Live at the National Constitution Center

On the heels of election 2020, bills that may change voting and the election process have been introduced at the federal level and in numerous states including Georgia. In this panel, experts discuss the most significant legislation being considered, the constitutional issues they present, and what the Supreme Court might say. Theodore Johnson of the Brennan Center for Justice; Rich Lowry of the National Review; Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute; and Kim Wehle, author of What You Need to Know About Voting—And Why, join Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. The National Constitution Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University presented this new panel in their ongoing partnership of conversations about how to restore the guardrails of American democracy. This program was also made possible with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).  

This week we’re sharing a constitutional class taught online featuring Harvard historian, New Yorker staff writer, and podcast host Jill Lepore. Professor Lepore explores the ideas that animated the founding of America, sparked the constitutional convention, and continue to shape American life today. She also answers questions about the convention and more from both National Constitution Center President Jeffrey Rosen and from the students in our virtual audience, via our Chief Learning Officer Kerry Sautner.For more information on past and upcoming National Constitution Center classes, visit constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/online-civic-learning-opportunities.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-libraryQuestions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

In 1789, both the U.S. Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen guaranteed American and French citizens the freedom of religion. How has the concept of religious liberty been applied, protected, and interpreted in both countries over the past two centuries? French political scientist Denis Lacorne and law professor Mathilde Philip-Gay join American political scientist Jonathan Laurence and law professor Michael McConnell for a discussion exploring the similarities and differences. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.This program was presented in partnership with The Cultural Services of the French Embassy as part of a series on freedom of religion and speech in France and the United States.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library

Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor at The New Yorker and author of the new book The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights, and Thavolia Glymph, Duke University historian and author of the book The Women's Fight: The Civil War's Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation, discuss the early days of the abolition movement and the fight for women’s rights, the complicated relationship between the two movements, and heroes like Harriet Tubman who served as leaders of both. 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, and is presented as part of the Center’s Women and the Constitution initiative.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library

This week, back in 1973, the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, and America’s eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War ended. In 2019, the National Constitution Center hosted a program featuring activist Kim Phúc Phan Thi, and we’re sharing that conversation from our archives this week. When she was nine years old, Phuc was severely injured, running from her bombed village, when an Associated Press photographer captured her and others in one of the most famous photographs from the Vietnam War, which later won the Pulitzer Prize. In this moving program, Phúc discusses her firsthand experience of the Vietnam War and its impact; Mark Bowden, contributing writer for The Atlantic and author of Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam offers historical context; and classical composer and jazz trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe performs and discusses the piece he was moved to compose after seeing Phúc’s photograph. Phúc was also awarded the Jeffrey Rosen moderates.

Last week, experts joined NCC President Jeffrey Rosen to consider how we can foster compromise under the Constitution and in American politics today. They also explored prominent issues in the news including whether or not to end the filibuster; if Congress might benefit from less, not more, transparency; and how to incentivize legislators to work together in a more bipartisan way. The panel featured political scientists Steven Teles of Johns Hopkins University and Sarah Binder of the George Washington University and the Brookings Institution; Daniel Stid, director of the U.S. Democracy Program at the Hewlett Foundation; and Reihan Salam, president of the Manhattan Institute.This program was presented in partnership with the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-libraryQuestions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Judge Jed Rakoff unveils his new book 'Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System' with former Judge Paul Cassell of the University of Utah College of Law, Carissa Byrne Hessick of the University of North Carolina Law School, and moderator Jeffrey Rosen. They discuss the current challenges in American criminal justice today and share innovative proposals for reform.Additional resources and transcript available atQuestions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

This week, we’re sharing a constitutional conversation from our archives in honor of Women’s History Month. This program, hosted live at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, traces the history of the Equal Rights Amendment and explores the question of whether we need the ERA to ensure gender equality in the United States. National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen was joined by University of Texas at Austin School of Law professor Cary Franklin, an expert in anti-discrimination law, and University of Pennsylvania Law professor Serena Mayeri, an expert on how social movements impact legal and constitutional history, to discuss that question and more.Additional resources and transcript available at https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-libraryQuestions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

This week, we’re sharing a constitutional conversation from our archives. Leading legal scholars and historians Allen Guelzo, Martha Jones, Kurt Lash, and Darrell A. H. Miller tell the story of the 14th amendment and the “forgotten founders” who fought for it. Jeffrey Rosen moderates.This conversation was part of a symposium celebrating the 150th anniversary of the 14th Amendment co-hosted with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

National Constitution Center scholar-in-residence and UNC Law School professor Michael Gerhardt and recently joined us to unveil his new book Lincoln’s Mentors: The Education of a Leader. He was joined by leading historians H.W. Brands, author of the new book The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom, and Judith Giesberg, author of Sex and the Civil War: Soldiers, Pornography, and the Making of American Morality, in a conversation moderated by Jeffrey Rosen. They explored how Abraham Lincoln mastered the art of leadership, and how five men mentored an obscure lawyer with no executive experience to become one of America’s greatest presidents.Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/media-library.Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.