After a few months of summer break, the Supreme Court will begin its next term on Monday, October 3. And it could be another historic term. Some of the cases on the docket involve affirmative action, voting rights, free speech and religious liberty, and the Indian Child Welfare Act.
Caroline Fredrickson of Georgetown Law and Adam White of George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School join host Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the key cases and potential themes, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s arrival, of this term.

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Supreme Court 2022-23 Term Preview

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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Over the past few weeks, protests on college campuses over the war in Gaza have sparked debate about the extent and limits of student and faculty free speech rights. In this episode, two leading First Amendment scholars, Keith Whittington of Princeton University and Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago, join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the current debates over free speech on campus. They also discuss Whittington’s new book, You Can’t Teach That!: The Battle Over University Classrooms. 

Resources: 

Keith Whittington, You Can’t Teach That!: The Battle Over University Classrooms (2024)  

Keith Whittington, Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech (2019)  

Keith Whittington, “Civil Disobedience Has Consequences,” The Daily Princetonian (May 10, 2024) 

Keith Whittington, “What Can Professors Say in Public? Extramural Speech and the First Amendment,” Case Western L. Rev (2023)  

University of Chicago, Kalven Committee: Report on the University’s Role in Political and Social Action  

University of Chicago, “Report on the Committee on Freedom of Expression” (2014) 

“UChicago Says Free Speech Is Sacred. Some Students See Hypocrisy,” NYTimes (May 2024) 

 
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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.

The Battle Over Free Speech on Campus

Richard Hasen, author of A Real Right to Vote, Sarah Isgur, senior editor of The Dispatch, and Lawrence Lessig, author of How to Steal a Presidential Election, join Jeffrey Rosen for a health check on the state of American democracy. They look ahead to potential areas of vulnerability in the run-up to the 2024 election, and identify ways to strengthen our democratic processes in response. This program was streamed live on March 21, 2024, as part of our America’s Town Hall series.

Resources: 

Richard L. Hasen, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy (2024)

Lawrence Lessig and Matthew Seligman, How to Steal a Presidential Election (2024)

National Constitution Center’s We the People podcast, “The Supreme Court Says States Can’t Keep Trump Off the Ballot," (March 7, 2024)

Sarah Isgur and David French, “Indictment Watch: The Supreme Court Decides Whether States Can Disqualify Trump,” Advisory Opinions, The Dispatch (March 5, 2024)

Richard L. Hasen, “The Supreme Court Just Delivered a Rare Self-Own for John Roberts,” Slate (March 5, 2024)

Conference Report, “Carter-Baker Commission: 16 Years Later” (2021)


Amicus brief of Richard L. Hasen, Edward Foley and Ben Ginsburg, Trump v. Anderson




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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.

Democracy Checkup: Preparing for the 2024 Election

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.

Supreme Court 2022-23 Term Preview

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