In this episode, Robert Post, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, delves into his newly released and highly anticipated volumes from the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, The Taft Court: Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930. Post explores the history of the Taft Court and the contrasting constitutional approaches among its justices, including Chief Justice Taft, Louis Brandeis, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and the infamous James McReynolds. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. This program was originally streamed live as part of our America’s Town Hall series on December 11, 2023.  
Resources: 
Robert Post, The Taft Court: Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930 
Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923) 
Chas. Wolff Packing Co. v. Court of Ind. Relations, 262 U.S. 522 (1923) 
Whitney v. California (1927) 
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) 
Gitlow v. New York (1925) 
 
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.

A Conversation with Robert Post on the Taft Court

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.

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News Commentary

As Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—surpassed 2 billion users in 2019, the company created an independent oversight board to review appeals of the company’s decisions involving content moderation. In this episode, members of Meta’s Oversight Board, Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School and Kenji Yoshino of New York University School of Law, join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the board’s structure, its key decisions, and its efforts to ensure free and fair elections in advance of the 2024 presidential election. This program was streamed live on April 29, 2024, as part of our America’s Town Hall series. 
 
Resources: 


Meta Oversight Board 


Former President Trump's suspension, Meta Oversight Board decision (2021) 


Meet the Board 


Brazilian general's speech, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023) 


Altered Video of President Biden, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023) 


Oversight Board Announces New Cases on Israel-Hamas Conflict for Expedited Review (Dec. 2023) 


United States posts discussing abortion, Meta Oversight Board decision, (2023) 


Referring to Designated Dangerous Individuals as “Shaheed”, Meta Oversight Board decision, (2023) 


Cambodian prime minister, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023) 


Reporting on Pakistani Parliament Speech, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023) 


How to Appeal to the Oversight Board 

 
 
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.

Meet the Facebook Supreme Court

This week the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Trump v. United States, a case that asks whether the former president is immune from criminal prosecution for conduct that occurred during his tenure in office. In this episode, Professor John Yoo of Berkeley Law School and Smita Ghosh of the Constitutional Accountability Center join Jeffrey Rosen to preview the arguments in the case, review the founders’ views on executive immunity, and discuss how the Court might decide this crucial case. 
 
Resources: 


Trump v. United States (oral argument via C-SPAN; transcript)

Constitutional Accountability Center, Smita Ghosh, et al, Brief of Scholars of Constitutional Law in Support of Respondents, Trump v. United States 

Smita Ghosh, “The Founding Fathers Didn’t Think Trump Should Get Immunity Either,” Newsweek, Feb 8, 2024  

John Yoo, “The Trump Immunity Case is Weak—But He Doesn’t Need it to Prevail,” Newsweek, Mar 6, 2024  


Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) 


Blassingame v. Trump (D.C. Cir. 2023) 

 
Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org. 
Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast
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.

Is President Trump Immune From Prosecution?

Michael Gerhardt, author of the new book FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness, and Andrew Busch, author of Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right, join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the pivotal elections of 1932 and 1980. They compare the transformative presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, and trace how founding-era debates between Hamilton and Jefferson over the scope of federal and executive power re-emerged during the New Deal and Reagan Revolution. This program originally streamed live on April 16, 2024. 
 
Resources: 

Michael J. Gerhardt, FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness (2024) 

Andrew E. Busch, Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom (2001) 

Andrew E. Busch, Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right (2005) 

Andrew E. Busch, The Constitution on the Campaign Trail: The Surprising Political Career of America’s Founding Document (2007) 


Friedrich Hayek, “The Road to Serfdom,” Teaching American History (May 21, 2020) 

Ronald Reagan, Remarks to Commonwealth Club members on March 4, 1983, Reagan Library (July 19, 2018) 

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Undelivered Address Prepared for Jefferson Day, The American Presidency Project 

 

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.

America’s Most Consequential Elections: From FDR to Reagan

In this episode of We the People, Jeffrey Rosen has a special one-on-one conversation with the historian Allen Guelzo on his new book Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment. They discuss Lincoln’s powerful vision of democracy, revisit his approach to tackling slavery and preserving the Union, and explain how Lincoln remains relevant as a political thinker today. 

Resources

Allen Guelzo, Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment (2024)  

“Lincoln’s Speeches and the Refounding of America,” NCC America’s Town Hall program (Nov. 2021) 

William H. Herndon, Herndon on Lincoln: Letters (2016) 

Abraham Lincoln, “Speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield,” (1838)  

 

Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.  
Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast.
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.

Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment

On November 7, 2023, historians Carol Berkin, author of A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism, and H.W. Brands, author of Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and the Brawling Birth of American Politics, joined Jeffrey Rosen for a conversation on political partisanship and nationalism in early America, and how, despite the founders’ fear of factionalism, deep partisan divisions emerged almost immediately after the Revolution. They discuss the election of 1800, the first hotly contested partisan election in American history, and trace the history of American partisanship to the present day.  
 
Resources: 


H.W. Brands, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics (2023) 


Carol Berkin, A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism (2017) 

“Genet Affair,” Mount Vernon  


The Alien and Sedition Acts, NCC Founders’ Library 


Virginia Resolutions, NCC Founders’ Library 


Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.
Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast.
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.

A Conversation with Robert Post on the Taft Court

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