We the People

National Constitution Center

A weekly show of constitutional debate hosted by National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen where listeners can hear the best arguments on all sides of the constitutional issues at the center of American life. read less

Our Editor's Take

Civil rights issues and constitutional law are crucial topics in the political landscape. Host Jeffrey Rosen explores these topics on the We the People podcast. Through substantive debate, this show offers a rounded view of critical issues. In today's world, staying informed is more important than ever, and this podcast can help.

Podcast host Rosen started his career in law after graduating from Yale Law School. He wrote on legal issues for The New Republic for over twenty years. He has contributed to the New York Times, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. Today, Rosen teaches law at George Washington University. He also runs the NCC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the U.S. Constitution.

Rosen began this podcast to continue educating people on constitutional law. Each episode features expert guests who debate constitutional issues. Guests on We the People come from various academic and political backgrounds. They bring varying perspectives on current events and political topics while Rosen acts as a moderator.

Fans of We the People enjoy hearing from both progressives and conservatives. Each episode explores a controversial topic, like gun laws and religious freedom. Rather than heated arguments, Rosen fosters a calm and thoughtful discussion between debaters. In politically fraught times, this show offers respectful debate on divisive issues.

Even for those new to constitutional law, We the People is a great place to start. Rosen helps make complex topics accessible. His clear and concise language helps listeners understand legal jargon and constitutional theories.

We the People is a great choice for anyone interested in learning about the Constitution. The podcast examines Supreme Court decisions and their legal implications. Rosen's knowledge of constitutional law adds to guests' perspective on the show. His gentle moderation of debates stimulates conversation on the show. It makes this a fascinating and informative listen. The expertise of Rosen and his guests may keep listeners both informed and educated.

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2018: A Constitutional Year in Review

2018: A Constitutional Year in Review

This episode looks back at the biggest constitutional issues of 2018—from the recent ruling striking down Obamacare, to the Emoluments Clause lawsuits, the census case, the Mueller investigation, and more. Guests Emily Bazelon and Josh Blackman join host Jeffrey Rosen to give updates about where these constitutional questions stand and forecast where they’re headed next year. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Episodios

Can Texas Require Age Verification on Adult Sites?

Can Texas Require Age Verification on Adult Sites?

The Supreme Court will determine whether a Texas law requiring age verification for adult websites violates the First Amendment. Nadine Strossen of New York Law School and Adam Candeub of Michigan State University join Jeffrey Rosen to preview oral arguments in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, examine the text, history, and tradition of the First Amendment, and debate whether the Texas law is constitutional. Resources: Nadine Strossen, Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights (1995, republished 2024) Nadine Strossen, Brief of Amici Curiae First Amendment Scholars in Support of Petitioners, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton Adam Candeub, Amicus Curiae Brief of Scholars in Support of Respondent, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton Adam Candeub, “How the Supreme Court Can Protect Digital Childhood,” Law & Liberty (Jan. 9, 2025) Free Speech Coalition, Brief for Petitioners, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton Attorney General Ken Paxton, Brief for Respondent, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton Judge Jerry Smith, Opinion of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton Ginsberg v. New York (1968) Sable v. FCC (1989) Reno v. ACLU (1997) Ashcroft v. ACLU (2004) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The Future of TikTok

The Future of TikTok

In TikTok v. Garland, the Supreme Court will determine whether TikTok—the social media platform used by an estimated 170 million Americans—can continue to operate in the United States under the ownership of a Chinese holding company. Jameel Jaffer of Columbia Law School and Zephyr Teachout of Fordham Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to debate whether the law that forces TikTok to be sold or banned violates the First Amendment. Resources: Jameel Jaffer, “Brief of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Free Press, and PEN American Center as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners," TikTok v. Garland Jameel Jaffer, “The Supreme Court Must Intervene in the TikTok Case,” The New York Times (Dec. 10, 2024) Zephyr Teachout, “Brief of AMICI CURIAE Zephyr Teachout and Joel Thayer in Support of Respondent,” TikTok v. Garland United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Opinion of the Court, TikTok v. Garland Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc. (1986) Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) Moody v. NetChoice (2024) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

For or Against Constitutional Originalism?

For or Against Constitutional Originalism?

Jonathan Gienapp of Stanford University and Stephen Sachs of Harvard Law School join Chief Scholar Thomas Donnelly to discuss Gienapp’s new book, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique. They review the history of originalism and debate the role of originalism in constitutional interpretation today. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on October 8, 2024. Resources: Jonathan Gienapp, “Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique” (2024) Stephen Sachs and Will Baude, “Originalism and the Law of the Past” (Law and History Review, 2019) Michael Stokes Paulsen and Vasen Kesavan, “Is West Virginia Unconstitutional?” (90 Cal L. Rev. 291, 2002) William Baude, Jud Campbell, and Stephen Sachs, “General Law and the Fourteenth Amendment” (76 Stanford L. Rev 1185, 2024) Jud Campbell, “Four Views of the Nature of the Union” (47 Harvard J. Law & Public Policy 2, 2024) Fletcher v. Peck (1810) District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) United States v. Rahimi (2024) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The Life and Constitutional Legacy of Gouverneur Morris

The Life and Constitutional Legacy of Gouverneur Morris

Jeffrey Rosen explores the life and legacy of Gouverneur Morris, author of the Preamble to the Constitution. Joining him are Melanie Miller, editor of the Gouverneur Morris Papers: Diaries Project, Dennis Rasmussen, Hagerty Family Fellow at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and author of The Constitution’s Penman: Gouverneur Morris and the Creation of America’s Basic Charter, and William Treanor, dean of Georgetown University Law Center. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on December 12, 2024. Resources: Dennis C. Rasmussen, The Constitution’s Penman: Gouverneur Morris and the Creation of America’s Basic Charter, (2023) William M. Treanor, Gouverneur Morris and the Drafting of the Federalist Constitution, (2023) William M. Treanor, The Case of the Dishonest Scrivener: Gouverneur Morris and the Creation of the Federalist Constitution, (2021) Melanie Randolph Miller,  An Incautious Man: The Life of Gouveneur Morris, (2008) Gouverneur Morris Papers The U.S. Constitution: Preamble The Federalist Papers The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Revolution in Government Gouverneur Morris, “Slavery and Representation,” (Aug. 8, 1787) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The Meese Revolution

The Meese Revolution

Steven Calabresi of Northwestern Law School joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss his new book, The Meese Revolution: The Making of a Constitutional Moment. Calabresi reviews former Attorney General Edwin Meese’s instrumental role in the rise of originalism, and credits Meese with transforming the Department of Justice into an “academy in exile” where originalism was developed and put into practice. Resources: Steven Calabresi and Gary Lawson, The Meese Revolution: The Making of a Constitutional Moment (2024) Edwin Meese III, Speech to the American Bar Association (7/9/1985) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

How Religious Were the Founders?

How Religious Were the Founders?

Jeffrey Rosen discusses the role of religion at the founding with Jane Calvert of the John Dickinson Writings Project, Vincent Phillip Muñoz of the University of Notre Dame, and Thomas Kidd of the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. They trace the framers’ personal faith commitments and explore the original understanding of the relationship between church and state. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on November 25, 2024. Resources: The First Amendment, National Constitution Center exhibit Jane E. Calvert, Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson (2024) Thomas Kidd, Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh (2022) Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses (2022) Thomas Kidd, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution (2010) Vincent Phillip Muñoz , God and the Founders: Madison, Washington, and Jefferson (2009) Letter From George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, (Aug. 18, 1790) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

Can Tennessee Ban Medical Transitions for Transgender Minors?

Can Tennessee Ban Medical Transitions for Transgender Minors?

A Tennessee law prohibits transgender minors from receiving gender transition surgery and hormone therapy. Professor Kurt Lash of the University of Richmond and David Gans of the Constitutional Accountability Center join Jeffrey Rosen to debate whether the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Resources: U.S. v. Skrmetti, Supreme Court oral argument (audio via C-SPAN; transcript) Kurt Lash, Amicus Curiae in Support of Respondents, U.S. v. Skrmetti David Gans, Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner and Respondents in Support of Petitioner, U.S. v. Skrmetti Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) Geduldig v. Aiello (1974) Loving v. Virginia (1967) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn

Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn

Representative Christopher Cox, author of Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, and Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago join moderator Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Woodrow Wilson’s constitutional and historical legacy. They explore Wilson’s illiberal record in the defining constitutional battles of his time, focusing his opposition to women’s suffrage, free speech, and racial equality. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on November 25, 2024. Resources: Christopher Cox, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn (2024) Geoffrey Stone, "Woodrow Wilson, Princeton University, and the Battles We Choose to Fight," Huffington Post (Nov. 21, 2015) Geoffrey Stone, Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (2004) Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 Committee on Public Information, Free Speech Center (2009; updated 2024) The First Amendment, National Constitution Center exhibit Susan B. Anthony Amendment, National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House Justice Brandeis, Oyez Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The President’s Power to Make Recess Appointments

The President’s Power to Make Recess Appointments

President-elect Trump’s allies have floated the possibility of suspending Congress in order to use the Recess Appointments Clause to install Cabinet officials without Senate confirmation. In this episode, Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Thomas Berry of the Cato Institute join Jeffrey Rosen to preview this plan and debate its legal merits. Resources: Center for Renewing America, “Brief: On the Article II Recess Appointments Clause” (November 17, 2024) Ed Whelan, “A Terrible Anti-Constitutional Scheme of Recess Appointments,” National Review (November 12, 2024) Ed Whelan, “The House Has No Authority to ‘Disagree’ with Senate’s Decision to Remain in Session,” National Review (November 17, 2024) Edward Whelan, “The Radical Consequences of an Immediate Senate Recess," National Review (November 19, 2024) Thomas Berry, “Thomas Berry (Cato Institute) on Trump's Recess Appointment Plan,” Volokh Conspiracy (November 15, 2024) National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning (2014) Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 76 (April 1, 1788) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The Legacy of John Adams

The Legacy of John Adams

In celebration of John Adams’s 289th birthday, Jeffrey Rosen joins a discussion on Adams’s legacy with Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Jane Kamensky, president and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Kurt Graham, president of the Adams Presidential Center, moderates. They explore the constitutional legacy of the Adams family—including John and Abigail Adams and John Quincy and Louisa Catherine Adams—and discuss the importance of resurrecting the Adams family’s tradition of self-mastery and self-improvement to defend the American Idea. This conversation was originally aired at the Adams Presidential Center as part of the 2024 Adams Speaker Series. Resources: Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness (2024) Jane Kamensky, The Colonial Mosaic: American Women 1600-1760 (1998) Danielle Allen, Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (2014) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

Native Americans and the Supreme Court

Native Americans and the Supreme Court

In celebration of Native American History Month, Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Keith Richotte Jr., author of the forthcoming book The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution and Matthew L.M. Fletcher, author of The Ghost Road: Anishinaabe Responses to Indian Hating to explore how Native American law has evolved from the Marshall Court to the present day—tracing how the Court came to grant the federal government broad authority over tribal affairs, and how tribes have begun to reassert their sovereignty under the Roberts Court. This program was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on November 4, 2024. Resources: Keith Richotte Jr., The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution (2025) Matthew Fletcher, The Ghost Road: Ashinaabe Responses to Indian Hating (2020) Matthew Fletcher, “Muskrat Textualism,” Northwestern Law Review (2022) Matthew Fletcher, “The Dark Matter of Indian Law: The Duty of Protection” (June 2023) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

How Should We Elect the President?

How Should We Elect the President?

On the eve of the 2024 presidential election, Jesse Wegman, member of The New York Times editorial board and author of Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College, and Robert Hardaway, professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and author of Saving the Electoral College: Why the National Popular Vote Would Undermine Democracy, join Jeffrey Rosen to debate the Electoral College and preview potential legal challenges that might arise in the aftermath of the election. This program was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on October 29, 2024. Resources: Robert Hardaway, Saving the Electoral College Why the National Popular Vote Would Undermine Democracy (2019) Jesse Wegman, Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College (2020) Electoral College, Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 3, Interactive Constitution National Popular Vote Ranked Choice Voting Article I, Section III, The Senate, Interactive Constitution Cass Sunstein, “On Jan. 6, Will Vice President Harris Certify the Election?,” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 25, 2024 Gary Lawson and Jack Beerman, “Congressional Meddling In Presidential Elections: Still Unconstitutional After All These Years; A Comment On Sunstein,” April 2023 “The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway,” Politico, Oct. 20, 2024 Moore v. Harper (2023) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The NCC’s 2024 National First Amendment Summit

The NCC’s 2024 National First Amendment Summit

This week, the National Constitution Center convened the 2024 National First Amendment Summit, in partnership with FIRE and NYU’s First Amendment Watch. America’s leading legal thinkers joined for a vigorous discussion on the state of free speech in America and around the globe. “Free Speech on Campus Today” features Mary Anne Franks, author of the new book Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment; FIRE’s Vice President of Campus Advocacy Alex Morey; and Keith Whittington, author of You Can't Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms. “Free Speech In and Out of the Courts” features Nadine Strossen, author of Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know; Jonathan Turley, author of the new book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage; and Kenji Yoshino of NYU School of Law and Meta's Oversight Board. Resources: 2024 National First Amendment Summit FIRE: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression NYU’s First Amendment Watch Mary Ann Franks, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment (2024) Keith Whittington, You Can’t Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms (2024) Nadine Strossen, Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know (2023) Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (2024) Meta Oversight Board Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The Supreme Court Hears Glossip v. Oklahoma

The Supreme Court Hears Glossip v. Oklahoma

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Glossip v. Oklahoma, a case challenging the constitutionality of Richard Glossip’s conviction and sentencing to death for a 1997 murder. In this episode, Paul Cassell of the University of Utah and Andrea Miller of the Oklahoma Innocence Project join Jeffrey Rosen to recap the oral arguments and debate whether or not Glossip’s conviction should stand in light of newly revealed documents that allegedly suggest prosecutorial misconduct. Resources: Glossip v. Oklahoma, Supreme Court oral argument (audio via C-SPAN; transcript) Brief of Amicus Curiae the Innocence Project in Support of Petitioner Richard Eugene Glossip, Glossip v. Oklahoma Paul G. Cassell, “Brief of Victim Family Members Derek Van Treese, Donna Van Treese, and Alana Mileto as Amici Curiae in Support of Affirming the Judgment Below,” Glossip v. Oklahoma Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

Can the ATF Regulate Ghost Guns?

Can the ATF Regulate Ghost Guns?

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok, a case challenging the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to regulate “ghost guns” under the Gun Control Act. In this episode, Clark Neily of the Cato Institute and Dru Stevenson of the South Texas College of Law join Jeffrey Rosen to recap the oral arguments and debate whether ghost guns—which are untraceable weapons without serial numbers, assembled from components or kits that can be bought online—may be regulated as firearms. Resources: Garland v. VanDerStok (oral argument audio via CSPAN; argument transcript) Dru Stevenson, quoted in: “‘Ghost guns’ in the crosshairs”, BusinessDay (March 7, 2024) Drury Stevenson, “Shall Not Be Infringed,” (July 2024) Clark Neily, quoted in: “Will ‘sigh of relief’ after US supreme court gun ruling be short-lived?,” The Guardian (June 22, 2024) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

Anne Applebaum on Autocratic Threats Around the World

Anne Applebaum on Autocratic Threats Around the World

In this episode, Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and staff writer for The Atlantic, joins to discuss her newest book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Rule the World, which explores how autocracies work together to undermine the democratic world, and how democracies should organize to defeat them. She joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss new threats from autocratic leaders at home and around the world and how liberal democracies should fight these threats. Resources: Anne Applebaum, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Rule the World (2024) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

The 2024 Liberty Medal Ceremony Honoring Ken Burns

The 2024 Liberty Medal Ceremony Honoring Ken Burns

This week, the National Constitution Center held its annual Liberty Medal ceremony honoring America’s storyteller, Ken Burns, for illuminating the nation’s greatest triumphs and tragedies and inspiring all of us to learn about the principles at the heart of the American idea. In this episode, Jeffrey Rosen and Burns’s co-director Sarah Botstein talk about Burns’s life and work, followed by Ken Burns’s inspiring acceptance speech. Burns then sits down with Rosen for a conversation about the American Idea. Resources: The National Constitution Center’s 2024 Liberty Medal Ceremony   Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

A Conversation With Justice Neil Gorsuch on ‘The Human Toll of Too Much Law’

A Conversation With Justice Neil Gorsuch on ‘The Human Toll of Too Much Law’

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 with Khan Academy National Constitution Center Classroom resources: Federalism National Constitution Center Classroom resources: Federalism and the Separation of Powers Stay Connected and Learn More: Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.  Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.  Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.  You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library. Donate

‘The Highest Calling’: A Conversation With David Rubenstein on the American Presidency

‘The Highest Calling’: A Conversation With David Rubenstein on the American Presidency

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 failures of its officeholders, and the future of the role in the twenty-first century. Resources: David Rubenstein, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency (2024) Stay Connected and Learn More: Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.  Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.  Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.  You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library. Donate

The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793

The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793

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 the aim of setting up an independent republic. In this episode, Spero joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the history of this conspiracy and explore new evidence implicating Thomas Jefferson in the plot, as well as the American Philosophical Society and Jefferson’s role in it. Resources: The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793 (2024) Stay Connected and Learn More: Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.  Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.  Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.  You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library. Donate