We the People

By National Constitution Center

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What's We the People about?

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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Can Courts End Partisan Ger...

03.23.2023

Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court agreed to re-hear a case that found the state’s redistricting maps unconstitutional under the state’s constitution. The outcome of this decision could affect another case already before the U.S. Supreme Court, Moore v. ...

We the People episodes:

03.23.2023 Can Courts End Partisan Gerrymandering? Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court agreed to re-hear a case that found the state’s redistricting maps unconstitutional under the state’s constitution. The outcome of this decision could affect another case already before the U.S. Supreme Court, Moore v. ...
03.17.2023 Domestic Violence Laws and Gun Rights Earlier this month, in United States v. Rahimi, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down as unconstitutional a decades-old law barring people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. The ruling comes on the ...
03.09.2023 Women’s Rights in Early America March is women’s history month—and in commemoration of the celebration, this week we hosted a conversation exploring the story of the pursuit of women’s rights in early America. Sara Chatfield, assistant professor of political science at the University of Denver ...
03.02.2023 Presidential Power, Standing, and Student Loan Forgiveness This week the Supreme Court heard two separate legal challenges to a student loan forgiveness program proposed by the Biden administration: Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown. The plan aims to cancel up to $20,000 of student ...
02.24.2023 Google, Twitter, Section 230 and the Future of the Internet Three decades ago, in the fledgling days of the internet, Congress amended Section V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to grant broader legal protections to websites who host information from third parties. Part of Section 230 of that law ...
02.16.2023 The Slaughterhouse Cases at 150 In 1873, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling decided The Slaughterhouse Cases, which narrowly interpreted the new Privileges and Immunities Clause of the recently ratified 14th Amendment. With this year marking the 150th anniversary of the decision, we’re ...
02.10.2023 Richard Stengel on Mandela: The Lost Tapes Nelson Mandela—born in South Africa in 1918—was an international freedom fighter and Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped overturn the apartheid system of racial segregation and usher in democracy for his nation. After being convicted of sabotage and serving 27 ...
02.02.2023 The Public Debt Clause and the Debt Ceiling The Public Debt Clause of the 14th Amendment states: “The Validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law …. shall not be questioned.” Recent debates—including the most recent standoff between President Joe Biden and Speaker of ...
01.26.2023 Roe v. Wade at 50 This January marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the seminal and contentious decision recognizing abortion rights, which the Supreme Court overturned last June in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In this episode, scholars Mary Ziegler, author of ...
01.19.2023 The Constitutional and Moral Philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King In honor of Martin Luther King Day, January 16, 2023, we pay tribute to Dr. King by discussing his historical legacy and constitutional and moral philosophy through his key writings, speeches, and intellectual and moral inspirations and influences. Guests Christopher ...
01.13.2023 The History of the Speaker of the House Last week, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California became the Speaker of the House, after 15 rounds of voting. It was the first time since 1923 that a Speaker was not elected on the first ballot. In this episode, we are ...
01.05.2023 Religious Liberty at the Founding In this episode, Professor Vincent Phillip Muñoz of Notre Dame Law discusses his newest book, Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses. He is joined by Professor Michael McConnell ...
12.29.2022 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 ...
12.22.2022 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 ...
12.16.2022 The Supreme Court Considers the Independent State Legislature Theory On December 7, 2022, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Moore v. Harper, a case out of North Carolina about the power of state courts to review election regulations set by state legislatures. At the heart of the case ...
12.09.2022 Free Speech, Same-Sex Marriage, and Anti-Discrimination Laws On Monday, December 5, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the 303 Creative v. Elenis case. The petitioner, Lorie Smith, is an artist and website designer in Colorado, who says creating wedding websites for same-sex couples against her personal ...
12.01.2022 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 ...
11.24.2022 The Indian Child Welfare Act and the 14th Amendment On Wednesday, November 9, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Haaland v. Brackeen, a case challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act. Opponents of ICWA say that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, discriminating against non-Native ...
11.17.2022 The Battle for the American West For Native American Heritage Month, the National Constitution Center hotsed 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 ...
11.10.2022 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 ...
11.03.2022 Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment – Part 2 On Monday, October 31, 2022, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for more than five hours in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard. In this pair ...
10.27.2022 Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment – Part 1 On Monday, October 31, 2022, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard. In this pair of cases, the Supreme ...
10.21.2022 Pork, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and Legislating Morality Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in National Pork Producers v. Ross. The case is about a 2018 California ballot initiative, in which voters decided that the state should prohibit the in-state sale of pork from animals confined ...
10.13.2022 Redistricting in Alabama and the Voting Rights Act — Part 2 Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Merrill v. Milligan. The Court will determine whether Alabama’s 2021 redistricting plan for its seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of ...
10.06.2022 Justice Stephen Breyer on the Importance of Civics Education To conclude our week-long celebration of Constitution Day and to celebrate the launch of our Constitution 101 course, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (ret.) joined Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the NCC, for a private conversation with middle and ...
09.29.2022 Supreme Court 2022-23 Term Preview 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 ...
09.22.2022 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 ...
09.16.2022 Originalism: A Matter of Interpretation September 17 is Constitution Day in the United States, 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 2022 celebrations, we hosted a panel live ...
09.08.2022 The Intellectual Inspirations Behind the Constitution We have just launched an exciting project on the NCC’s website: The Founders’ Library. In it, you can read primary texts that span American constitutional history—from the philosophical works that influenced the Founding generation, to the most important speeches, essays, ...
09.01.2022 The Legality of the Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan On August 24th, the White House announced a plan to forgive $20,000 in student loan debt for borrowers who received Pell Grants, and $10,000 for other borrowers—all of whom must meet certain income qualifications. The Biden administration says the plan ...
08.25.2022 Is the First Amendment Enough Today? Today on We the People, we’re sharing a conversation from a private event hosted by the National Constitution Center this May in Coral Gables, Florida, recorded with permission from the speakers. The question we asked of our panelists was, “Is ...
08.18.2022 Constitutional Questions After the Raid on Mar-a-Lago On August 8, the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida. They seized 11 sets of documents, some of which were labeled “top secret.” Later in the week, a federal judge unsealed the search warrant, ...
08.11.2022 A Constitutional Conversation at Crystal Bridges The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, opened a new exhibit this summer called We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy. It features an original print of the U.S. Constitution—one of only 11 in the world—as ...
08.05.2022 The Case for Reforming the Electoral Count Act – Part 2 The Electoral Count Act of 1887 is the law that dictates the congressional procedure for certifying Electoral College results in a presidential election. Congress passed it in response to the presidential election of 1876, where Democrat Samuel Tilden won the ...
07.28.2022 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 ...
07.21.2022 What is the “Independent State Legislature Doctrine”? – Part 2 In June, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Moore v. Harper, a case out of North Carolina about the power of state courts to review election regulations set by state legislatures. At the heart of the case is the so-called ...
07.14.2022 Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy On July 6th, the National Constitution Center hosted a panel to present the reports of teams participating in the Center’s Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy project. The project brings together three teams of leading experts— conservative, libertarian, and progressive—to identify ...
07.08.2022 The EPA, Federal Power, and the Future of Climate Regulations – Part 2 Back in March, we recapped oral arguments in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, a case concerning the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. On the last day of its term, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 opinion dealing ...
06.30.2022 Vouchers, Prayers, and Religion in American Schools Toward the end of yet another landmark Supreme Court term, the Court issued decisions in two major cases concerning religious liberty when it comes to education in America. Carson v. Makin held that the state of Maine can’t withhold public ...
06.27.2022 The Dobbs v. Jackson Case – Part 4 On Friday, June 24th, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The decision overrules the landmark cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which held that women have the constitutional right to ...
06.25.2022 What the Supreme Court’s Opinion in NYSRPA v. Bruen Means for the Second Amendment On Thursday, June 23, the Supreme Court released its opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v.Bruen. In a 6-3 opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Court held that New York’s law requiring anyone seeking a concealed carry ...
06.24.2022 The History of LGBTQ Rights in America June is Pride Month. The first Pride March took place in June 1970, to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising the year prior. Today on We the People, we look back on LGBTQ rights and advocacy throughout American history—from key stories and ...
06.16.2022 How to Prevent Another January 6 As the congressional hearings for the events of January 6, 2021, continue, we’ll hear from The Honorable J. Michael Luttig, formerly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as he recounts a story of his historical tweet ...
06.09.2022 Free Speech Throughout World History While the idea of freedom of speech may be closely associated with the American constitutional tradition under the First Amendment today, its origins go back thousands of years, and its ideals have been expressed in civilizations around the world. Joining ...
06.03.2022 Social Media and Public Health: A Conversation Featuring State Attorneys General This week, the National Constitution Center and the National Association of Attorneys General hosted 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 ...
05.26.2022 Three Election Law Cases and What They Mean for Democracy There’s a lot happening in the world of election law. From the Supreme Court’s opinion last week in FEC v. Ted Cruz, to a redistricting case in Alabama, to a North Carolina case dealing with the independent state legislature doctrine-- ...
05.19.2022 Five Expert Takes on Two Big Issues This Term Today on We the People, we’re sharing a conversation from a private event hosted by the National Constitution Center this week in Coral Gables, Florida, recorded with permission from the speakers. In it, President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen moderates a ...
05.12.2022 The Dobbs v. Jackson Case – Part 3 On May 2, Politico published a leaked draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in the pending case Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization. The draft opinion in Dobbs overrules the precedents Roe v. Wade andPlanned Parenthood v. Casey, which hold ...
05.05.2022 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 ...
04.29.2022 Masks, Planes, and the CDC Mandate On April 18, a federal judge in Florida struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses, and other public transportation. In a 59-page opinion, Judge Mizelle stated that the CDC had exceeded its ...

Older episodes

We the People

What's We the People about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

We the People episodes:

Can Courts End Partisan Gerrymandering?

Domestic Violence Laws and Gun Rights

Women’s Rights in Early America

Presidential Power, Standing, and Student Loan Forgiveness

Google, Twitter, Section 230 and the Future of the Internet

The Slaughterhouse Cases at 150

Richard Stengel on Mandela: The Lost Tapes

The Public Debt Clause and the Debt Ceiling

Roe v. Wade at 50

The Constitutional and Moral Philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King

The History of the Speaker of the House

Religious Liberty at the Founding

Cicero and the Constitution

FDR and the Transformation of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Considers the Independent State Legislature Theory

Free Speech, Same-Sex Marriage, and Anti-Discrimination Laws

Justice William O. Douglas: Public Advocate and Conservation Champion

The Indian Child Welfare Act and the 14th Amendment

The Battle for the American West

Thomas Jefferson: The Reader and Writer

Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment – Part 2

Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment – Part 1

Pork, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and Legislating Morality

Redistricting in Alabama and the Voting Rights Act — Part 2

Justice Stephen Breyer on the Importance of Civics Education

Supreme Court 2022-23 Term Preview

The NCC’s Constitutional Convention Reports: The Proposed Amendments

Originalism: A Matter of Interpretation

The Intellectual Inspirations Behind the Constitution

The Legality of the Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Is the First Amendment Enough Today?

Constitutional Questions After the Raid on Mar-a-Lago

A Constitutional Conversation at Crystal Bridges

The Case for Reforming the Electoral Count Act – Part 2

Abortion Law in the U.S. and Abroad After Roe

What is the “Independent State Legislature Doctrine”? – Part 2

Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy

The EPA, Federal Power, and the Future of Climate Regulations – Part 2

Vouchers, Prayers, and Religion in American Schools

The Dobbs v. Jackson Case – Part 4

What the Supreme Court’s Opinion in NYSRPA v. Bruen Means for the Second Amendment

The History of LGBTQ Rights in America

How to Prevent Another January 6

Free Speech Throughout World History

Social Media and Public Health: A Conversation Featuring State Attorneys General

Three Election Law Cases and What They Mean for Democracy

Five Expert Takes on Two Big Issues This Term

The Dobbs v. Jackson Case – Part 3

Why the First Amendment Matters Today

Masks, Planes, and the CDC Mandate

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