Constitutional

Grenada’s Black revolutionary leader, Maurice Bishop, was executed in a coup in 1983, along with seven others. The whereabouts of their remains are unknown. Now, The Washington Post’s Martine Powers uncovers new answers about how the U.S. fits into this 40-year-old Caribbean mystery. “The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop” is an investigative podcast that delves into the revolutionary history of Grenada, why the missing remains still matter and the role the U.S. government played in shaping the fate of the island nation. Listen and follow the show here.

To hear the rest of the series, follow “Field Trip” wherever you listen. California’s Sierra Nevada is home to a very special kind of tree, found nowhere else on Earth: the giant sequoia. For thousands of years, these towering trees withstood the trials of the world around them, including wildfire. Low-intensity fires frequently swept through groves of sequoias, leaving their cinnamon-red bark scarred but strengthened, and opening their cones to allow new seeds to take root. But in the era of catastrophic wildfires fueled by climate change, these ancient trees are now in jeopardy. And Yosemite National Park is on the front lines of the fight to protect them. In the first episode of “Field Trip,” Washington Post reporter Lillian Cunningham takes listeners inside this fabled landscape — from the hush of the Mariposa Grove to the rush of the Merced River — to explore one of America’s oldest and most-visited national parks. We’ll hear from Yosemite forest ecologist Garrett Dickman on the extreme measures he’s taken to protect iconic trees; from members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk working to restore Native fire practices to the park; and from Yosemite superintendent Cicely Muldoon about the tough choices it takes to manage a place like this. We’ll also examine the complicated legacies that conservationist John Muir, President Abraham Lincoln and President Theodore Roosevelt left on this land. The giant trees of Yosemite kick-started the whole idea of public land preservation in America. Join us as we visit the place where the idea of the national parks began — and ask what the next chapter might look like. You can see incredible photos of Yosemite and find more on the national parks here. Subscribe to The Washington Post with a special deal for podcast listeners. Your first four weeks are free when you sign up here.

Journey through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s national parks. The Washington Post’s Lillian Cunningham ventures off the marked trail to better understand the most urgent stories playing out in five iconic landscapes today. “Field Trip” is a new podcast series that will transport you to five national parks: Yosemite, Everglades, Glacier, White Sands and Gates of the Arctic. Follow the show wherever you listen.

No-knock warrants allow police to force their way into people’s homes without warning. What happens when this aggressive police tactic becomes the rule, rather than the exception? "Broken Doors" is a new investigative podcast series from the Washington Post about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system - and the consequences for communities when accountability is flawed at every level. Hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca.

Host Lillian Cunningham's next podcast explores the real story of why we went to the moon -- a darker, but truer story than the one you've heard before. Listen to this trailer, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app or at washingtonpost.com/moonrise.

In the "Constitutional" finale, we address listener questions about the history--and future--of the nation's governing document.

Why do First Amendment rights trump nearly every other right in America? Thank Jehovah's Witnesses.

How should the Constitution's privacy protections be translated for a new era? This is a question before the Supreme Court today, but it was also a question that captivated a justice appointed to the Supreme Court 100 years ago — Louis Brandeis.

The passage and then repeal of the 18th Amendment, banning alcohol in America, highlighted the pitfalls of trying to legislate against vice.

Congress today faces the same question it faced a century ago when creating the modern tax system: What kind of society should America be?

One intention the framers had when creating the U.S. Constitution was to “provide for the common defense.” But who shoulders that duty has not always been so clear.

What was the original point of the Second Amendment? We examine its colonial and revolutionary roots—plus its quiet companion, the Third Amendment—with renowned American history scholar Gordon Wood.

The words "marriage" and "love" appear nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. Yet 50 years ago, the Supreme Court issued a decision that would embed those concepts in the heart of the document itself.

"There is so much feeling of racial injustice around the issue of punishment. And you have to understand that those feelings have a history -- and that history is Parchman Farm."

In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that states must offer a defense attorney to all poor people accused of crimes. The decision transformed the concept of fair trials in America, but left major challenges to the justice system today.

Is it a feature or a bug of the amendment process that an idea of James Madison's, more than 200 years ago, could be recently resurrected and etched into the U.S. Constitution?

When the United States changed its process for electing senators, did that lead to a decline in state power? Or did it instead bring us closer to a "more perfect union"?

Now that we've concluded our mini-series exploring "we the people," we're moving to a biweekly schedule, with brand new Constitutional episodes coming out every other Monday. Stay tuned!

From the American Revolution through today, women have been leading a long-burning rebellion to gain rights not originally guaranteed under the Constitution.

As powerful as it was to change the Constitution after the Civil War, and enshrine racial equality into our governing document, that wasn’t enough to change the reality of life in America.