Melanie Randolph Miller, editor of the Gouverneur Morris Papers: Diaries Project; Dennis Rasmussen, author of The Constitution’s Penman: Gouverneur Morris and the Creation of America’s Basic Charter; and William Treanor, dean of Georgetown Law explore the fantastic life and constitutional legacy of Gouverneur Morris: Founding Father, key member of the Committee of Style, and opponent of slavery. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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In this episode, We explore religious liberty and the founders with Jane Calvert, author of Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson, Vincent Phillip Muñoz, author of Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses, and Thomas Kidd, author of God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution.  Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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In this episode, Christopher Cox, former U.S. congressman and author of the new book, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, and Professor Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago discuss Wilson’s presidential legacy, constitutional vision, and impact on American democracy. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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In celebration of Native American Heritage month, 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 of the University of Michigan discuss Native American history and law through the stories of landmark Supreme Court cases. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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On the eve of the 2024 presidential election, join Jesse Wegman, author of Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College, and professor Robert Hardaway, author of Saving the Electoral College: Why the National Popular Vote Would Undermine Democracy, for a program examining the history and current debate over the Electoral College. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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This month, 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. This episode features a conversation about global free speech with Jason Rezaian of The Washington Post. He spent 544 days unjustly imprisoned by Iranian authorities until his release in January 2016. Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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This month, 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.  

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David Greenberg’s new biography, John Lewis: A Life, chronicles the remarkable story of the civil rights activist and congressman. Professor Kenneth Mack of Harvard University joins Greenberg for a discussion of Lewis’ life and impact on American history, whose heroism during the Civil Rights Movement helped inspire America’s new birth of freedom. Lana Ulrich, vice president of content and senior counsel at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

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Stanford University professor Jonathan Gienapp, author of the new book, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique, is joined by Stephen Sachs of Harvard Law School to discuss Gienapp’s challenge to originalists’ unspoken assumptions about the Constitution, the history of originalism as a constitutional methodology, and its role in constitutional interpretation today. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

On September 24, 2024 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.  

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