Sex, Ducks, and The Founding Feud

Radiolab

• Episode: Sex, Ducks, and The Founding Feud
• Website: Radiolab
• Feed URL: http://feeds.wnyc.org/radiolab
• Duration: 00:21:53
• Published: 2013-12-19 23:31

Jilted lovers and disrupted duck hunts provide a very odd look into the soul of the US Constitution.

What does a jilted lover’s revenge have to do with an international chemical weapons treaty? More than you’d think. From poison and duck hunts to our feuding fathers, we step into a very odd tug of war between local and federal law.

When Carol Anne Bond found out her husband had impregnated her best friend, she took revenge. Carol's particular flavor of revenge led to a US Supreme Court case that puts into question a part of the US treaty power. 

Producer Kelsey Padgett drags Jad and Robert into Carol's poisonous web, which starts them on a journey from the birth of the US Constitution, to a duck hunt in 1918, and back to the present day … it’s all about an ongoing argument that might actually be the very heart and soul of our system of government

UPDATE: The Supreme Court made a decision in the Carol Anne Bond case during the summer of 2014. If you've listened to the piece (or don't mind a spoiler) check out what our producer Kelsey Padgett had to say about the verdict.