Live at the National Constitution Center

The National Constitution Center previews the Supreme Court’s 2026-2027 term. Masha Hansford, partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, Amy Howe, co-founder of SCOTUSblog, and Greg Stohr, Supreme Court reporter for Bloomberg News, join to break down the biggest cases on the docket, unpack the constitutional questions at stake, and explore the issues that could have the biggest impact on the Court in the y...

In celebration of Constitution Day, the National Constitution Center explores the lives and legacies of John Dickinson, Gouverneur Morris, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson, four “forgotten founders” who played critical roles in drafting the Constitution, shaping the structure of the new government, and securing the document’s ratification. Carol Berkin, author of the National Constitution Center’s...

In this episode, Stanford University Professor Caroline Winterer explores how the American founders drew inspiration from not only classical Greece and Rome, but other civilizations in the ancient world, including Carthage, Rome’s mortal enemy. In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the conversation explores how the founders looked much more broadly in the ancient world for inspiration dur...

In this episode, Technology and constitutional scholar Jonathan Zittrain and Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School Ellen Goodman examine the intersection of the First Amendment and artificial intelligence, how constitutional values can help guide emerging technologies, and what the future of free expression looks like in the digital age....

In this episode, Timothy Sandefur joins to discuss his new book, Proclaiming Liberty: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Declaration of Independence, a fast-paced intellectual history that traces how John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and their contemporaries transformed centuries of political thought into the revolutionary principles of the Declaration of Independence—and why those princi...

In this episode, Constitutional scholar Ilan Wurman joins for a conversation on his new book, The Constitution of 1789: A New Introduction. Written to coincide with the semiquincentennial of American independence, the book offers a fresh examination of the Constitution’s origins, structure, separation of powers, and the relationship between the Constitution...

In this episode, legal scholars Jonathan Adler, Greg Garre, Katherine Mims Crocker, and Howard Wasserman discuss the state of civil discourse inside the Supreme Court and in public debate about the Court. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was recorded live in Philadelp...

In this episode, legal scholars Gillian Metzger, Julian Mortenson, and Ilya Somin discuss the Supreme Court’s approach to executive power in recent decisions. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was recorded live in Philadelphia on July 7, 2026, as part of the National Constitution Center’s 2026 Supreme Court...

In this episode, we're sharing a recent America's Town Hall event which explores the Constitution and the Courts at the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. Kevin Arlyck of Georgetown Law Center discusses his book, The Nation at Sea The Federal Courts and American Sovereignty, 1789–1825, which tells a new story about the federal judiciary, and about the early United States itself. Julie Silver...

In this episode, we're sharing a recent America's Town Hall event which explores the Constitution and the Courts at the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. This discussion, Interpreting the Constitution in the Founding Era, features Akhil Reed Amar, Christopher Bonner, and Gerald F. Leonard moderated by Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center. This program is present...

In this episode, David Blight, Robert P. George, and Annette Gordon-Reed explore the enduring ideas at the core of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution—including equality, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and government by consent—and examine how those principles have been debated, interpreted, and contested over time. Moderated by Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at t...

The separation of powers, federalism, and the rule of law are critical elements of American constitutional democracy. Judge Bernice Donald, formerly of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; Judge Robert Kugler, formerly of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court;...

In this episode, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, honorary co-chair of the National Constitution Center, and his co-author and former law clerk Janie Nitze join the Center to discuss their new children’s book, Heroes of 1776: The Story of the Declaration of Independence (HarperCollins; May 5, 2026). Designed for families and learners of all ages, this Civic Story Hour program invites au...

In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and National Constitution Center Semiquincentennial Scholar Jon Meacham joins the Center to discuss The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals. Presented by the National Constitution Center, The Promise of America is an inspirational collection of essays exploring the founding principles that continue to shape American democracy fro...

In this episode, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (Ret.), honorary co-chair of the National Constitution Center, joins to discuss The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals, a new keepsake volume from the National Constitution Center. Justice Breyer, who wrote the book’s foreword, reflects on the enduring constitutional ideals explored in the volume and their continued rel...

In this episode, Michael Auslin joins to discuss his new book, National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America, a sweeping and vivid history of the Declaration of Independence from its drafting to its enduring role in American life today. Tracing the remarkable journey of this iconic document—from a Philadelphia boarding house to wartime hiding places and its place as a nationa...

Sai Prakash joins to discuss his new book, The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History. The Constitution’s Pardon Clause grants the president a power unmatched in scope and consequence. In The Presidential Pardon, Prakash explores how this brief clause has grown into the most expansive and controversial tool of the modern presidency. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the...

Sarah Isgur joins for a conversation on her new book, Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court. Drawing on history, law, and current debates, Sarah Isgur offers an engaging look at the Supreme Court, exploring its unique role in American democracy, how the Court became the nation’s “last branch standing,” and what its growing power mea...

Acclaimed historians Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita of American History at Cornell University, and Rosemarie Zagarri, distinguished university professor of history at George Mason University, examine how women influenced the political, social, and intellectual currents of the American Revolution. The conversation explores how women’s experiences and contributions deepen...

In celebration of Women’s History Month, award-winning historian Ellen DuBois, author of Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary Life, discusses the life, ideas, and legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the decades-long struggle for women’s suffrage. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar of the National Constitution Center, moderates. Resources Ellen Carol DuBois, Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Revolutionary L...

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and National Constitution Center Semiquincentennial Scholar Jon Meacham joins to discuss his book American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union. The book brings together pivotal speeches, letters, and essays from across American history to illuminate the enduring tensions that shape our democracy. Meacham reflects on the questions a...

In this episode, Gary Berton, the president of The Thomas Paine Historical Association, joins Scott Cleary, co-editor of New Directions in Thomas Paine Studies and author of The Field of Imagination: Thomas Paine and Eighteenth-Century Poetry, to discuss the revolutionary life, ideas, and legacy of Thomas Paine in celebration of the 250th anniversary of his famous pamphlet, Common Sense. Julie Sil...

Share In celebration of Black History Month, scholars Lucas Morel and Melvin Rogers join to discuss how African American leaders and citizens, such as Prince Hall, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. have invoked the ideas and principles of the Declaration of Independence throughout American history to push for a more free and equal America. Thomas Donnelly, chief sc...

In this episode, Legal scholar William Ewald joins Jesse Wegman to discuss Wegman’s new book, The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People’s Constitution, which explores the influence and legacy of forgotten founder and Supreme Court Justice James Wilson. Julie Silverbrook, vice president of civic education of the National Constitution Center, moderates. Resources Jesse Wegm...

In this episode, Matthew Continetti, author of The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism, joins prize-winning biographer Sam Tanenhaus to discuss Tanenhaus’s new book, Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, and to trace American conservatism’s evolution from the Progressive Era, through the rise of William F. Buckley Jr., to today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and C...