We the People

National Constitution Ctr
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  • NEWS COMMENTARY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
We the People

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.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    How Powerful is the President?

    President Trump’s far-reaching executive actions have given rise to a debate about whether the president is acting within the tradition of presidential power—or whether recent events represent a departure from the constitutional order and precedent. Melody Barnes of the University of Virginia Karsh Institute for Democracy, Charles Cooke of National Review, Joanne Freeman of Yale University, and Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise Institute join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the American tradition of presidential power and evaluate analogues to our constitutional moment from across U.S. history.  This conversation was originally recorded on February 20, 2025, as part of the NCC’s President’s Council Retreat in Miami, Fla.  Resources Yuval Levin, “A Rule of Thumb for the Executive Power Debates,” National Review Online (February 5, 2025)  Melody Barnes et al., Karsh Institute of Democracy Statement of Principles  Melody Barnes, Corey D. B. Walker and Thad M. Williamson, “Introduction: Can We Make American Democracy Work?,” in Community Wealth Building and the Reconstruction of American Democracy (2020)  Charles Cooke, The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right’s Future (2015)  Charles Cooke, “The American System Works, and It Will Work If Trump Wins Again,” National Review (Dec. 15, 2023) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    48 min

  2. 14 FEB

    The 14th Amendment and the History of Reconstruction

    Jeffrey Rosen discusses the 14th Amendment with Sherrilyn Ifill, the head of the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy at Howard Law School and the former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Pamela Brandwein, author of Rethinking the Judicial Settlement of Reconstruction, and Ilan Wurman, author of The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment. They discuss the historical events that gave rise to the 14th Amendment and debate its original meaning. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on February 10, 2025, in partnership with the Federal Judicial Center.  Resources Ilan Wurman, The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment (2020)  Pamela Brandwein, Rethinking the Judicial Settlement of Reconstruction (2011)  Sherrilyn Ifill, “Why are U.S. courts afraid of the 14th Amendment? Because it’s radical,” The Washington Post (Nov. 23, 2023)  Sherrilyn Ifill, “Yes, this is America: Why I’m Creating the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy,” Substack (July 7, 2023)  14th Amendment  Title VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964  The Civil Rights Act of 1866  The Reconstruction Amendments  Brown v. Board of Education  Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    1h 3m

  3. 7 FEB

    President Trump’s Executive Orders

    Since January 20, 2025, President Trump has issued dozens of executive orders, several of which have attracted legal challenges. Steve Vladeck of Georgetown University Law Center and Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute join Jeffrey Rosen to parse the flurry of executive orders and preview the lawsuits they face. Resources White House Presidential Actions  “Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions”, Just Security  Steve Vladeck, “The Impoundment Crisis of 2025”, One First SubStack (Jan. 28, 2025)  Steve Vladeck, “Trump's Guantánamo Memo”, One First Substack (Jan. 30, 2025)  Gary Schmitt, “Presidential Impoundment, Explained”, The Dispatch (Jan. 17, 2025)  Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    55 min

  4. 30 JAN

    What the Black Intellectual Tradition Can Teach Us About American Democracy

    New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie and political scientist Melvin Rogers, author of The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought, explore the ways key African American intellectuals and artists—from David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and W.E.B. Du Bois to Billie Holiday and James Baldwin—reimagined U.S. democracy. Thomas Donnelly, chief scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on Nov. 14, 2023.  Resources  Melvin Rogers, The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought (2023)  Melvin Rogers, The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy (2008)  Kate Masur, Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction (2021)  Jamelle Bouie, “How Black Political Thought Shapes My Work”, The New York Times (Feb. 11, 2023)  David Walker  David Walker, Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829)  Jamelle Bouie, “Why I Keep Coming Back to Reconstruction”, The New York Times (Oct. 25, 2022)  Martin Delany  Jamelle Bouie, “What Frederick Douglass Knew that Trump and DeSantis Don’t”, The New York Times (June 30, 2023)  Jamelle Bouie, “The Deadly History of ‘They’re Raping Our Women’”, Slate (June 18, 2015)  W.E.B. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903)  Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    1h 5m

  5. 23 JAN

    My Fellow Americans: Presidents and their Inaugural Addresses

    Jeffrey Rosen interviews three contributors to the recently published compendium My Fellow Americans: Presidents and Their Inaugural Addresses, Michael Gerhardt, Kate Masur, and Ted Widmer. They reflect on President Trump’s second inaugural speech and discuss inaugural addresses throughout American history. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on Jan. 21, 2025.  Resources:  Yuvraj Singh and Ted Widmer, My Fellow Americans: Presidents and Their Inaugural Addresses (2024)  Martin Van Buren, Inaugural Address (March 4, 1837)  Donald Trump, Second Inaugural Address (Jan. 20, 2025)  Andrew Jackson, First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1829)  Andrew Jackson, Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1833)  Grover Cleveland, Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1893)  Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1861)  Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865)  Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933)  John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address (Jan. 20, 1961)  Joe Biden, Inaugural Address (Jan. 20, 2021)  Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    1h 1m

  6. 16 JAN

    Can Texas Require Age Verification on Adult Sites?

    The Supreme Court will determine whether a Texas law requiring age verification for adult websites violates the First Amendment. Nadine Strossen of New York Law School and Adam Candeub of Michigan State University join Jeffrey Rosen to preview oral arguments in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, examine the text, history, and tradition of the First Amendment, and debate whether the Texas law is constitutional. Resources:  Nadine Strossen, Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights (1995, republished 2024)  Nadine Strossen, Brief of Amici Curiae First Amendment Scholars in Support of Petitioners, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton   Adam Candeub, Amicus Curiae Brief of Scholars in Support of Respondent, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton  Adam Candeub, “How the Supreme Court Can Protect Digital Childhood,” Law & Liberty (Jan. 9, 2025)  Free Speech Coalition, Brief for Petitioners, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton  Attorney General Ken Paxton, Brief for Respondent, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton  Judge Jerry Smith, Opinion of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton  Ginsberg v. New York (1968)  Sable v. FCC (1989)  Reno v. ACLU (1997)  Ashcroft v. ACLU (2004) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    1h 10m

  7. 9 JAN

    The Future of TikTok

    In TikTok v. Garland, the Supreme Court will determine whether TikTok—the social media platform used by an estimated 170 million Americans—can continue to operate in the United States under the ownership of a Chinese holding company. Jameel Jaffer of Columbia Law School and Zephyr Teachout of Fordham Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to debate whether the law that forces TikTok to be sold or banned violates the First Amendment.  Resources:  Jameel Jaffer, “Brief of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Free Press, and PEN American Center as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners," TikTok v. Garland  Jameel Jaffer, “The Supreme Court Must Intervene in the TikTok Case,” The New York Times (Dec. 10, 2024)  Zephyr Teachout, “Brief of AMICI CURIAE Zephyr Teachout and Joel Thayer in Support of Respondent,” TikTok v. Garland  United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Opinion of the Court, TikTok v. Garland  Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc. (1986)  Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015)  Moody v. NetChoice (2024) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    59 min

  8. 3 JAN

    For or Against Constitutional Originalism?

    Jonathan Gienapp of Stanford University and Stephen Sachs of Harvard Law School join Chief Scholar Thomas Donnelly to discuss Gienapp’s new book, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique. They review the history of originalism and debate the role of originalism in constitutional interpretation today. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on October 8, 2024.  Resources:  Jonathan Gienapp, “Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique” (2024)  Stephen Sachs and Will Baude, “Originalism and the Law of the Past” (Law and History Review, 2019)  Michael Stokes Paulsen and Vasen Kesavan, “Is West Virginia Unconstitutional?” (90 Cal L. Rev. 291, 2002)  William Baude, Jud Campbell, and Stephen Sachs, “General Law and the Fourteenth Amendment” (76 Stanford L. Rev 1185, 2024)  Jud Campbell, “Four Views of the Nature of the Union” (47 Harvard J. Law & Public Policy 2, 2024)  Fletcher v. Peck (1810)  District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)  United States v. Rahimi (2024)  Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

    1h 2m
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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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  • Channel
    National Constitution Ctr
  • Creator
    National Constitution Center
  • Years Active
    2005 - 2025
  • Episodes
    557
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © 2024 National Constitution Center. All Rights Reserved.
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    We the People

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