The National Constitution Center and the Federal Judicial Center present a three-part discussion exploring the evolution of judicial independence in America and its critical role in our democracy from the Founding to present day.

This episode features a conversation with historians Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School and Jack Rakove of Stanford University, exploring the founders’ intentions surrounding the establishment of the federal judiciary and the role of the courts during the nation’s formative years. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.  

This program is presented in partnership with the Federal Judicial Center.

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With the Supreme Court weighing two cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina that could end affirmative action in higher education, scholars William B. Allen of Michigan State University and Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University discuss its future. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

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Tomiko Brown-Nagin, author of Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality, and Elizabeth Cobbs, author of Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé explore key influential women throughout history and how these women inspired constitutional change. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the McNulty Foundation in partnership with the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women's Leadership at Villanova University.

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The U.S. Supreme Court decides some of the most challenging and important constitutional and statutory issues facing America through its interpretive methodologies. In this episode, we explore the various approaches to constitutional interpretation and key doctrines—including originalism, textualism, and the major questions doctrine—through the lens of recent Supreme Court cases with Solicitors General Ben Flowers of Ohio and Caroline Van Zile of Washington, D.C. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This program is presented in partnership with the Center for Excellence in Governance at the National Association of Attorneys General.

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In this episode we explore the concepts of civic virtue and citizenship in democratic societies. Joining the conversation are: Christopher Beem, author of The Seven Democratic Virtues: What You Can Do to Overcome Tribalism and Save Our Democracy; Richard Haass, author of The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens; and Lorraine Pangle, author of Reason and Character: The Moral Foundations of Aristotelian Political Philosophy. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.  

This program is made possible through the generous support of Citizen Travelers, the nonpartisan civic engagement initiative of Travelers.

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The National Constitution Center and the National Association of Attorneys General host a bipartisan conversation with Dan Schweitzer, director and chief counsel of the National Association of Attorneys General Center for Supreme Court Advocacy; Lindsay See, solicitor general of West Virginia; and Barbara Underwood, solicitor general of New York, exploring the history of the office of the solicitor general, the role of state solicitors in litigating cases before the Supreme Court, and some of the landmark cases they have litigated. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.  

This program is presented in partnership with the Center for Excellence in Governance at the National Association of Attorneys General.

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The National Constitution Center and the Center for Constitutional Design at Arizona State University present a comparative discussion of how democracies amend their constitutions, at home and around the world. A panel of distinguished scholars, including Wilfred Codrington of Brooklyn Law School, Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Rosalind Dixon of the University of New South Wales, survey the constitutional amendment process around the world to cast light on our debates in the U.S. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This program is presented in partnership with the Center for Constitutional Design at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. 

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Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America has been called by Harvey Mansfield the “best book ever written on democracy and the best book ever written on America." What can a 200-year-old book teach us about democracy in America today?

Scholars—Jeremy Jennings, author of Travels with Tocqueville Beyond America; Olivier Zunz, author of The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville; and Catherine Zuckert of the University of Notre Dame—discuss Tocqueville’s masterpiece and its lessons for modern Americans with Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. 

This conversation was streamed live on March 6, 2023.

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Historians Harold Holzer, author of several books on President Abraham Lincoln, including Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America; and Manisha Sinha, author of The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition; join Edward Larson for a conversation on Larson’s new book, American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795, to explore the paradox of liberty and slavery in Revolutionary America through the Civil War era. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.   

This program is made possible through the generous support of Citizens and presented in partnership with the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia. 

Participants

Harold Holzer is the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. He is one of the country's leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era, and served six years as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and the previous 10 years as co-chair of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of 55 books and his latest book is The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between The White House and the Media—From the Founding Fathers to Fake News.

Edward Larson is University Professor of History and Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University. A recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History and numerous other awards for writing and teaching, he is the author or co-author of 18 books and over 100 published articles. His most recent book is American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795.

Manisha Sinha is the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut. A leading authority on the history of slavery and abolition and the Civil War and Reconstruction, she is the author of The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina and the award-winning book, The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition. She has a forthcoming book entitled The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: A Long History of Reconstruction, 1860-1900.

Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.

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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. Join Jin Hee Lee of the Legal Defense Fund and Ilan Wurman of Arizona State University for a conversation addressing how the history and original meaning of the 14th Amendment informs the debate about whether the Constitution is colorblind. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This program is presented in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law as part of their symposium on "The History, Development, and Future of the 14th Amendment."

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