Federal Courts: Muhammad Ali and the Draft
This episode is the culmination of our series on famous federal court trials in US history.
In April of 1967, Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay) refused to step forward at a draft induction ceremony in Texas. His opposition to serving in Vietnam launched a sequence of trials and appeals that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It's a case about conscientious objection, protest, America's shifting views of the war, and how athletes have the unique role of "soldiers without a weapon."
This episode features Winston Bowman from the Federal Judicial Center, and Jeffrey Sammons from the NYU History Department.
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