading lies and aren't getting fact checked," says @YouTube host @adammocklerr. But @Bannons_WarRoom co-host @nataliegwinters argues, "Fact checks have only ever been weaponized to silence content that doesn't fit mainstream narratives." Watch a #FiringLine forum at @HofstraU with two Gen Z political commentators. TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET @PBS listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf

Is the Trump administration using immigration policies to make America whiter? @nataliegwinters of @Bannons_WarRoom says that's “absolutely absurd.” “I don't care what race you are….I care that first and foremost, you are an American citizen.” But @YouTube host @adammocklerr disagrees: “This administration is absolutely looking at immigration through a racial lens.”

"We should check facts," says @Bannons_WarRoom co-host @nataliegwinters, but she dismisses fact-checking as a biased construct of the "anti-disinformation industry." “Fact checks have only ever been weaponized to silence content that doesn't fit mainstream narratives.’

Why are audiences drawn to new media outlets like @Bannons_WarRoom and @MeidasTouch? "We cover the issues that I think for so long legacy media has just routinely ignored," says @nataliegwinters. "I think in this new age of media...people are looking for authenticity," adds @adammocklerr.

"We are now in a post-factual reality." @adammocklerr and @nataliegwinters talk to @MargaretHoover about truth and accountability in the era of social media and America's immigration policy debate in a forum at @HofstraU. FRIDAY @PBS Local listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf