Live at the National Constitution Center

By National Constitution Center

What's Live at the National Constitution Center about?

Live constitutional conversations and debates featuring leading historians, journalists, scholars, and public officials hosted at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and across America.

To watch National Constitution Center Town Halls live, check out our schedule of upcoming programs at constitutioncenter.org/townhall. Register through Zoom to ask your constitutional questions in the Q&A or watch live on YouTube at YouTube.com/ConstitutionCenter.

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LAST EPISODE

Affirmative Action and the ...

01.31.2023

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers a key case on affirmative action, the National Constitution Center and the University of Pennsylvania’s Journal of Constitutional Law convene experts to discuss this important subject as part of the Journal’s annual law symposium. ...

Live at the National Constitution Center episodes:

01.31.2023 Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment As the U.S. Supreme Court considers a key case on affirmative action, the National Constitution Center and the University of Pennsylvania’s Journal of Constitutional Law convene experts to discuss this important subject as part of the Journal’s annual law symposium. ...
12.14.2022 FDR and the Transformation of the Supreme Court This month, we hosted a conversation about FDR and the Transformation of the Supreme Court. Legal historian Laura Kalman, author of FDR’s Gambit: The Court Packing Fight and the Rise of Legal Liberalism; Ken Kersch, professor of political science at ...
11.29.2022 Justice William O. Douglas: Public Advocate and Conservation Champion The Honorable Jeffrey Sutton, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, joins the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown, senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, for a discussion on McKeown’s new ...
11.23.2022 Cicero and the Constitution How did Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman statesman and philosopher, influence the Founding generation, the Constitution, and American political thought? Join Scott Nelson, author of Cicero, Politics, and the 21st Century; Benjamin Straumann, author of Crisis and Constitutionalism: Roman Political ...
11.16.2022 The Battle for the American West For Native American Heritage Month, the National Constitution Center presents a discussion with historians H.W. Brands, author of The Last Campaign: Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America; Lori Daggar, author of Cultivating Empire: Capitalism, Philanthropy, and the Negotiation of ...
11.01.2022 Thomas Jefferson: The Reader and Writer Historians Andrew Browning, author of Schools for Statesmen: The Divergent Educations of the Constitutional Framers; Nancy Isenberg, author of Madison and Jefferson; and Thomas Kidd, author of Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh, explore Thomas Jefferson’s life and ...
10.11.2022 Justice Stephen Breyer on the Importance of Civics Education To conclude the National Constitution Center’s week-long celebration of Constitution Day and to celebrate the launch of our Constitution 101 course, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (Ret.) joined Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the NCC, for a private ...
10.04.2022 Election 2022: Are We Ready? With U.S. midterm elections approaching, experts and contributors to the National Constitution Center’s Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy initiative—Edward Foley of The Ohio State University, David French of The Dispatch, and Ilya Somin of the Antonin Scalia Law School of ...
09.27.2022 The NCC’s Constitutional Convention Reports: The Proposed Amendments This summer, as a continuation of the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Drafting Project, teams of leading conservative, libertarian, and progressive scholars convened for a virtual constitutional convention. After debating and deliberating together, they drafted and proposed a series of amendments ...
09.21.2022 Originalism: A Matter of Interpretation September 17 is Constitution Day in the U.S., celebrating the day that members of the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia in 1787. As a part of the National Constitution Center’s celebrations, we hosted a panel called “Originalism: A ...
07.27.2022 Oligarchies, Monopolies, and the Constitution Is the Constitution “anti-oligarchy”? What does it say about monopolies and antitrust? Legal experts Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath, co-authors of The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution, join law professor Katharine Jackson of the University of Dayton School of Law, and Adam ...
07.20.2022 Abortion Law in the U.S. and Abroad After Roe The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade and found no constitutional basis for a right to choose abortion. Teresa Stanton Collett of the University of St. Thomas ...
07.13.2022 Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy As January 6 hearings proceed on Capitol Hill, join the National Constitution Center for the launch of the Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy team reports. The project brings together three teams of leading experts— libertarian, progressive, and conservative—to identify institutional, ...
06.22.2022 Juneteenth: Tracing the Origins and Significance As part of the National Constitution Center's two-day celebration commemorating Juneteenth, join a conversation with William B. Allen of Michigan State University and Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University exploring the history and meaning of the holiday, its ...
06.07.2022 Social Media and Public Health: A Conversation Featuring State Attorneys General The National Constitution Center and the National Association of Attorneys General host a bipartisan conversation with Attorneys General Doug Peterson of Nebraska and Phil Weiser of Colorado exploring the role of state attorneys general, state law, and state police powers ...
05.25.2022 The United Kingdom and the United States: A Constitutional Dialogue Richard Albert of the University of Texas at Austin, Nicholas Cole of the University of Oxford, and Alison Lacroix of the University of Chicago Law School compare the legal systems of the United States and the United Kingdom, including the ...
05.10.2022 Rights, Regulations, and the Modern Administrative State From lawsuits over the federal government’s vaccine mandates or the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of carbon emissions, the Supreme Court is debating the constitutional scope of the administrative state more vigorously than at any time since the New Deal. Join ...
05.03.2022 Why the First Amendment Matters Today On today’s very special episode, we share the exciting events that happened at the National Constitution Center earlier this week. To celebrate the unveiling of the First Amendment tablet—once featured on the facade of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., now ...
04.26.2022 America’s Early Justices and How They Shaped the Supreme Court Historians and biographers provide a historical look at some of America’s earliest justices—from John Jay, the first chief justice, to George Washington’s nephew Bushrod Washington and Pennsylvania Founding Father James Wilson. Join Gerard Magliocca, author of Washington’s Heir: The Life ...
03.15.2022 Elections, Speech, and Political Disinformation What are the leading proposals to combat election disinformation and are they consistent with the First Amendment? Richard L. Hasen, leading election law expert and author of Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics—and How to Cure It; Sarah Isgur, ...
03.09.2022 Former Secretaries of Education on What Education Means for Democracy On February 5, Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderated a panel hosted by the National Council for the Social Studies as a part of their annual conference. The panel featured three former U.S. Secretaries of ...
03.02.2022 Adams, Jefferson, and the Turbulent Election of 1800 The election of 1800—which marked the first-ever peaceful transfer of power between political parties in American history—gave birth to the country’s two-party system that still exists today. Join presidential historians Lindsay Chervinsky, author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the ...
02.22.2022 Election Integrity and Voting Rights: Should We Rewrite the Rules? The National Constitution Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, as part of their ongoing conversations about how to restore the guardrails of American democracy, present a conversation exploring recent proposals to protect the integrity of our ...
02.16.2022 The Rule of Law in America and Abroad The National Constitution Center and Renew Democracy Initiative present a discussion exploring how the rule of law is protected in constitutional systems around the world—including the United States—and how to ensure its survival when threatened by modern challenges. What happens ...
02.08.2022 The First Amendment and the Censor’s Dilemma Adam Liptak, New York Times Supreme Court reporter, and Nadine Strossen, free speech expert and author of HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship, join leading First Amendment lawyer Robert Corn-Revere to explore the efforts at ...
02.01.2022 Justice Breyer on Precedent, Pragmatism, and the Supreme Court (Rebroadcast) Last week, Justice Stephen Breyer announced his decision to retire after 28 years on the Supreme Court. Justice Breyer joined Jeff Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, last spring-- for a live online program to discuss the ...
01.26.2022 India and America: A Constitutional Dialogue How are the U.S. and Indian constitutions alike—and how do they differ? Two leading Indian constitutional law experts and senior advocates at the Supreme Court of India—Arvind Datar and Menaka Guruswamy—join American comparative law expert Tom Ginsburg of the University ...
12.21.2021 The Meaning of Equality Where did the idea that “all men are created equal” come from, and what did those words mean when Thomas Jefferson wrote them in the Declaration of Independence? What has equality meant in America over time—and what does it mean ...
12.14.2021 Poetry and the Constitution How have poets and poetry—from John Milton to Mercy Otis Warren and Phillis Wheatley—influenced the Constitution and America’s core democratic principles? Join Vincent Carretta, editor of the Penguin Classics editions of the Complete Writings of Phillis Wheatley and professor emeritus ...
12.08.2021 Lincoln’s Speeches and the Refounding of America Michael Burlingame, author of The Black Man’s President: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Equality; Noah Feldman, author of The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America; and Diana Schaub, author of His Greatest Speeches: ...
11.30.2021 Does the Presidency Need Reform? As part of their ongoing conversations about how to restore the guardrails of American democracy, the National Constitution Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University present a conversation exploring the role of the president in our constitutional ...
11.24.2021 Native Americans and the Constitution In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, join experts Maggie Blackhawk of New York University School of Law; Donald Grinde, Jr. of the University at Buffalo and co-author of Exemplar of Liberty: Native America and the Evolution of Democracy; Gregory ...
11.17.2021 Black Women, Representation, and the Constitution Although the 15th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution enshrined the right to vote regardless of race and guaranteed women the right to vote more than 100 years ago, the struggle for Black women’s suffrage and representation is ongoing, and ...
11.10.2021 Akhil Amar on Understanding American Ideas On this week’s episode, we’re sharing the audio from one of the Center’s weekly constitutional classes. The conversation features Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and one of America’s foremost teachers of the Constitution. ...
11.04.2021 The Founders' and the People's Constitutions Last week, we hosted a discussion of how the U.S. Constitution was written and how it has changed over time, featuring two authors with different takes: professors Wilfred Codrington III of Brooklyn Law School and Charles R. Kesler of Claremont ...
10.27.2021 Constitutionalism in the American Revolution Historian Gordon Wood unveiled his new book Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution at the National Constitution Center earlier this fall. He was joined in person by Professor Edward Larson, author of Franklin and Washington: The Founding Partnership; ...
10.20.2021 Patriotism and Dissent in America What has patriotism meant over time, and how has civil debate shaped it? We hosted a discussion of that question last week featuring philosopher Steven Smith of Yale University, who shared insight from his new book, Reclaiming Patriotism in an ...
10.13.2021 Should Qualified Immunity for Police Officers Be Reformed? Last week, we hosted a discussion of a major issue at the forefront of national police reform: whether qualified immunity for police officers should be reformed—and if so, how? Qualified immunity is a defense that government officials—like police officers—can raise ...
10.06.2021 Religious Exemptions From the Founding to Today The Supreme Court today continues to vigorously debate the scope of religious exemptions—which allow individuals or organizations to be exempt from following certain laws that they say burden their religious beliefs—in high-profile cases such as Fulton v. City of Philadelphia ...
09.28.2021 Federal Judges on Major Supreme Court Cases We’re back with new episodes sharing our fall programming! On September 17—Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution—three judges from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals joined host Jeffrey Rosen for a panel. The judges shared an ...
07.21.2021 2020-21 Supreme Court Term Review The Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, recently presented a Supreme Court term review panel hosted virtually at the National Constitution Center. Moderator and veteran Supreme Court journalist Dahlia Lithwick was joined by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of Berkeley Law, former Solicitor General ...
07.14.2021 Freedom of Speech in France and America Earlier this summer, we partnered with The Cultural Services of the French Embassy on a pair of programs comparing the freedoms of religion and speech in France and in the United States, and how those freedoms are protected in the ...
07.07.2021 Should More Power Be Returned to the People? The National Constitution Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University recently presented a conversation exploring how significant the role of “we the people” should be in governing. The panel debated whether more power should be returned to ...
06.30.2021 Laboratories of Democracy: State Constitutions State constitutions influenced the drafting of the U.S. Constitution and continue to shape constitutional rights today. The Virginia Constitution of 1776 in particular influenced both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. As we get ready to celebrate ...
06.23.2021 Free Speech, Media, Truth and Lies 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 ...
06.16.2021 Great Justices: Founders, Dissenters, and Prophets 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. ...
06.09.2021 The State of Congress Today 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 ...
06.02.2021 Justice Breyer on Precedent, Pragmatism, and the Supreme Court 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 ...
05.25.2021 The Founders’ Library 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 ...
05.18.2021 Literature and the Constitution 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 ...

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