Notre Dame Con Studies Public Lecture Series

What were the most important decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court this term, and what major cases should Americans be watching next? In this Constitution Day event hosted by the Notre Dame Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, Professor Richard Garnett and Professor Derek Muller provide an accessible and insightful review of recent Supreme Court decisions, emerging legal trends, and...

How should Americans remember September 11, 2001, twenty-five years later? In this special lecture hosted by the Notre Dame Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, a distinguished panel reflects on the events of 9/11, the national response that followed, and the lessons that future generations should carry forward. Panelists share personal memories of the day, discuss the heroism dis...

What can an ancient Greek epic reveal about modern America? In this lecture, Patrick Deneen explores the enduring relevance of Homer's Odyssey and argues that the story of Odysseus illuminates a central tension at the heart of the American character. Drawing connections between the Odyssey, Dante, Christopher Columbus, The Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life, Field of Dreams, and the Ameri...

How should Americans understand the Declaration of Independence 250 years after the founding of the United States? In this lecture at the Notre Dame Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, Bill of Rights Institute President and CEO David Bobb and Senior Fellow Tony Williams discuss ideas from their book, Divided Over the Declaration: How an Enduring Debate Sustains the Vision of Amer...

Dating, marriage and childbearing are dropping precipitously among today’s young adults. Yet social science shows that having a good marriage is the strongest predictor of happiness. What is causing this decline in marriage, and how can young adults find the lasting love that they seek? Professor Brad Wilcox, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Virginia and Senior Fellow at the...

Despite new freedoms (and new technologies), sexual culture seems to have gotten worse, not better. Where is the modern sexual ethic failing, and what might replace it? Christine Emba is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). She is concurrently a contributing writer at The New York Times and a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative for Catholic Social Thought and...

Jud Campbell is a professor of law and the Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School. He previously served as a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law and has been a visiting professor of law at the Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law, and the University of Chicago Law School. Tom West holds the Potter Chair in Politics at Hillsdale College. He...

Jud Campbell is a professor of law and the Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School. He previously served as a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law and has been a visiting professor of law at the Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law, and the University of Chicago Law School. His academic focus is constitutional history and First Amendment law...

Jud Campbell is a professor of law and the Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School. He previously served as a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law and has been a visiting professor of law at the Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law, and the University of Chicago Law School. His academic focus is constitutional history and First Amendment law...

The University of Notre Dame is launching its celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by offering a new course open to all Notre Dame students, alumni, and the general public. The course, “1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World,” will be taught by Vincent Philip Muñoz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional...

The University of Notre Dame is launching its celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by offering a new course open to all Notre Dame students, alumni, and the general public. The course, “1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World,” will be taught by Vincent Philip Muñoz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional...

The University of Notre Dame is launching its celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by offering a new course open to all Notre Dame students, alumni, and the general public. The course, “1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World,” will be taught by Vincent Philip Muñoz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional...

While the concept of disenchantment has gained popularity over recent years as the way of addressing the malaise of modernity, is it really an adequate way of accounting for the iconoclasm that permeates our cultural moment? What is actually happening is something of profound religious significance, the moment when Nietzsche's famous Madman, dismissed in the nineteenth-century parable as insan...

The University of Notre Dame is launching its celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by offering a new course open to all Notre Dame students, alumni, and the general public. The course, “1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World,” will be taught by Vincent Philip Muñoz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional...

In this public lecture, Sam Tanenhaus will explore the ways that Catholicism and Catholic interlocutors shaped and reshaped the thought of William F. Buckley Jr. on a variety of issues ranging from Church teachings to debates on communism, civil and human rights, family values, and free markets. Ten years before his death in 2008, Buckley chose Tanenhaus to tell the full uncensored story of his li...

The University of Notre Dame is launching its celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by offering a new course open to all Notre Dame students, alumni, and the general public. The course, “1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World,” will be taught by Vincent Philip Muñoz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional...

In today's toxic battle between conservatives and progressives, sometimes truth and compassion take a backseat to winning at all costs. Justin Giboney, the author of  Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around , believes a movement from America's past can help us navigate through this moment more faithfully. He'll discuss how the Civil Rights generation would apply Christian principles to to...

Birzer's lecture will examine the confluence of ideas in 1776 between America and Scotland. The two most important Americans influenced by Scottish thought were James Wilson and James Madison (through Princeton). As such, Birzer will explore the intersection of rights and traditions as found in the Declaration of Independence and in the works of Adam Smith. It’s a perfect collision of the two...

The University of Notre Dame is launching its celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by offering a new course open to all Notre Dame students, alumni, and the general public. The course, “1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World,” will be taught by Vincent Philip Muñoz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional...

The University of Notre Dame is launching its celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by offering a new course open to all Notre Dame students, alumni, and the general public. The course, “1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World,” will be taught by Vincent Philip Muñoz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional...

Liberal democracies rely on truth-seeking institutions insulated from, or capable of rising above, partisan politics: science, universities, and serious journalism. Each was politicized and degraded under Covid, falling victim to the moral and epistemic tribalism that disfigures our politics and culture. Based on his book,  In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us,  co-authored with Frances Lee...

Join our distinguished panel for a discussion of "Growing in Virtue: Aquinas on Habit" by William C. Mattison III. Growing in Virtue is the only comprehensive account of growth in virtue in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Our conversation explores the intellectual rigor and accessibility of these topics, making them relevant to individuals of any or no religious affiliation, yet deeply ro...

Yoram Hazony is an Israeli philosopher, biblical scholar, and political theorist. He currently serves as the President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, and is the Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation. Dr. Hazony is the author of "The Virtue of Nationalism and Conservatism: A Rediscovery." He graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies and completed his Ph...

Christina Bambrick is the Filip Family Assistant Professor of Political Science specializing in constitutional theory. Her research and teaching interests range from American and comparative constitutionalism to republican theory and the history of political thought. Bambrick's book, "Constitutionalizing the Private Sphere: A Comparative Inquiry" (Cambridge 2025) examines the horizontal applicatio...

Alexander Chula is a Thai-British medical doctor and writer, living and working in London. He studied Classics at Oxford then medicine at the University of London. His first book, "Goodbye, Dr Banda," was published by Polygon in 2023. He has also written for The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph and The Critic in the UK, and for The New Criterion and National Review in the US.Dr. Chula'...