Nikolas Bowie

Digging a Hole: The Legal Theory Podcast

Our final guest for Season 3 is Nikolas Bowie, assistant professor of law at Harvard Law School and board member of the ACLU of Massachusetts, Lawyers for Civil Rights, the People’s Parity Project, and MassVote. In this episode, we dive into two of his recent articles -- “Antidemocracy” and “The Constitutional Right of Self-Government.” We begin by discussing the Court’s recent ruling in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (2021) and how it ties to Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964). As part of this conversation, we touch on the implications of Cedar Point moving forward, whether the Court is operating as a democratic institution, and how our institutions can move toward isocracy, a system of government where citizens have equal political power. Next, we discuss the Assembly Clause of the First Amendment and how early in the country’s founding, activists used their right to assemble to defend their right of self-governance. This history of the Assembly Clause offers new possibilities of interpretation that would lead to a greater protection of self-governance.

Our last episode of the season will be an “Ask Me Anything!” You can submit questions for us at our website, DiggingAHolePodcast.com

Referenced Readings:

• Nikolas Bowie, “The Constitutional Right of Self-Government,” Yale Law Journal (2021).
• Nikolas Bowie, “Antidemocracy,” Harvard Law Review (2021).
• Nikolas Bowie, “Do We Have to Pay Businesses To Obey the Law?” New York Times (2021).