The Podvocate by Loyola University Chicago School of Law
202 episodes
3 days ago
In this episode, Julian kicks off a new series on Law and Political Economy (LPE) by examining foundational assumptions of how we see the law. Using David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” as a frame to examine legal consciousness, Julian walks through what LPE scholars call the "Twentieth-Century Synthesis," and how prevailing legal thought has created a split between "market law" and "rights law." He traces how Law and Economics constructed legal common sense, and what that means for law students and lawyers in the critical examination of their field.
If you're interested in this week topic, please check out these resources to learn more:
David Singh Grewal, Amy Kapczynski, and Jedidiah Britton-Purdy, Toward a Manifesto (2017)
Samuel Aber, Neoliberalism: An LPE Reading List and Introduction, LPE Project (Aug. 10, 2020)
Samuel Aber, Legal Realism: An LPE Reading List and Introduction, LPE Project (Aug. 9, 2020)
Kendall Thomas, Law After Neoliberalism (course syllabus, Columbia Law School), LPE Project Syllabi (Jan. 23, 2025)
Amy Kapczynski, Law & Political Economy (course syllabus), LPE Project Syllabi (Sept. 27, 2022)
Luke Norris, Law & Political Economy (course syllabus, Univ. of Richmond School of Law, Fall 2023)
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In this episode, Julian kicks off a new series on Law and Political Economy (LPE) by examining foundational assumptions of how we see the law. Using David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” as a frame to examine legal consciousness, Julian walks through what LPE scholars call the "Twentieth-Century Synthesis," and how prevailing legal thought has created a split between "market law" and "rights law." He traces how Law and Economics constructed legal common sense, and what that means for law students and lawyers in the critical examination of their field.
If you're interested in this week topic, please check out these resources to learn more:
David Singh Grewal, Amy Kapczynski, and Jedidiah Britton-Purdy, Toward a Manifesto (2017)
Samuel Aber, Neoliberalism: An LPE Reading List and Introduction, LPE Project (Aug. 10, 2020)
Samuel Aber, Legal Realism: An LPE Reading List and Introduction, LPE Project (Aug. 9, 2020)
Kendall Thomas, Law After Neoliberalism (course syllabus, Columbia Law School), LPE Project Syllabi (Jan. 23, 2025)
Amy Kapczynski, Law & Political Economy (course syllabus), LPE Project Syllabi (Sept. 27, 2022)
Luke Norris, Law & Political Economy (course syllabus, Univ. of Richmond School of Law, Fall 2023)
In this week's episode Senior Editor Rachel Still unpacks the legal system’s embrace of “excited delirium,” a discredited medical theory used to explain deaths in police custody. We trace its origins in the flimsy case reports of Miami medical examiner Charles Wetli, its spread through small, deeply flawed studies, and its weaponization by law enforcement and expert witnesses. Drawing on the work of Physicians for Human Rights and Osagie K. Obasogie’s Harvard Law Review article, we explore how courts transformed pseudo-science into “legal fact” through precedent and evidentiary shortcuts. We discuss the racial genealogy of pathologizing Blackness—from drapetomania to schizophrenia to excited delirium—and how these diagnoses have served to legitimize state violence. The episode also highlights recent developments: major medical organizations rejecting the term, states like California, Colorado, and Minnesota banning its use, and the Elijah McClain trials exposing its deadly consequences. Ultimately, we argue that excited delirium isn’t medicine—it’s narrative, power, and the law working to shield the state from accountability.
The Podvocate
In this episode, Julian kicks off a new series on Law and Political Economy (LPE) by examining foundational assumptions of how we see the law. Using David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” as a frame to examine legal consciousness, Julian walks through what LPE scholars call the "Twentieth-Century Synthesis," and how prevailing legal thought has created a split between "market law" and "rights law." He traces how Law and Economics constructed legal common sense, and what that means for law students and lawyers in the critical examination of their field.
If you're interested in this week topic, please check out these resources to learn more:
David Singh Grewal, Amy Kapczynski, and Jedidiah Britton-Purdy, Toward a Manifesto (2017)
Samuel Aber, Neoliberalism: An LPE Reading List and Introduction, LPE Project (Aug. 10, 2020)
Samuel Aber, Legal Realism: An LPE Reading List and Introduction, LPE Project (Aug. 9, 2020)
Kendall Thomas, Law After Neoliberalism (course syllabus, Columbia Law School), LPE Project Syllabi (Jan. 23, 2025)
Amy Kapczynski, Law & Political Economy (course syllabus), LPE Project Syllabi (Sept. 27, 2022)
Luke Norris, Law & Political Economy (course syllabus, Univ. of Richmond School of Law, Fall 2023)
