Shows / rationally BASED
rationally BASED
Welcome to rationally BASED, a podcast about law and politics, on the edge. Law professors Josh Kleinfeld and Ilan Wurman, with co-host Kathryn Johnson, cover cutting-edge, and edgy, legal and political news, ideas, and developments from a conservative and based perspective.
Episodes
- rationally BASED
Episode 44 | Midterm Mayhem
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice who used to be Lula’s personal lawyer ordered the polls kept open for two hours after they were supposed to close. Another…
- rationally BASED
Episode 43 | Guns, Religion, and Immigration: The Rules Just Changed
Trump’s Office of Legal Counsel has been on a tear, and hosts Ilan Wurman, Kathryn Johnson, and Joshua Kleinfeld explain the big developments. Guns: OLC…
- rationally BASED
Episode 42 | Civic Terrorism Is Not Protest
Chief Justice Roberts likes to take some time away from DC every summer and relax in Maine. It's a lovely community. Boats and barbecues. Neighbors and no…
- rationally BASED
Episode 41 | Fake News and Foreign Voters
Two big new cases just hit the courts, and hosts Ilan Wurman, Kathryn Johnson, and Joshua Kleinfeld take them on. First, the President pulled the White House…
- rationally BASED
Episode 40 | Missouri’s Map Fight and the Gerrymandering Arms Race
Midterms are around the corner. Democrats have a shot at the House and Senate. And the maps that will decide those races are being fought in courtrooms as much…
- rationally BASED
Episode 39 | Woke Universities, Foreign Campus Radicals, & Free Speech
A public university is “We the People” spending our money on our children. A foreign student with a visa is a houseguest, not a relative. So why are judges…
- rationally BASED
Episode 38 | Conservatives Are Getting the Lindsay Clancy Case WRONG
Lindsay Clancy sent her husband out of the house, strangled their three children one by one, and then claimed a voice told her to do it. Was she insane? Eleven…
- rationally BASED
Episode 37 | Family Reconciliation = Hiding Kids From Their Parents?!
Washington State’s “Family Reconciliation Act” — arguably the most Orwellian name in recent memory — requires shelters NOT to notify parents if runaway…
- rationally BASED
Episode 36 | Can States Check Voters' Citizenship?
The Supreme Court is poised to decide a major case on citizenship and voting this Term: RNC v. Mi Familia Vota. Only citizens can vote. That is the law…
- rationally BASED
Episode 35 | AR-15s at the Supreme Court: The Second Amendment's Next Test
The Second Amendment revival of the last 15 years has not yet answered a question that affects at least 1 in every 20 American adults: do Americans have a…
- rationally BASED
Episode 34 | Immigration and Due Process: the Emerging Battleground
"Due process of law" is emerging as THE central legal battleground for immigration reform in 2026-27. In this episode, Kathryn Johnson and law professors…
- rationally BASED
Episode 33 | Give Parents the Vote
Parent proxy voting for children is in the news and it's gone viral! On Ross Douthat's podcast, Yale Law professor Samuel Moyn proposed giving 20-somethings…
- rationally BASED
Episode 32 | The Constitution at the National Constitution Center
In this bonus episode, we cross post our host's appearance at the National Constitution Center. You can also listen to this episode on We the People, the NCC's…
- rationally BASED
Episode 31 | Who Writes the Rules of the Game?
Election Money, Mail-In Ballots, and the Supreme Court In this episode, Kathryn Johnson and law professors Joshua Kleinfeld and Ilan Wurman take on three…
- rationally BASED
Episode 30 | Are All Cultures Created Equal?
In this episode, hosts Kathryn Johnson and law professor Ilan Wurman take on a hard and controversial question: Are all cultures created equal? Or, more…
- rationally BASED
Episode 29 | The Constitution, Slavery, and Patriotism
Can You Love America While Facing Its Hardest Truth? In this special episode of our series on the American Founding, hosts Kathryn Johnson and law professors…
- rationally BASED
Episode 28 | Supreme Court 6-3: States Can Keep Biological Males Out of Girls' Sports
In this episode, Kathryn Johnson and law professors Ilan Wurman and Joshua Kleinfeld break down the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision upholding state laws that bar…
- rationally BASED
Episode 27 | Supreme Court Delivers a Landmark Win for the Unitary Executive
In this episode, Kathryn Johnson and law professors Ilan Wurman and Joshua Kleinfeld break down two blockbuster end-of-term SCOTUS decisions on the…
- rationally BASED
Episode 26 | Birthright Bombshell at the Supreme Court
In this episode, Kathryn Johnson and law professors Ilan Wurman and Joshua Kleinfeld break down the Supreme Court's 5-4 birthright citizenship decision — a…
- rationally BASED
Episode 25 | Alito Day
In this special episode, our hosts — Kathryn Johnson and law professors Ilan Wurman and Joshua Kleinfeld — tackle four recent Supreme Court decisions. They…
- rationally BASED
Episode 24 | Welfare Fraud and the Constitution
In this episode, our hosts — Kathryn Johnson and law professors Ilan Wurman and Joshua Kleinfeld — take on a topic that has taken the country by storm over the…
- rationally BASED
Episode 23 | When Law Firms Go Hard Left: Trump & the Law Firm EOs
In this episode, Kathryn Johnson and law professors Ilan Wurman and Joshua Kleinfeld take on one of the most controversial actions of the Trump administration…
- rationally BASED
Episode 22 | Judges vs. The People: The Latest Battles on Transgender Activism & Illegal Immigration
In this episode, our hosts — Kathryn Johnson and law professors Ilan Wurman and Joshua Kleinfeld — examine the three latest examples of judicial power being…
- rationally BASED
Episode 21 | America's Disordered Cities
In this special episode of Rationally BASED, our host, law professor Ilan Wurman, is joined by guest co-hosts Sanjana Friedman and Judge Glock. Both write…
- rationally BASED
Episode 20 | Anti-Weaponization Fund – Tit-for-Tat or Unilateral Disarmament?
Our hosts Kathryn Johnson, Joshua Kleinfeld, and Ilan Wurman break down the controversial new DOJ Anti-Weaponization Fund. Is it legal? Is it justified? And…
- rationally BASED
Episode 19 | Autocrat Judges: Israel's Warning for America
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, are joined by guest co-host Joshua Kleinfeld, law professor at Scalia Law School at George Mason…
- rationally BASED
Episode 18 | The Constitution of 1789
In this special episode, our host gives a lecture at Stanford Law School on his new book, The Constitution of 1789: A New Introduction. What caused the…
- rationally BASED
Episode 17 | Mandatory Detention Percolation
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, start off discussing the Virginia Redistricting case. What did the state supreme court hold? What is…
- rationally BASED
Episode 16 | Dem Maxxing and the VRA
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, cover everything Voting Rights Act in light of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Louisiana v…
- rationally BASED
Episode 15 | Alito and the Court
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, get a full hour with Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist and author of the new New…
- rationally BASED
Episode 14 | Constitutional Commandments
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, revisit the issue of Trump's ballroom after the recent assassination attempt. Ilan sticks to his guns…
- rationally BASED
Episode 13 | Revenge of January 6
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, take a deep dive into the ongoing January 6 lawfare, and particularly the civil lawsuit against…
- rationally BASED
Episode 12 | Judges Gone Wild
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, rave about the Supreme Court's shadow docket. The shadow docket allows the Court quickly to rein in…
- rationally BASED
Episode 11 | Executive & Judicial Lawmaking
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, explore a series of issues involving both executive and judicial "lawmaking." Would the President…
- rationally BASED
Episode 10 | Election Day, Election Integrity
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, devote their episode to election integrity and the meaning of "election day." Does a federal…
- rationally BASED
EMERGENCY Episode 9.5 | Birthright Oral Argument
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, break down what they just heard at the Supreme Court oral argument over President Trump's birthright…
- rationally BASED
Episode 9 | Birthright Citizenship: The Deep Dive
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, finally take their promised deep dive into the birthright citizenship case that the Supreme Court…
- rationally BASED
Episode 8 | Asymmetrical Lawfare
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, are joined by conservative law students at the podcast’s first ever live taping, at ASU. The hosts…
- rationally BASED
BONUS Episode 7.5 | Are District Courts a Threat to the Republic?
In this bonus episode, our host, law professor Ilan Wurman, gives a talk to a conference of conservative law students on Trump vs. the courts. Are we in a…
- rationally BASED
Episode 7 | Maryland Man and Law Firms
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, are joined by special guest host Will Chamberlain. They take a deep dive into the Kilmar Abrego…
- rationally BASED
Episode 6 | Bombs & Basketball
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, take a deep dive into the legal questions surrounding the military strikes in Iran…
- rationally BASED
Episode 5 | Taxes, Tariffs, and Hypocrites
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, take a deep dive into the Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating many of the Trump Tariffs…
- rationally BASED
Episode 4 | Polar Bears and Benchslaps
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, start this episode with major news out of the EPA: it has rescinded the Obama-era…
- rationally BASED
Episode 3 | Habeas Corpus Chaos
Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, start this episode with a lightning round of legal news. Learn why it's totally…
- rationally BASED
Episode 2 | Farmer Don Lemon
On this episode of rationally BASED, our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, discuss Don Lemon and the freedom of the press…
- rationally BASED
Episode 1 | Swarm of Harpies
In the first episode of rationally BASED, our hosts cover Minnesota’s lawsuit against the federal government’s ICE surge, which they deem dead on arrival. They…
- rationally BASED
COMING SOON: The rationally BASED Podcast
Who's excited for the very first episode of the Rationally Based Podcast feat. Ilan Wurman, Kathryn Johnson, and Grace Keating, presented by the American…