Cato Podcast

David Bier, immigration policy expert, and Dan Greenberg, constitutional legal scholar, debate the four words in the 14th Amendment. They unpack the administration's novel jurisdiction theory, trace historical precedents like Wong Kim Ark and Dred Scott, and discuss practical stakes such as enforcement, birth tourism, retroactivity, and the push for constitutional amendment.

Steve Davies, a scholar of political realignments and author of The Great Realignment, maps a shift from economic to identity-driven politics. He discusses how nationalism and cosmopolitanism reshape political fault lines. Conversations cover why this change emerged, its economic roots, global echoes, and what it means for liberals, federalism, and future policy tradeoffs.

Chris Edwards, economist and Kilt's Family Chair in Fiscal Studies, explains how tying airport screening to federal budgets creates chaos. He discusses the March 2026 DHS funding lapse and unpaid TSA staff. He compares U.S. policy to private and airport-run models abroad and argues for removing screening from federal appropriations to improve performance.

Jeff Miron, VP for Research at the Cato Institute and former Harvard economist who studies housing policy. He explains how strict rent caps can shrink rental supply, reduce maintenance, and shift units out of the market. He also discusses vacancy decontrol, conversions to condos and short-term rentals, and why targeted vouchers and more housing supply are better alternatives.

Tommy Berry, a constitutional scholar focused on First Amendment and economic liberty, and Caleb Trotter, a litigator challenging government limits on surf instruction, discuss government-created monopolies that block independent surf teachers. They explore treating instruction as protected speech, strategic advantages of speech claims, undercover enforcement stings, and wider fights against regulatory cartels.

Rikki Schlott, New York Post columnist and Cato Media Fellow who covers free speech and internet culture. She discusses how growing up online reshaped Gen Z’s attention and anxieties. They talk algorithms, polarization, short-form vs long-form attention, deplatforming and migration to niche sites, and how different movements and messaging resonate with young people.

A 30-day DHS shutdown hasn't slowed ICE or Border Patrol, because nearly $170 billion in One Big Beautiful Bill funding keeps them running with minimal transparency and almost no congressional oversight. Cato's Dominik Lett and David Bier break down how the shutdown exposes a deeper dysfunction: both parties have turned spending into a ratchet, growing the government they want while refusing to review what the other side built. The appropriations process isn't just broken; Congress has quietly agreed to stop fixing it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI policy discussions increasingly hinge on control: who sets the terms for how AI can be used, what it can say, and who gets access. Cato's Ryan Bourne hosts Jennifer Huddleston, Senior Fellow in Technology Policy, to discuss the federal government’s escalating dispute with Anthropic, New York’s proposal to police chatbot advice, and the public fears making restrictive AI policy more politically attractive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beyond the immediate crisis, the conversation explores the unintended consequences of military escalation in the Middle East and the limits of U.S. policy responses once global energy flows are disrupted. Cato's Evan Sankey and Colin Grabow examine how great-power politics, alliance commitments, and domestic economic pressures will shape the administration’s next moves as the conflict unfolds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Richer, a legal fellow and former state election administrator in Maricopa County, brings practical election-admin expertise. He discusses why claims of widespread unlawful voting don’t match investigation data. He explains how database matching inflates mismatch counts. He also talks about improving voter-roll maintenance, risks of federal databases, and where real fraud tends to occur.