Live at the National Constitution Center

The Espionage Act of 1917, one of the most contentious statutes relating to the First Amendment, is back in the news following the indictment of President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents. What is the Espionage Act and how has it been used over time? Legal scholar Heidi Kitrosser, author of Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution, and political historian Sam Lebovic, author of State of Silence: The Espionage Act and the Rise of America’s Secrecy Regime, explore the origins, history, and constitutional legacy of this World War I-era law. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Sam Lebovic, State of Silence: The Espionage Act and the Rise of America's Secrecy Regime Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 (1917-1918) Defense Secrets Act of 1911 The Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) Schenck v. United States (1919) Heidi Kitrosser, Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution Gorin v. United States, 312 U.S. 19 (1941) Heidi Kitrosser and David Schulz, “A House Built on Sand: The Constitutional Infirmity of Espionage Act Prosecutions for Leaking to the Press” United States v. Morison (4th Cir. 1988) Heidi Kitrosser, “The Espionage Act After the Mar-a-Lago Indictment,” Lawfare United States v. Morison (4th Cir. 1988) Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Political scientists Frances Lee of Princeton University, Steven Levitsky of Harvard University and coauthor of Tyranny of the Minority, and Kurt Weyland of the University of Texas at Austin and author of Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat, explore some of the new theories and approaches to the challenges facing American democracy in 2023 and beyond, including proposed solutions. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point Frances Lee, “Populism and the American Party System: Opportunities and Constraints” Kurt Weyland, Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

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 content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Melvin Rogers, The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought Melvin Rogers, The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy Kate Masur, Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction Jamelle Bouie, “How Black Political Thought Shapes My Work”, New York Times David Walker David Walker, Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829) Jamelle Bouie, “Why I Keep Coming Back to Reconstruction”, New York Times Martin Delany Jamelle Bouie, “What Frederick Douglass Knew that Trump and DeSantis Don’t”, New York Times Jamelle Bouie, “The Deadly History of ‘They’re Raping Our Women'”, Slate W.E.B. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

The election of 1800 was the first hotly contested partisan election in American history. Still, peaceful transfers of power continued for the next two centuries. But how? Carol Berkin, author of A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism, and H.W. Brands, author of Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and the Brawling Birth of American Politics, join for an Election Day program to explore political partisanship and nationalism in early America. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources H.W. Brands, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics Carol Berkin, A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism Genet Affair National Constitution Center Founders' Library, The Alien and Sedition Acts Virginia Resolutions Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Historians Ned Blackhawk and Brenda Child join for a conversation on Blackhawk’s national bestseller, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History—a sweeping retelling of American history. They explore five centuries of U.S. history to shed light on the central role Indigenous peoples have played in shaping our nation’s narrative. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History The Declaration of Independence Pontiac’s War Brenda Child, Away From Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences, 1879-2000 Brenda Child, Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940 Claudio Saunt, Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory Jeffrey Ostler, Surviving Genocide: Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas Articles of Confederation Naturalization Act 1790 Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) Eric Foner, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution Ned Blackhawk, Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the early American West Brenda Child, Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community Brenda Child, My Grandfather's Knocking Sticks: Ojibwe Family Life and Labor on the Reservation Brenda Child and Brian Klopotek, Indian Subjects: Hemispheric Perspectives on the History of Indigenous Education Michael Witgen, Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

The Center for Constitutional Design at Arizona State University and the National Constitution Center present a discussion exploring how the institution of the modern presidency has evolved through the lens of studying the constitutional visions and approaches to executive power of some of America’s past presidents. Join presidency experts Sidney Milkis and Barbara Perry of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and Stephen Knott of Ashland University for this conversation moderated by National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen.This program is presented in partnership with the Center for Constitutional Design at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.Additional Resources Stephen Knott, The Lost Soul of the American Presidency: The Decline into Demagoguery and the Prospects for Renewal Nicholas Jacobs and Sidney Milkis, What Happened to the Vital Center?: Presidentialism, Populist Revolt, and the Fracturing of America Michael Nelson and Barbara Perry, The Presidency: Facing Constitutional Crossroads (Miller Center Studies on the Presidency) Stephen Knott, Coming to Terms with John F. Kennedy Sidney Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of American Democracy Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Prize-winning historians Kate Masur, author of Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction, and Dylan Penningroth, author of the new book Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights, explore the central role of African Americans in the struggle for justice and equality long before the social movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Additional Resources Kate Masur, Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction Dylan Penningroth, Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights National Constitution Center Interactive Constitution, Article IV, Section 2: Movement Of Persons Throughout the Union, Privileges and Immunities Clause National Constitution Center Interactive Constitution,14th Amendment Privileges or Immunities Clause Dylan Penningroth, The Claims of Kinfolk: African American Property and Community in the Nineteenth-Century South Kate Masur, An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle over Equality in Washington, D.C Brief of Professors of History and Law as Amici Curia in Support of Respondents Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

New York Times bestselling author Cass Sunstein unveils his new book, How to Interpret the Constitution—a citizen’s guide to the rival approaches of originalism and living constitutionalism. Sunstein is joined by leading constitutional expert Philip Bobbitt of Columbia Law School to discuss the current controversies surrounding constitutional interpretation and provide their takes on the competing methodologies. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Participants Philip Bobbitt is the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence at Columbia Law School. He is the author of 10 books, including Constitutional Fate; Constitutional Interpretation; and his most recent work is a new edition of the authoritative Impeachment: A Handbook, written in 1974 by Charles Black. Cass Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University and the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. He is the author of dozens of books, including the New York Times bestseller Nudge (with Richard H. Thaler); On Freedom; #Republic; and The World According to Star Wars. His newest book is How to Interpret the Constitution. Additional Resources Cass Sunstein, How to Interpret the Constitution Phillip Bobbitt, Constitutional Fate National Constitution Center's Constitution 101 Activity Guide: Introduction to the Methods of Constitutional Interpretation National Constitution Center's Constitution 101: Methodologies of Constitutional Interpretation McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Stay Connected and Learn MoreContinue the 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.Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

How did America’s founders view religious liberty? And what does it mean today? Constitutional law experts Marci Hamilton, author of God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty, and Michael McConnell, co-author of Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience, join for a special Constitution Day discussion to celebrate the opening of the Center’s new First Amendment gallery. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.Resources: National Constitution Center’s First Amendment gallery  Marci Hamilton, God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty (2014) Marci Hamilton, “‘Warped history’: How the U.S. supreme court justified gutting gay rights,”  The Guardian (Aug 23, 2023) “Prof. Michael McConnell (Stanford) on 303 Creative (the Web Site Designer / Same-Sex Wedding Case),” Volokh Conspiracy (Dec. 2022)  Michael McConnell, Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience (2023) 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.

The National Constitution Center, in partnership with a coalition of leading free speech organizations, is convened a National First Amendment Summit on September 13, 2023 to discuss the increasing threats to freedom of expression and to celebrate the opening of the Center's new First Amendment gallery.This program is presented in partnership with the Freedom Forum, FIRE, the First Amendment Watch at NYU, PEN America, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.Keynote: A Conversation with Salman Rushdie The keynote panel of the event, a conversation with author and free speech advocate Salman Rushdie about the importance of free speech in a democratic society and the forces of censorship that imperil its existence, was moderated by Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America.Panel 1: The Origins of the First Amendment and Its Central Role in DemocracyProbing the origins of the First Amendment and its critical role as a check on the government Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University Jacob Mchangama, founder and CEO of The Future of Free Speech Project; Research Professor at Vanderbilt University Stephen Solomon, Marjorie Deane Professor of Journalism at New York University; founder of NYU’s First Amendment Watch Moderator: Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center Panel 2: The First Amendment in the CourtsExploring the current legal controversies filling the daily headlines—from defamation to book banning to threatening language Floyd Abrams, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University Lyrissa Lidsky, Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Chair in U.S. Constitutional Law at Florida Law Moderator: Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Panel 3: The First Amendment on Campus and OnlineExamining the increasing conflicts involving free speech on campuses and online in an age of social media, artificial intelligence, and other new technologies Will Creeley, legal director at FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Jeannie Suk Gersen, John H. Watson, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard Law School Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita, at New York Law School Moderator: Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center Stay Connected and Learn More 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.