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The Law According to Planet Money
It’s no secret that I’m an avid podcast listener – I’ve previously covered Podcasts and the Law on this blog and if you follow me on Twitter, approximately one in three tweets involves me sharing what I’ve been listening to on my commute.
The always-excellent Planet Money is an economics podcast from NPR which uses story-telling to explain various topics that impact the global economy. I like it because the stories tend to make a seemingly boring topic like economics interesting and are easily digestible as they typically range from 15 to 25 minutes.
In consecutive weeks, Planet Money has had interesting takes on two completely different legal topics:
Episode #747: The Man Who Sued Iran
When a lawyer’s daughter was tragically killed abroad in a terror attack, he was determined to hold those responsible accountable, hoping to deter future state-sponsored attacks and save lives. This episode outlines the complex legal, political and diplomatic hurdles that a citizen must overcome when they try to sue a foreign government.
Episode #748: Undoing Obama
This episode discusses a timely issue – after the election of a new President, the sitting President is known as a “lame duck.” During this time, the sitting President often rushes to push through various rules and regulations that have the potential to shape policy for years to come. President Obama was no exception leading up to President Trump’s inauguration, passing more than 60 rules since June 2016. Planet Money discusses the processes available to President Trump’s administration to undo these rules and the potential long-term impacts on the issues addressed by them.
If you like what you heard, I’d encourage you to subscribe to Planet Money using your favorite podcast app. My personal go-to app is Overcast which can be downloaded for free on iOS devices.