Live at the National Constitution Center

Should the government or private companies identify and regulate truth and lies? Join Martha Minow, professor at Harvard Law School and author of the new book, Saving the News: Why the Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve Freedom of Speech, Paul Matzko of the Cato Institute and author of The Radio Right, and Jonathan Rauch, author of the new book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A D...

Jeffrey Rosen moderates a conversation looking back at some of America’s greatest Supreme Court justices in history, including Chief Justice John Marshall, one of the founders of constitutional law; Justice John Marshall Harlan, famous for his dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson in which he argued against the doctrine of “separate but equal;” and others—from Justice Benjamin Curtis to Justice Antonin Sc...

The National Constitution Center and With Honor Action—a group dedicated to promoting the leadership of military veterans in public service—hosted a discussion exploring the state of Congress with members of the For Country Caucus, a bipartisan group of military veterans serving in Congress and dedicated to working together in a nonpartisan way to create a more productive government. Jeffrey Rosen...

Last week, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer joined National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen for a live online program to discuss the Constitution, civility, the Court, and more. In a wide-ranging conversation, the justice discusses how he goes about making decisions, shares some stories and life lessons from his time on the bench, and shares some of his fa...

What were the key texts, authors, and sources the framers looked to when drafting the Constitution? Scholars Richard Albert of the University of Texas at Austin, Jonathan Gienapp of Stanford University, and Colleen Sheehan of Arizona State University explore what books were on the shelves of founders like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, and where some of the ideas behind the Declaration of Ind...

Scholars Bernadette Meyler of Stanford Law School, Alison LaCroix of the University of Chicago Law School and co-editor of the new book, Cannons and Codes: Law, Literature, and America's Wars, and political scientist Catherine Zuckert of the University of Notre Dame and Arizona State University recently joined Jeffrey Rosen for a discussion exploring the ways literature—including the works of Dani...

Preeminent legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar of Yale Law School, host of the Amarica’s Constitution podcast, joins National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the big constitutional questions confronted by early Americans, as described in Amar's groundbreaking new book, 'The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840.' Questions or comments about t...

In light of the critical events and national debates over the past year about race, rights, and equality, the National Constitution Center hosts a discussion exploring the question: “Do we need a third Reconstruction?” Last week, Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; professor Wilfred Codrington III of Brooklyn Law School; poli...

On the heels of election 2020, bills that may change voting and the election process have been introduced at the federal level and in numerous states including Georgia. In this panel, experts discuss the most significant legislation being considered, the constitutional issues they present, and what the Supreme Court might say. Theodore Johnson of the Brennan Center for Justice; Rich Lowry of the N...

This week we’re sharing a constitutional class taught online featuring Harvard historian, New Yorker staff writer, and podcast host Jill Lepore. Professor Lepore explores the ideas that animated the founding of America, sparked the constitutional convention, and continue to shape American life today. She also answers questions about the convention and more from both National Constitution Center Pr...

In 1789, both the U.S. Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen guaranteed American and French citizens the freedom of religion. How has the concept of religious liberty been applied, protected, and interpreted in both countries over the past two centuries? French political scientist Denis Lacorne and law professor Mathilde Philip-Gay join American political scien...

Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor at The New Yorker and author of the new book The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights, and Thavolia Glymph, Duke University historian and author of the book The Women's Fight: The Civil War's Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation, discuss the early days of the abolition movement and the fight for women’s rights, the complicated re...

This week, back in 1973, the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, and America’s eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War ended. In 2019, the National Constitution Center hosted a program featuring activist Kim Phúc Phan Thi, and we’re sharing that conversation from our archives this week. When she was nine years old, Phuc was severely injured, running from her bombed village, when an Asso...

Last week, experts joined NCC President Jeffrey Rosen to consider how we can foster compromise under the Constitution and in American politics today. They also explored prominent issues in the news including whether or not to end the filibuster; if Congress might benefit from less, not more, transparency; and how to incentivize legislators to work together in a more bipartisan way. The panel featu...

Judge Jed Rakoff unveils his new book 'Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System' with former Judge Paul Cassell of the University of Utah College of Law, Carissa Byrne Hessick of the University of North Carolina Law School, and moderator Jeffrey Rosen. They discuss the current challenges in American criminal justice today and share innova...

This week, we’re sharing a constitutional conversation from our archives in honor of Women’s History Month. This program, hosted live at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, traces the history of the Equal Rights Amendment and explores the question of whether we need the ERA to ensure gender equality in the United States. National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen wa...

This week, we’re sharing a constitutional conversation from our archives. Leading legal scholars and historians Allen Guelzo, Martha Jones, Kurt Lash, and Darrell A. H. Miller tell the story of the 14th amendment and the “forgotten founders” who fought for it. Jeffrey Rosen moderates. This conversation was part of a symposium celebrating the 150th anniversary of the 14th Amendment co-hosted with t...

National Constitution Center scholar-in-residence and UNC Law School professor Michael Gerhardt and recently joined us to unveil his new book Lincoln’s Mentors: The Education of a Leader. He was joined by leading historians H.W. Brands, author of the new book The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom, and Judith Giesberg, author of Sex and t...

On Presidents Day, National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen moderated a discussion about the diverse cast of characters that helped to found the nation, including America’s early presidents. Jeff was joined by historians Joanne Freeman of Yale who is also a host of the podcast Backstory, Robert McDonald of West Point, and Peter Onuf of the University of Virginia—all of whom are...

How can we “restore the guardrails” of democracy? We examine that question and consider ways to strengthen American constitutional and democratic institutions against current and future threats and insurrections in the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Leading commentators Anne Applebaum, SNF Agora Senior Fellow, Pulitzer-prize winning historian, and staff writer for The Atlantic; ...

In the wake of election 2020, we partnered with the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law to present its annual symposium exploring the past, present, and future of presidential elections. Jeffrey Rosen moderates a three-part conversation. Panel one on the origins of presidential elections and the electoral college at America’s founding features: William Ewald, professor of law...

Attorneys General Phil Weiser of Colorado and Mark Brnovich of Arizona join for a bipartisan conversation on issues facing their states today, and what the Constitution—particularly the system of federalism—means to them and why it matters. They discuss everything from the founders’ vision of states’ rights to key Supreme Court cases on the subject, to issues they’re focused on and tackling in the...

In this 2016 conversation from our archives, leading constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar of Yale Law School shares foundational lessons about the Constitution. He discusses his book The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era with National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interacti...

In an online program hosted earlier this year, bestselling historian Lynne Cheney discusses her new book, The Virginia Dynasty, a vivid account of the intersecting lives and accomplishments of the first four U.S. presidents from Virginia—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Cheney explores how these friends and rivals led in winning independence, drafting the U.S....

Jane Mansbridge, author of the award-winning Why We Lost the ERA, Carol Jenkins, president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and Fund for Women’s Equality, and Inez Feltscher Stepman of the Independent Women’s Forum joined to explore the Equal Rights Amendment and discuss their differing viewpoints on it with National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. They shared insights from their...