Comparative constitutional scholar Zachary Elkins joins James Henson to discuss these state of Constitutional features like the separation of powers and checks and balances during the norms-challenging Trump presidency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comparative constitutional scholar Zachary Elkins joins James Henson to discuss these state of Constitutional features like the separation of powers and checks and balances during the norms-challenging Trump presidency.","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/second-reading-podcast\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/10\/2025-10-23_Second-Reading-Podcast_master_1.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"53:47","filesize":"73.87M","filesize_raw":"77458864","date_recorded":"2025-10-23 15:57:47","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"tags":[],"categories":[],"series":[2,369],"class_list":["post-1802","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","series-second-reading-podcast","series-default-podcast","entry"],"acf":{"related_episodes":"","hosts":[{"ID":608,"post_author":"10","post_date":"2020-07-15 17:53:12","post_date_gmt":"2020-07-15 17:53:12","post_content":"\n
Dr. Henson directs the Texas Politics Project, a collection of enterprises designed to encourage informed interest and engagement in Texas politics and government. In that role, he founded and co-directs the University of Texas\/Texas Tribune Poll, the only open-access, public survey of public opinion in Texas. The data sets for those surveys are available in the polling section of the Texas Politics website. He also writes about politics for The Texas Tribune, and is a frequent resource for news media, researchers, and civic and interest groups on Texas politics and government. He also coordinates the Government Department's internship program. He is the principal author of Texas Politics,<\/em> a webtext that incorporates original media and polling data, that is used in introductory Texas government courses across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Henson was appointed to the City of Austin Ethics Review Commission in 2009 by the Austin City Council, and served as chairman of the commission from 2010 to 2012. He is currently a member of the advisory board of The Subiendo Academy in the McCombs School of Business at UT-Austin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"James Henson","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"james-henson","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-04-04 16:09:11","post_modified_gmt":"2025-04-04 21:09:11","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/second-reading-podcast\/?post_type=speaker&p=608","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"guests":[{"ID":1805,"post_author":"10","post_date":"2025-10-23 15:59:14","post_date_gmt":"2025-10-23 20:59:14","post_content":"\n Professor Elkins\u2019 research focuses on issues of democracy, institutional reform, research methods, and national identity, with an emphasis on cases in Latin America. He is currently completing a book manuscript,\u00a0Steal this Constitution: The Drift and Mastery of Constitutional Design,<\/em>\u00a0which examines the design and diffusion of democratic institutions.\u00a0 Much of his research is on the origins and consequences of national constitutions.\u00a0\u00a0With Tom Ginsburg (University of Chicago), Professor Elkins co-directs both the\u00a0Comparative Constitutions Project<\/a>, a NSF-funded initiative to understand the causes and consequences of constitutional choices, and the website\u00a0Constitute<\/a>, which provides resources and analysis for constitutional drafters in new democracies. Elkins earned his B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","post_title":"Zachary Elkins","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"zachary-elkins","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-10-23 15:59:14","post_modified_gmt":"2025-10-23 20:59:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/second-reading-podcast\/?post_type=speaker&p=1805","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"transcript":""},"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/second-reading-podcast\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/04\/Second_Reading_Podcast-web.jpeg","download_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/second-reading-podcast\/podcast-download\/1802\/assessing-the-state-of-the-constitutional-order-in-the-u-s.mp3","player_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/second-reading-podcast\/podcast-player\/1802\/assessing-the-state-of-the-constitutional-order-in-the-u-s.mp3","audio_player":"