In this episode, Derek Black of the University of South Carolina School of Law and Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute join to discuss this recent emergency docket decision and explore the history of federal involvement in education.
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Today’s episode was produced by Bill Pollock and Griffin Richie. It was engineered by Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Gyuha Lee, Griffin Richie, Cooper Smith, Trey Sullivan and Tristan Worsham.
Participants
Derek Black is a professor of law and the Ernest F. Hollings Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law. He also directs the law school’s Constitutional Law Center. He is the author of a leading education law casebook and Dangerous Learning: The South’s Long War on Black Literacy.
Neal McCluskey is the director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. He is the author of several books, including Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- McMahon v. New York (2025)
- Scott Harris with Derek Black, “Trump’s Targeting of Education Department Could Eliminate Dozens of Federal Programs for Millions of Students Nationwide,” Counterpoint (Feb. 10, 2025)
- Derek Black, “Dangerous Learning: The South’s Long War on Black Literacy,” (2025)
- Neal McCluskey, “Right Supreme Court Call on Downsizing the US Department of Education,” Cato at Liberty (July 14, 2025)
- Neal McCluskey, Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education, (2007)
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