Episode 85 opens by drawing a clear line between traditional voter ID laws — which most Americans already support and easily satisfy — and the SAVE Act’s stricter requirement for documentary proof of citizenship. The hour unpacks the political, constitutional, and logistical stakes of that shift, framing the bill as a national fight over access, federal power, and who ultimately gets to participate in American democracy. The hour concludes with an interview featuring Prof. David B. Oppenheimer, a Clinical Professor of Law at Berkeley Law and one of the world’s leading scholars on discrimination, civil rights, and comparative equality law. He is the author of The Diversity Principle: The Story of a Transformative Idea, a sweeping historical and legal examination of how diversity became a defining framework in American public life.

Diversity has become a political weapon—but what if it was never meant to be political at all? UC Berkeley law professor David Oppenheimer argues in our conversation that diversity is an intellectual principle, not a moral slogan or corporate checkbox. Drawing on history, law, and hard science, he explains why diverse perspectives drive better thinking—and how the idea got lost along the way.