On September 17, 2024, the Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch , associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and NCC honorary co-chair, and his co-author and former law clerk Janie Nitze , joined Jeffrey Rosen for an America’s Town Hall program in celebration of Constitution Day 2024 and the release of their latest book, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law . Resources: Neil M. Gorsuch and Janie Nitze, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law (2024) National Constitution Center: Constitution 101 w...
Sep 20, 2024•1 hr 9 min
On September 12, 2024, best-selling author, philanthropist, and National Constitution Center Trustee David Rubenstein joined Jeffrey Rosen at the Center in Philadelphia to discuss his new book, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency . The book, which features interviews with presidential historians and living U.S. presidents, chronicles the journeys of the leaders who have defined America. They discuss the duties and responsibilities of the presidency, the triumphs and fai...
Sep 13, 2024•1 hr 6 min
On September 17, Constitution Day, Patrick Spero —the incoming chief executive officer of the American Philosophical Society’s Library & Museum in Philadelphia—will release his new book, The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793 . It explores the incredible story of an explorer, André Michaux, drawn into a plot orchestrated by the French government to exploit tensions between American settlers and Spanish authorities in the Louisiana region, with t...
Sep 05, 2024•49 min
In July, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed a criminal case charging former President Donald Trump with hoarding classified documents at his home in Mar-a-Lago and obstructing justice. Judge Cannon reasoned that the prosecutor in this case, Special Counsel Jack Smith, was not properly appointed by the Justice Department. Matthew Seligman of Stanford Law School and Josh Blackman of the South Texas College of Law Houston, who argued before Judge Cannon on opposite sides of this issue, joi...
Aug 29, 2024•55 min
Charles Cooke of the National Review, Melody Barnes of the University of Virginia, and Sean Wilentz of Princeton University explore the debate about the core values of the American Idea—liberty, equality, democracy, and federalism—throughout American history and model the way in which Americans of different perspectives can come together in the spirit of civil dialogue. This program was recorded live on February 9, 2024. Resources: Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Linco...
Aug 22, 2024•53 min
Steven Hahn , author of Illiberal America: A History , and Manisha Sinha , author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860–1920 , join Thomas Donnelly to explore the history of illiberalism in America and to assess illiberal threats facing our democracy today. Resources: Steven Hahn, Illiberal America: A History (2024) Manisha Sinha, The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920 (2024) Abraham Lincoln, “ "Speech to the Young Men’s ...
Aug 16, 2024•1 hr 3 min
August 8, 2024, marks the 50th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation as president of the United States. His resignation came after the House Judiciary Committee voted recommend Nixon’s impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors— which would have been the first impeachment since that of Andrew Johnson in 1868. In this episode, historians Garrett Graff , author of Watergate: A New History (2022), and Robert Doar , president of AEI, join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Nixon’s resignation and its e...
Aug 08, 2024•52 min
This week, President Joe Biden announced a three-fold plan to reform the Supreme Court. The proposal includes a constitutional amendment that no former president is immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office, 18-year Supreme Court term limits, and a binding code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices. In this episode, constitutional historians Keith Whittington of Yale Law School and Anthony Michael Kreis of Georgia State University and author of the new book Rot and Revival: The Hist...
Aug 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett is the author of A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist , a new memoir about his remarkable legal career. He joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss his role in the evolution of originalism from a philosophy of judicial restraint to one of constitutional conservatism dedicated to restoring “the lost Constitution.” Resources: Randy Barnett, A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist (2024) Randy Barnett, Restoring the Lost Constituti...
Jul 25, 2024•56 min
Judge David Tatel’s new memoir, Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice , recalls his remarkable legal career. In this episode, Judge Tatel joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss his experience as a civil rights lawyer, landmark cases he presided over as a federal judge, the challenges his blindness posed, and how he overcame them. Resources: Judge David S. Tatel, Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice (2024) Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org. Continue...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 2 min
On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its 6-3 ruling in the landmark case Trump v. United States , finding that the president is entitled to presumptive immunity from prosecution for all official acts, but not for unofficial acts. In this episode, Sai Prakash of the University of Virginia Law School and Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to delve into the Supreme Court’s immunity decision and explore the history of presidential power and immunity from the foundi...
Jul 12, 2024•54 min
In this episode, Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School, Deborah Pearlstein of Princeton University, and Matthew Waxman of Columbia Law School join Jeffrey Rosen for a conversation to explore Trump v. United States and the updated edition of Koh’s landmark book, The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century . This program originally streamed live on July 1, 2024 as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series. Resources: Harold Koh, The National Security Constitution in th...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 2 min
As the Supreme Court term nears its end, the Court has issued a series of decisions in many blockbuster cases, including overturning Chevron deference, upholding a law disarming domestic violence offenders and applying obstruction laws to January 6 prosecutions. Sarah Isgur of The Dispatch and Marcia Coyle of The National Law Journal join Jeffrey Rosen to review the Supreme Court’s most important decisions from this term so far. Resources: Fischer v. United States (2024) Loper Bright Enterprises...
Jun 29, 2024•56 min
In this episode, political theorist William B. Allen , editor and translator of a new edition of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws , and Alison LaCroix , author of The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms , join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the intellectual foundations—from Montesquieu and beyond—of constitutional interpretation from the founding to the Civil War. They also discuss historical practice and tradition in interpreting the Constitution throu...
Jun 20, 2024•1 hr
In this episode, AEI’s Yuval Levin , author of American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again , and Aziz Rana , professor at Boston College Law and author of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them , join Jeffrey Rosen for a discussion about whether the Constitution has failed us or can serve as a document of national unity. Resources: Yuval Levin, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again (202...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 3 min
On May 30, former President Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made during the 2016 election, making him the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. In this episode, two leading historians of the presidency— Stephen Knott of the United States Naval War College, and bestselling and author and attorney David O. Stewart —join Jeffrey Rosen to explore presidential attacks on the judicial system and rule of law through...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min
On May 23, the Supreme Court issued its opinion upholding a South Carolina congressional map against a challenge from the NAACP. In Alexander v South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP , the Court found that the South Carolina legislature had conducted a partisan gerrymander, permissible under the Court’s precedents, and not an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. In this episode, two leading election and voting rights scholars, Joshua Douglas of the University of Kentucky College of Law, an...
May 31, 2024•58 min
In this episode, two acclaimed Lincoln historians— Sidney Blumenthal , author of the three-volume The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln , and Harold Holzer , author of the new book Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration , join Jeffrey Rosen to assess Lincoln’s life and legacy to explore similarities between the 19th century and today. This program was streamed live on March 27, 2024, as part of our America’s Town Hall series. Resources: Harold Holzer, Brought F...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Over the past few weeks, protests on college campuses over the war in Gaza have sparked debate about the extent and limits of student and faculty free speech rights. In this episode, two leading First Amendment scholars, Keith Whittington of Princeton University and Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago, join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the current debates over free speech on campus. They also discuss Whittington’s new book, You Can’t Teach That!: The Battle Over University Classrooms. Resour...
May 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Richard Hasen , author of A Real Right to Vote, Sarah Isgur , senior editor of The Dispatch , and Lawrence Lessig , author of How to Steal a Presidential Election , join Jeffrey Rosen for a health check on the state of American democracy. They look ahead to potential areas of vulnerability in the run-up to the 2024 election, and identify ways to strengthen our democratic processes in response. This program was streamed live on March 21, 2024, as part of our America’s Town Hall series. Resources:...
May 10, 2024•59 min
As Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—surpassed 2 billion users in 2019, the company created an independent oversight board to review appeals of the company’s decisions involving content moderation. In this episode, members of Meta’s Oversight Board, Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School and Kenji Yoshino of New York University School of Law, join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the board’s structure, its key decisions, and its efforts to ensure free and fair elections in advance of t...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 4 min
This week the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Trump v. United States , a case that asks whether the former president is immune from criminal prosecution for conduct that occurred during his tenure in office. In this episode, Professor John Yoo of Berkeley Law School and Smita Ghosh of the Constitutional Accountability Center join Jeffrey Rosen to preview the arguments in the case, review the founders’ views on executive immunity, and discuss how the Court might decide this crucial case. Re...
Apr 25, 2024•53 min
Michael Gerhardt , author of the new book FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness , and Andrew Busch , author of Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right , join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the pivotal elections of 1932 and 1980. They compare the transformative presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, and trace how founding-era debates between Hamilton and Jefferson over the scope of federal and executive power re-emerged during the New De...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of We the People , Jeffrey Rosen has a special one-on-one conversation with the historian Allen Guelzo on his new book Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment . They discuss Lincoln’s powerful vision of democracy, revisit his approach to tackling slavery and preserving the Union, and explain how Lincoln remains relevant as a political thinker today. Resources Allen Guelzo, Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment (2024) “ Linco...
Apr 11, 2024•1 hr 1 min
On November 7, 2023, historians Carol Berkin , author of A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism , and H.W. Brands , author of Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and the Brawling Birth of American Politics , joined Jeffrey Rosen for a conversation on political partisanship and nationalism in early America, and how, despite the founders’ fear of factionalism, deep partisan divisions emerged almost immediately after the Revolution. Th...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min
On Thursday March 28 at the NCC, Jeffrey Rosen sat down with Justice Stephen Breyer to discuss his new book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism. Justice Breyer deconstructs the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s majority and makes the case for a better way to interpret the Constitution based on pragmatism. Resources Justice Stephen Breyer, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism (2024) Questions or comments about the show? ...
Mar 29, 2024•1 hr 6 min
On March 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri and NRA v. Vullo —two cases in which government officials allegedly pressured private companies to target disfavored viewpoints. Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute and David Greene of the Electronic Frontier Foundation join Jeffrey Rosen to break down both cases. Together they discuss the state action doctrine, explore the line between coercion and persuasion, and interrogate the tension between government s...
Mar 22, 2024•53 min
Three political scientists join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss democratic instability, backsliding, and demagogues from a historical and global perspective. Guests included Harvard’s Steven Levitsky , author of Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point , the University of Texas-Austin’s Kurt Weyland , author of Democracy’s Resilience to Populism’s Threat , and Princeton University’s Frances Lee . This program originally aired on November 27, 2023. Resources: Steven Lev...
Mar 14, 2024•1 hr 3 min
On Monday March 4th, the Supreme Court reversed Colorado’s decision to remove President Trump from the ballot. The Court unanimously held that individual states cannot bar insurrectionists from holding federal office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Five Justices went further, ruling that Congress alone may enforce Section 3. In this episode, constitutional scholars Mark Graber of the University of Maryland Law School and Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to...
Mar 08, 2024•56 min
This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice , which involved challenges to attempts by Texas and Florida to prevent social media sites from banning viewpoint discrimination. The challenges were brought by NetChoice, which argues that the laws’ content-moderation restrictions and must-carry provisions violate the First Amendment. The case could determine the future of our most important platforms, from Facebook to X to YouTube. Alex Abdo of the ...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr
