Linda Monk has been on our show before, to discuss her wonderful books, "The Words We Live By" and "The Bill of Rights: A User's Guide." She was also this year's keynote speaker at Montpelier's celebration of Presidents' Day, where she confessed to Stewart that she has a longtime crush on James Madison.

The Blue Wave that recently swept over the House of Representatives and a number of state legislatures was powered largely by women, and resulted in a number of new elected officials who look a lot less white and a lot less male than their predecessors.

Author Sayu Bhojwani anticipated this phenomenon in her new book, People Like Us: The New Wave of Candidates Knocking at Democracy’s Door. Join us for an interesting take on the changes in our republic that are taking place before our very eyes.

Andrew Boyle works for the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. He and Stewart start at the very beginning of a very current issue: What, precisely, constitutes a “national emergency?” Who gets to declare one? And what happens then?

Specifically, can Donald Trump use the powers granted to the Executive during a national emergency to build his wall? He’ll face a fair amount of resistance, and Andrew and Stewart consider the various forms it might take.

Montpelier's African American Descendants' Project seeks to identify and create bridges to living descendants of the African American women and men who were enslaved at Montpelier and elsewhere in Orange County, Virginia.

Hannah Scruggs is an important part of the project. In addition to her research skills, she brings her heritage: she is a descendant of a nearby enslaved community.

In this episode, she shares her experiences, professional and personal, with Stewart.

Hilarie Hicks, a senior researcher at Montpelier, often encounters “hard history,” that is, history that we don’t necessarily like to think about. At Montpelier, most of the hard history involves slavery, which is featured prominently throughout the estate.

But not everyone is happy about that. A number of visitors leave rather critical messages on the comment cards that Hilarie collects. She and Montpelier’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Price Thomas, share some of those comments with us.

Professor Pat Baker of the University of Tennessee at Martin has noticed something troubling about small private colleges. They’re closing down. At an alarming rate. Why is this? And is there anything we can do about it?

Some people have tried lawsuits, but the courts haven’t been very helpful, for a couple of very constitutional reasons.

Since the Democrats overwhelmed the House of Representatives with their Blue Wave, there’s been a lot of talk about investigations and hearings.

Investigations and hearings and even impeachment are part of something called “congressional oversight” of the Executive. Dean Ronald Weich of the University of Baltimore’s law school tells us all about some common myths and misperceptions about this very important part of constitutional checks and balances.

Justin Driver is a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is concerned about the extent to which public school students are paddled, searched, stifled and otherwise denied their constitutional rights.

He’s so concerned that he's written a book about it called "The Schoolhouse Gate." Recently, he sat down with Stewart to talk about it.

We haven't heard much from the Supreme Court lately on the Second Amendment. That may soon change. So the Law Review at Lincoln Memorial University’s law school decided to host a symposium, bringing together leading Second Amendment scholars from around the country.

Two of the scholars at the symposium sat down with Stewart to share their contrasting views. We'll hear from Stephen Halbrook, a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, and Robert Spitzer, a Distinguished Service Professor at the State University of New York-Cortland.

Well, he’s at it again: Beelzebub and his minions are showing up at public buildings, demanding equal space with other religious displays. Doesn't this guy ever quit?

Our First Amendment Guy, Doug McKechnie, tells us all about it. He and Stewart also talk about some other current First Amendment issues.