The Constitution: That Delicate Balance

Country

United States

How it feels

This series brings together politicians, judges, and journalists to talk about how the U.S. Constitution works in real life. They meet in historic Philadelphia buildings to debate tough legal and political problems. The show is a recorded seminar, not a typical TV program.

educationalthoughtfuldeliberatediscussion-heavyformalintellectualstructuredserious

What happens

The Constitution: That Delicate Balance is a television series broadcast originally broadcast in the USA in 1984 on The Learning Channel. Produced by Columbia University as part of its Media & Society Seminars program, the series was filmed in Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1982-83 as a series of seminars with a group of around 15-20 politicians, journalists, educators and others, including the former President Gerald Ford and the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who also participated in related discussion with the series host Fred Friendly (these discussions took place in Independence Hall). Others participants included (titles are as at time of broadcast): Judge Arlin Adams Laurence Barrett Judge Robert Bork David Broder Philip Buchen Prof. Archibald Cox Lloyd Cutler Senator Christopher Dodd (Connecticut) US Rep Barney Frank (Massachusetts) Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah) Justice Irving Kaufman, US Court of Appeals Jim Lehrer Ann Lewis Anthony Lewis US Rep Barbara Mikulski (Maryland) Bill Moyers Former Senator Edmund Muskie US Rep Charles B. Rangel (New York) Lt General Brent Scowcroft Gerry Spence James D. St. Clair Jack Valenti Judge Patricia Wald Judge J. Clifford Wallace Ben Wattenberg Tom Wicker The filmed material was then edited into hour-long episodes relating to a particular topic. Each episode started with Friendly introducing an issue such as Executive Privilege or The War Powers Act, and went to a seminar discussing the topic. The episode usually finished with Friendly discussing the issue with former Justice Potter Stewart. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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