John Elwood, Leah Litman, and Christopher Yoo, three of Anthony Kennedy’s former clerks, join We The People to discuss the Justice’s Supreme Court legacy. John Elwood is a partner at Vinson & Elkins law firm, teaches at the University of Virginia School of Law’s Supreme Court litigation clinic, and is a contributor to SCOTUSblog. He clerked for Justice Kennedy from 1996–1997. Leah Litman is assistant professor of law at the University of California, Irvine Law School. She is a guest host of ...
Jul 05, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Jeffrey Rosen, host of “We the People,” moderates a panel discussion at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival about the Supreme Court’s momentous recent term. From same-sex wedding cakes to voting rights to gerrymandering to public unions, the latest term was full of news-making decisions, even when the Justices decided not to decide. Note: This event was held several hours before Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Court. Next week on "We the People," former Kennedy clerks ...
Jun 28, 2018•55 min
Erin E. Murphy of New York University Law School and Andrea Roth of University of California Berkeley School of Law discuss the Golden State killer case and the future of genetic privacy with host Jeffrey Rosen. This past April, California police announced they had a suspect for the “Golden State Killer” – 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo. Using genetic data from old crime scene samples, police uploaded his information into a genealogy website, GEDmatch, enabling them to identify DeAngelo’s rel...
Jun 21, 2018•58 min
In this episode, We the People host Jeff Rosen answers constitutional questions that you, our listeners, have been asking. We’ve been collecting your questions over the past few months from social media, our weekly newsletter, Constitution Weekly, and email. Among the topics: the limits of presidential pardons, james Madison’s views about political factions, and new Court guidance about automobile searches. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at ...
Jun 14, 2018•53 min
Michael Dorf from the Cornell University Law School and Ilya Shapiro from the Cato Institute join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss some major cases already decided in the Supreme Court's current term and others expected from the Justices in the next few weeks. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at podcast@constitutioncenter.org The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at const...
Jun 07, 2018•55 min
Today we are joined by Ken Burns, renowned American filmmaker and documentarian, to discuss the history of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the legacy of the 14th Amendment. Ken Burns is prolific: His widely known documentary series include The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The War (2007), The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), Prohibition (2011), The Roosevelts (2014), and The Vietnam War (2017). He’s won 15 Emmy Awards, been nominated for two Academy Awards, and ha...
May 31, 2018•47 min
This week, during a symposium held at the National Constitution Center, We the People host Jeffrey Rosen sat down with George Will, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist for The Washington Post, to discuss federalism, the 17th Amendment, and the state of American politics today. This America’s Town Hall program was made possible through the generosity of John Agliolaro. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at podcast@constitutioncenter.org The National...
May 24, 2018•57 min
On May 8, President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, calling the deal “horrible,” “one-sided” and “the worst deal ever.” The president said he planned to institute sanctions against Iran, and that the U.S. would also sanction any other nation that helps it pursue nuclear weapons, as well as U.S. and foreign companies and banks that continue to do business with Iran. The Iran Deal was one of President Obama’s major foreign policy achievements, w...
May 17, 2018•53 min
On May 3, the National Constitution Center hosted a traveling America’s Town Hall panel at Stanford Law School to discuss the effects of digital disinformation on democracy today. We the People host Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s Vice President of Communications and Public Policy, Nick Pickles, Senior Public Policy Strategist at Twitter, Juniper Downs, Global Head of Public Policy and Government Relations at YouTube, as well as Nathaniel Persily of Stanford Law School and...
May 11, 2018•1 hr 28 min
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified on July 9, 1868. Last week, the National Constitution Center and the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund co-hosted a daylong symposium commemorating this important anniversary. In this We the People episode, former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., discusses the importance of the 14th Amendment today during the symposium’s keynote conversation. He is joined by Sherilynn Ifil...
May 03, 2018•1 hr 5 min
On Wednesday, April 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of the biggest cases of the year: Trump v. Hawaii , the challenge to the latest iteration of President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict travel to the United States by nationals from certain countries. The federal government contends that a ruling for the challengers would “hamstring” the president’s ability to conduct foreign relations and protect the national security; the challengers counter that allowing the so-called “tr...
Apr 26, 2018•48 min
Jeffrey Rosen discusses the recent Facebook hearingsand the broader impact of social media on free speech and democracy with Nate Persily of Stanford Law and Kate Klonick of Yale Law School. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at podcast@constitutioncenter.org The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE ....
Apr 19, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Our president and CEO, Jeffrey Rosen sits down with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston. They discuss the First Amendment, hate speech, the Citizens United decision, and other free speech cases. Stephen G. Breyer is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate informat...
Apr 12, 2018•53 min
When President Donald Trump took office last year, there were over 100 federal court vacancies, roughly twice as many as when President Barack Obama faced the same situation in 2009. Since then, President Trump has been nominating judges and having nominees confirmed at “record speed,” leading many senators from both sides of the aisle—from Senator Ted Cruz to Senator Chris Coons—to assert that the most long-lasting and significant legacy to the Trump administration “will be the men and women ap...
Apr 05, 2018•58 min
This week, the National Constitution Center celebrates the March 2018 opening of its new exhibit, Hamilton: The Constitutional Clashes That Shaped a Nation. This compelling new exhibit highlights the competing ideas of Alexander Hamilton and his legendary rivals, including Madison, Jefferson, Adams, and Burr, and the personalities and constitutional debates that shaped America. The exhibit also provides an intimate look into Hamilton’s enduring role in the constitutional and political arguments ...
Mar 29, 2018•1 hr 17 min
In his new book for The American Presidents Series , the National Constitution Center’s President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen argues that William Howard Taft was our most judicial president and presidential Chief Justice, and explores Taft’s crucial role in shaping how America balances populism with the rule of law. In this exclusive book launch held at the Constitution Center on March 20, Mr. Rosen was interviewed by Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, who calls T...
Mar 22, 2018•1 hr 30 min
Over the past few months, President Trump has announced new tariffs on imported goods from solar panels and washing machines to steel and aluminum. He has also taken swift executive action to block international mergers that he has deemed harmful to U.S. interests from occurring, and has even said he would consider withdrawing from NAFTA and related trade agreements. President Trump’s protectionist policies are a reversal of mostly free-trade orientated policies of past administrations, and his ...
Mar 15, 2018•52 min
Can an employment lawsuit be based on the premise that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a Title VII violation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964? On Feb. 26, 2018, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 10-3 decision in Zarda v. Altitude Express Inc. that sexual orientation discrimination constitutes a form of discrimination “because of . . . sex,” in violation of Title VII. Some legal experts have predicted that the case might eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. La...
Mar 08, 2018•47 min
Can the federal government compel a U.S.-based email provider to turn over its records as part of a criminal investigation when those records are located outside of the country? The United States v. Microsoft case pending before the Supreme Court could have big implications for law enforcement, consumer privacy and the business operations of many companies that do business overseas. The Microsoft case deals with a specific question: If a U.S. provider of email services must comply with a probabl...
Mar 01, 2018•58 min
Alicia Hickok and Eugene Volokh join National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss a major Supreme Court case about public-union dues. The Supreme Court is considering arguments in a case that could have a huge effect on public-section unions and their membership. The case of Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME ) will be heard on February 26 at the Court. The question in front of the nine Justices is if public-sector “agency sh...
Feb 22, 2018•55 min
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joins National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen for a wide-ranging conversation in celebration of the 25th anniversary of her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the 75-minute interview, Justice Ginsburg talks about the #MeToo movement, confessed her affection for Millennials, discussed the Supreme Court cases she’d like to see overturned, and told some personal stories about the progress women’s rights have made—while reminding the audience o...
Feb 15, 2018•1 hr 20 min
In this episode, we’re answering questions that you, our listeners, have been asking about the Constitution, with the National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. We’ve been collecting your questions over the past few months from social media, our weekly newsletter Constitution Weekly , and email. For starters, here were some of the questions discussed in this podcast: Why is the Ninth Amendment so important to understanding the Constitution? What are the unenumerated rights pro...
Feb 07, 2018•52 min
In anticipation of the 150th anniversary of the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, on Feb. 24, we look at the history of presidential impeachments, the interpretation of the Impeachment Clause, and the application to current day controversies. Joining us to discuss this important historical episode are two of America’s leading scholars on the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Keith Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He co-wrote ...
Feb 01, 2018•55 min
On January 20, 2017, President Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. In the year since he took office, a variety of novel constitutional issues have arisen, from the interpretation of the Emoluments Clauses, to the constitutionality of Executive Orders on immigration, and even the meaning of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. In this episode, we look at the past year of the Trump presidency and what it means for our Constitution. Joining us to discuss the past year of...
Jan 25, 2018•46 min
The relationship between the federal government and the states is currently at the center of controversies about sports gambling, marijuana use and sanctuary cities policies. In the past year, these and related issues have come before federal courts, including the Supreme Court. In December 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Christie v. NCAA , a case that examines whether a federal law that prohibits the modification or repeal of state gambling laws violates the Tenth Amendment and ...
Jan 18, 2018•51 min
This week, we look at the case Hargan v. Garza , a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of undocumented immigrantthat asks if the federal government can deny access to an abortion for pregnant undocumented teens. As of January 11, 2018, the Supreme Court was considering the case in private conference. Joining us to discuss this important question are two of America’s leading experts on constitutional and family law. Catherine Glenn Foster is President and CEO of Americans United for Life. She ser...
Jan 11, 2018•53 min
In the Gill case this year, the Supreme Court might determine the constitutional future of partisan gerrymandering. Scholars and advocates have been discussing the arguments at the heart of the case – as well as those involved in related cases heading toward the Supreme Court. At a December event at the National Constitution Center, Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society, Nolan McCarty, professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University, and David Wass...
Jan 04, 2018•52 min
Franklin Foer, national correspondent for The Atlantic, explores how tech platforms like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google have transformed the way we think and produced a new culture of misinformation that is trampling values such as privacy, autonomy, and individuality. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates this discussion, hosted at the Center in November 2017.
Dec 27, 2017•1 hr 14 min
Gail Heriot and Diane Rosenfeld join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss how several federal laws may work to address sexual harassment and assault claims. Gail Heriot is Professor of Law at the University of San Diego Law School and a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She is also a contributor to our Interactive Constitution on the 19th Amendment. Diane Rosenfeld is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and Director, Gender Violence Progr...
Dec 21, 2017•1 hr 1 min
In May, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Since Mueller’s appointment, the probe has raised a number of constitutional questions, ranging from whether the president can legally fire Mueller and end the investigation to what remedies exist should Mueller find evidence of collusion. Specifically, the investigation has led to debates abo...
Dec 14, 2017•47 min
