Live at the National Constitution Center

Latest Episodes:

The 2024 Liberty Medal Ceremony Honoring Ken Burns Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

On September 24, 2024 the National Constitution Center held its annual Liberty Medal ceremony honoring America’s storyteller, Ken Burns, for illuminating the nation’s greatest triumphs and tragedies and inspiring all of us to learn about the principles at the heart of the American idea. In this episode, Jeffrey Rosen and Burns’s co-director Sarah Botstein talk about Burns’s life and work, followed by Ken Burns’s inspiring acceptance speech. Burns then sits down with Rosen for a conversation about the American Idea.

Resources:

The National Constitution Center’s 2024 Liberty Medal Ceremony

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A Conversation With Justice Neil Gorsuch on ‘The Human Toll of Too Much Law’ Sep 24, 2024

Show notes

On September 17, the Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and NCC honorary co-chair, and his co-author and former law clerk Janie Nitze, joined Jeffrey Rosen for an America’s Town Hall program in celebration of Constitution Day 2024 and the release of their latest book, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law.

Additional Resources

National Constitution Center: Constitution 101 with Khan Academy
Neil M. Gorsuch and Janie Nitze, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law (2024)
National Constitution Center Classroom resources: Federalism
National Constitution Center Classroom resources: Federalism and the Separation of Powers

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‘The Highest Calling’: A Conversation With David Rubenstein on the American Presidency Sep 17, 2024

Show notes

On September 12, 2024, best-selling author, philanthropist, and National Constitution Center Trustee David Rubenstein joined Jeffrey Rosen at the Center in Philadelphia to discuss his new book, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency. The book, which features interviews with presidential historians and living U.S. presidents, chronicles the journeys of the leaders who have defined America. They discuss the duties and responsibilities of the presidency, the triumphs and failures of its officeholders, and the future of the role in the twenty-first century.

Resources:

David Rubenstein, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency(2024)

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Trump v. United States and the National Security Constitution Jul 10, 2024

Show notes

International and national security law experts Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School, Deborah Pearlstein of Princeton University, and Matthew Waxman of Columbia Law School join for a conversation to explore Trump v, United States and the updated edition of Koh’s landmark book, The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

Resources:

Harold Koh, “The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century”
Trump v. United States (2024)
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo(2024)
United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. (1936)
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (Steel Seizure Case) (1952)
The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-1794
Deborah Pearlstein, “Lawyering the Presidency,” The Georgetown Law Journal (2022)
Deborah Pearlstein, “The Executive Branch Anticanon,” Fordham Law Review (2020)
Matthew C. Waxman, “War Powers Reform: A Skeptical View”

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The Intellectual Origins of the Founding and Civil War Constitution Jul 02, 2024

Show notes

Political theorist William B. Allen, editor and translator of a new edition of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws, and Alison LaCroix, author of The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms, explored the intellectual foundations—from Montesquieu and beyond—of the U.S. constitutional vision and core values from America’s founding through the Civil War. The discussion was moderated by Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center.

Resources:

Alison LaCroix, The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms, 2024
Montesquieu, ‘The Spirit of the Laws’: A Critical Edition, edited and translated by W. B. Allen, 2024
The Commerce Clause
Alison LaCroix, “James Madison v. Originalism,” Project Syndicate (Aug. 26, 2022)
10th Amendment
Andrew Jackson, Proclamation Regarding Nullification, (December 10, 1832)
Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, (1816)
Preamble to the Constitution

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A Conversation on Black Leadership With Eddie Glaude Jr. Jun 25, 2024

Show notes

In celebration of Juneteenth, political commentator Eddie Glaude Jr. discusses his newest book, We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For that explores how ordinary people, through the examples of leading Black Americans Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Ella Baker, have the capacity to achieve a more just and perfect democracy. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, hosts the discussion.

Resources:

Eddie S. Glaude Jr., We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For, (2024)
Juneteenth

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Can the Constitution Revive the American Dream? Jun 18, 2024

Show notes

Political analyst Yuval Levin, author of American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again, and scholar Aziz Rana, author of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them, discuss the Constitution as America’s religion and its role in fostering the American dream. Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

Resources:

Yuval Levin, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again, (2024)
Aziz Rana, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them (2024)
“The Modern History of Originalism,” We the People Podcast (Aug. 3, 2023)
Article V, Interactive Constitution

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America’s Confrontations With Illiberalism: From Past to Present May 28, 2024

Show notes

Steven Hahn, author of Illiberal America: A History, and Manisha Sinha, author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860–1920, explored America’s historical encounters with illiberalism and its relevance to contemporary challenges confronting American democracy today. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderated the conversation.

Resources

Steven Hahn, Illiberal America: A History (2024)
Manisha Sinha, The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920 (2024)
Abraham Lincoln, “ "Speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield” (1838), Founders’ Library
13th Amendment, Interactive Constitution
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Founders’ Library
Steven Hahn, The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890 (1985)
Marcia Coyle, “The U.S. Supreme Court Cases Built on a ‘Rotten Foundation’,” Constitution Daily (May 2022)

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Constitutional Challenges in the Age of AI May 21, 2024

Show notes

Tech policy experts Mark Coeckelbergh, author of the new book Why AI Undermines Democracy and What To Do About It, Mary Anne Franks of George Washington University Law School, and Marc Rotenberg of the Center for AI and Digital Policy explored the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and constitutional principles and suggest strategies to protect democratic values in the digital age. This conversation was moderated by Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center.

This program was made possible through the generous support of Citizen Travelers, the nonpartisan civic engagement initiative of Travelers.

Resources:

Mark Coeckelbergh, Why AI Undermines Democracy and What To Do About It(2024)
Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), “Universal Guidelines for AI”
CAIDP, “Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Values”
Mary Anne Franks, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment, (forthcoming Oct. 2024)
“Tougher AI Policies Could Protect Taylor Swift—And Everyone Else—From Deepfakes,” Scientific American (Feb. 8, 2024)
Marc Rotenberg, “Human Rights Alignment: The Challenge Ahead for AI Lawmakers,” (Dec. 2023)
EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), https://gdpr-info.eu/
“U.S. Senate Will Debate Three Bipartisan Bills Addressing the Use of AI in Elections,” Democracy Docket (May 14, 2024)
OECD Principles on AI
Marc Rotenberg, “The Imperative for a UN Special Rapporteur on AI and Human Rights,” Vol. 1 (2024)
Mark Coeckelbergh, “The case for global governance of AI: arguments, counter-arguments, and challenges ahead,” (May 2024)
Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group Report
Council of Europe and AI
Council of Europe AI Treaty

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Living Constitutionally: Insights From A.J. Jacobs and Jeffrey Rosen May 14, 2024

Show notes

A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning, in conversation with NCC President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen, author of the new book The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. Listen to their discussion on what it means to live constitutionally today.

Resources:

A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning (2024)
"Colonial America" fashion, Brittanica
Jonathan Gienapp, The Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution in the Founding Era (2018)
Jud Campbell, “What Did the First Amendment Originally Mean?,” University of Richmond (2018)
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
NCC's We the People podcast, "The Modern History of Originalism," (August 2023)
NCC's We the People podcast, "What the Supreme Court's Opinion in NYSRPA v. Bruen Means for the Second Amendment," (August 2022)
"How a college term paper led to a constitutional amendment," Constitution Daily blog, (May 7, 2024)
NCC's Constitution Drafting Project
Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: A Life, (2004)

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Questions or comments about the show? Email us at programs@constitutioncenter.org
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