Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
A #podcast about how the Supreme Court got so supreme.
Where do our rights over our own bodies end and our duties to others begin?
In 1902, a Swedish-American pastor named Henning Jacobson refused to get the smallpox vaccine. This launched a chain of events leading to two landmark Supreme Court cases, in which the Court considered the balancing act between individual liberty over our bodies and the collective good.
A version of this story originally ran on The Experiment on March 21, 2021. Listen to more from The Experiment: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDamP-pfOskPlyOYexlPOYU6nBTcluN7V
Voices in the episode include:
• Rev. Robin Lutjohann — pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Michael Willrich — Brandeis University history professor
• Wendy Parmet — Northeastern University School of Law professor
Learn more:
• 1905: Jacobson v. Massachusetts — oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/197us11
• 1927: Buck v. Bell — oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/274us200
• 2022: National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration — oyez.org/cases/2021/21A244
• 2022: Biden v. Missouri — oyez.org/cases/2021/21A240
• "Pox: An American History" by Michael Willrich — penguinrandomhouse.com/books/298913/pox-by-michael-willrich
• "Constitutional Contagion: COVID, the Courts, and Public Health" by Wendy Parmet — cambridge.org/core/books/constitutional-contagion/6BF9D06349549B35507967DEDB252301
Subscribe & Listen:
• Subscribe to WNYC Studios on YouTube so you never miss an episode: bit.ly/3VovhOq
• Or subscribe to More Perfect wherever you listen to podcasts: bit.ly/3Ns9BPz
• Check out The Most Perfect Album (cools songs about the 27 amendments to the Constitution): bit.ly/3p5aWl2
• Like this video and leave us a comment!
Follow More Perfect:
Instagram — instagram.com/moreperfectpodcast
Facebook — facebook.com/moreperfectpodcast
Threads — threads.net/@moreperfectpodcast
X (Twitter) — twitter.com/moreperfect
We Want to Hear From You:Shadow dockets, term limits, amicus briefs — what puzzles you about the Supreme Court? What stories are you curious about? We want to answer your questions in our next season. Click here to leave us a voice memo: apps.nypr.org/crowdsourcing/689
About More Perfect:
The Supreme Court was designed to be above the fray of politics. But at a time when politics seems to seep into every pore of American life, are the nine justices living up to that promise? More Perfect is a guide to the current moment on the Court. We bring the highest court of the land down to earth, telling the human dramas at the Court that shape so many aspects of American life — from our religious freedom to our artistic expression, from our reproductive choices to our voice in democracy.
The fourth season, hosted by Julia Longoria (a former More Perfect producer) will revisit the human dramas at the Court that are driving change around core aspects of American life today — from our religious freedom to our artistic expression; from our reproductive choices to our voice in democracy.
Supreme Court archival audio comes from Oyez®, a free law project by Justia and the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.
Support for More Perfect is provided in part by The Smart Family Fund.
Episode illustration by Candice Evers candiceevers.com
Video by Kim Nowacki
A #podcast about how the Supreme Court got so supreme.
Where do our rights over our own bodies end and our duties to others begin?
In 1902, a Swedish-American pastor named Henning Jacobson refused to get the smallpox vaccine. This launched a chain of events leading to two landmark Supreme Court cases, in which the Court considered the balancing act between individual liberty over our bodies and the collective good.
A version of this story originally ran on The Experiment on March 21, 2021. Listen to more from The Experiment: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDamP-pfOskPlyOYexlPOYU6nBTcluN7V
Voices in the episode include:
• Rev. Robin Lutjohann — pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Michael Willrich — Brandeis University history professor
• Wendy Parmet — Northeastern University School of Law professor
Learn more:
• 1905: Jacobson v. Massachusetts — oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/197us11
• 1927: Buck v. Bell — oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/274us200
• 2022: National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration — oyez.org/cases/2021/21A244
• 2022: Biden v. Missouri — oyez.org/cases/2021/21A240
• "Pox: An American History" by Michael Willrich — penguinrandomhouse.com/books/298913/pox-by-michael-willrich
• "Constitutional Contagion: COVID, the Courts, and Public Health" by Wendy Parmet — cambridge.org/core/books/constitutional-contagion/6BF9D06349549B35507967DEDB252301
Subscribe & Listen:
• Subscribe to WNYC Studios on YouTube so you never miss an episode: bit.ly/3VovhOq
• Or subscribe to More Perfect wherever you listen to podcasts: bit.ly/3Ns9BPz
• Check out The Most Perfect Album (cools songs about the 27 amendments to the Constitution): bit.ly/3p5aWl2
• Like this video and leave us a comment!
Follow More Perfect:
Instagram — instagram.com/moreperfectpodcast
Facebook — facebook.com/moreperfectpodcast
Threads — threads.net/@moreperfectpodcast
X (Twitter) — twitter.com/moreperfect
We Want to Hear From You:Shadow dockets, term limits, amicus briefs — what puzzles you about the Supreme Court? What stories are you curious about? We want to answer your questions in our next season. Click here to leave us a voice memo: apps.nypr.org/crowdsourcing/689
About More Perfect:
The Supreme Court was designed to be above the fray of politics. But at a time when politics seems to seep into every pore of American life, are the nine justices living up to that promise? More Perfect is a guide to the current moment on the Court. We bring the highest court of the land down to earth, telling the human dramas at the Court that shape so many aspects of American life — from our religious freedom to our artistic expression, from our reproductive choices to our voice in democracy.
The fourth season, hosted by Julia Longoria (a former More Perfect producer) will revisit the human dramas at the Court that are driving change around core aspects of American life today — from our religious freedom to our artistic expression; from our reproductive choices to our voice in democracy.
Supreme Court archival audio comes from Oyez®, a free law project by Justia and the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.
Support for More Perfect is provided in part by The Smart Family Fund.
Episode illustration by Candice Evers candiceevers.com
Video by Kim Nowacki
