Live at the National Constitution Center

Live at the National Constitution Center

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.

  1. NOV 12

    Native Americans and the Supreme Court

    In celebration of Native American Heritage month, Keith Richotte Jr., author of the forthcoming book, The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution and Matthew L.M. Fletcher of the University of Michigan discuss Native American history and law through the stories of landmark Supreme Court cases. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. Resources:  Matthew L.M. Fletcher, The Ghost Road: Anishinaabe Responses to Indian Hating (2020) Keith Richotte Jr., The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution (forthcoming 2025) United States v. Kagama (1886) United States v. Lara (2004) Matthew L.M. Fletcher, “Muskrat Textualism,” Northwestern Law Review, Jan. 16, 2022. McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020) Ex Parte Crow Dog (1883) Major Crimes Act Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) Montana v. United States (1981) Indian Civil Rights Act Duro v. Reina (1990) Haaland v. Brackeen (2023) Turtle Talk Blog Worcester v. Georgia (1832) Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta (2022) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcasts@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

    58 min
  2. NOV 5

    Electing the President: The Popular Vote vs. The Electoral College

    On the eve of the 2024 presidential election, join Jesse Wegman, author of Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College, and professor Robert Hardaway, author of Saving the Electoral College: Why the National Popular Vote Would Undermine Democracy, for a program examining the history and current debate over the Electoral College. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. Resources:  Robert Hardaway, Saving the Electoral College Why the National Popular Vote Would Undermine Democracy (2019)  Jesse Wegman, Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College (2020)  Electoral College, Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 3, Interactive Constitution  National Popular Vote  Ranked Choice Voting  Article I, Section III, The Senate, Interactive Constitution  Cass Sunstein, “On Jan. 6, Will Vice President Harris Certify the Election?,” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 25, 2024  Gary Lawson and Jack Beerman, “Congressional Meddling In Presidential Elections: Still Unconstitutional After All These Years; A Comment On Sunstein,” April 2023  “The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway,” Politico, Oct. 20, 2024  Moore v. Harper (2023) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcasts@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
  3. OCT 29

    The NCC’s 2024 National First Amendment Summit

    This month, the National Constitution Center convened the 2024 National First Amendment Summit, in partnership with FIRE and NYU’s First Amendment Watch. America’s leading legal thinkers joined for a vigorous discussion on the state of free speech in America and around the globe. “Free Speech on Campus Today” features Mary Anne Franks, author of the new book Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment;  FIRE’s Vice President of Campus Advocacy Alex Morey; and Keith Whittington, author of You Can't Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms. “Free Speech In and Out of the Courts” features Nadine Strossen, author of Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know; Jonathan Turley, author of the new book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage; and Kenji Yoshino of NYU School of Law and Meta's Oversight Board.   Resources: 2024 National First Amendment Summit  FIRE: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression  NYU’s First Amendment Watch  Mary Ann Franks, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment (2024)  Keith Whittington, You Can’t Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms (2024)  Nadine Strossen, Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know (2023)  Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (2024)  Meta Oversight Board      Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcasts@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 27m
  4. OCT 22

    John Lewis: A Life

    David Greenberg’s new biography, John Lewis: A Life, chronicles the remarkable story of the civil rights activist and congressman. Professor Kenneth Mack of Harvard University joins Greenberg for a discussion of Lewis’ life and impact on American history, whose heroism during the Civil Rights Movement helped inspire America’s new birth of freedom. Lana Ulrich, vice president of content and senior counsel at the National Constitution Center, moderates. Additional Resources 2016 Liberty Medal Ceremony in honor of Representative John Lewis David Greenberg, John Lewis: A Life (2024) “Rep. John Lewis on MLK and ‘Good Trouble,’” Live at the National Constitution Center podcast (Jan. 2020) Boynton v. Virginia (1960) Civil Rights Era documents selected by Kenneth Mack and Christopher Brooks, NCC Founders’ Library Kenneth Mack, Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer (2012) Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Bayard Rustin, “From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement” Voting Rights Act (1965) John Lewis, Remarks at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at programs@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
  5. OCT 15

    For or Against Constitutional Originalism?: A Debate

    Stanford University professor Jonathan Gienapp, author of the new book, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique, is joined by Stephen Sachs of Harvard Law School to discuss Gienapp’s challenge to originalists’ unspoken assumptions about the Constitution, the history of originalism as a constitutional methodology, and its role in constitutional interpretation today. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. Additional 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 programs@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
4.6
out of 5
135 Ratings

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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