This week, we partnered with Free and Fair with Franita and Foley, a podcast about democracy and elections hosted by election experts Professor Edward Foley of Ohio State Moritz College of Law and Professor Franita Tolson of USC Gould School of Law. They joined fellow elections scholar Professor Michael Morley of Florida State University College of Law and National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen for a live recording of their podcast—a discussion of one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history, the 1876 Hayes-Tilden election, and a history lesson about what it can teach us today.
FULL PODCAST
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PARTICIPANTS
Edward Foley holds the Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law at The Ohio State University, where he also directs its election law program. His new book is Presidential Elections and Majority Rule and he is also the author of Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States. During his fellowship at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Foley wrote Due Process, Fair Play and Excessive Partisanship: A New Principle of Judicial Review of Election Law, which was cited in briefs in Gill v. Whitford and Benisek v. Lamone (the Supreme Court gerrymandering cases). Foley is a reporter for the American Law Institute’s Project on Election Administration and co-hosts an election themed podcast, Free and Fair with Franita and Foley.
Michael Morley is an assistant professor at the Florida State University College of Law. He has testified before congressional committees, made presentations to election officials for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and participated in bipartisan blue-ribbon groups to develop election reforms. The U.S. Supreme Court has cited several of his articles, and he was counsel of record for the successful Petitioner in a landmark campaign finance case. Morley has appeared on C-SPAN, Court TV, Fox News and numerous local news programs, and has been quoted in a wide range of national publications. His work has been published in many of the nation’s top law reviews.
Franita Tolson is Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs and professor of law at University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Tolson has written for or appeared as a commentator for various mass media outlets. She has testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. She has also authored a legal analysis for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Richard Durbin, that would explicitly protect the right to vote. Tolson currently works as an election law analyst for CNN and co-hosts an election themed podcast, Free and Fair with Franita and Foley.
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.
This episode was engineered by Greg Scheckler and produced by Jackie McDermott, Lana Ulrich, and Tanaya Tauber.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Edward Foley, Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States
- Edward Foley, The Washington Post, "How to Avoid Bush v. Gore 2.0"
- Electoral Count Act
- Free and Fair with Franita and Foley podcast
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