We the People

Latest Episodes:

Democracy Checkup: Preparing for the 2024 Election May 10, 2024

Show notes

Richard Hasen, author of A Real Right to Vote, Sarah Isgur, senior editor of The Dispatch, and Lawrence Lessig, author of How to Steal a Presidential Election, join Jeffrey Rosen for a health check on the state of American democracy. They look ahead to potential areas of vulnerability in the run-up to the 2024 election, and identify ways to strengthen our democratic processes in response. This program was streamed live on March 21, 2024, as part of our America’s Town Hall series.

Resources:

Richard L. Hasen, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy (2024)
Lawrence Lessig and Matthew Seligman, How to Steal a Presidential Election (2024)
National Constitution Center’s We the People podcast, “The Supreme Court Says States Can’t Keep Trump Off the Ballot," (March 7, 2024)
Sarah Isgur and David French, “Indictment Watch: The Supreme Court Decides Whether States Can Disqualify Trump,” Advisory Opinions, The Dispatch (March 5, 2024)
Richard L. Hasen, “The Supreme Court Just Delivered a Rare Self-Own for John Roberts,” Slate (March 5, 2024)
Conference Report, “Carter-Baker Commission: 16 Years Later” (2021)
Amicus brief of Richard L. Hasen, Edward Foley and Ben Ginsburg, Trump v. Anderson

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. 

Meet the Facebook Supreme Court May 03, 2024

Show notes

As Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—surpassed 2 billion users in 2019, the company created an independent oversight board to review appeals of the company’s decisions involving content moderation. In this episode, members of Meta’s Oversight Board, Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School and Kenji Yoshino of New York University School of Law, join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the board’s structure, its key decisions, and its efforts to ensure free and fair elections in advance of the 2024 presidential election. This program was streamed live on April 29, 2024, as part of our America’s Town Hall series.

Resources:

Meta Oversight Board
Former President Trump's suspension, Meta Oversight Board decision (2021)
Meet the Board
Brazilian general's speech, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)
Altered Video of President Biden, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)
Oversight Board Announces New Cases on Israel-Hamas Conflict for Expedited Review (Dec. 2023)
United States posts discussing abortion, Meta Oversight Board decision, (2023)
Referring to Designated Dangerous Individuals as “Shaheed”, Meta Oversight Board decision, (2023)
Cambodian prime minister, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)
Reporting on Pakistani Parliament Speech, Meta Oversight Board decision (2023)
How to Appeal to the Oversight Board

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. 

Is President Trump Immune From Prosecution? Apr 25, 2024

Show notes

This week the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Trump v. United States, a case that asks whether the former president is immune from criminal prosecution for conduct that occurred during his tenure in office. In this episode, Professor John Yoo of Berkeley Law School and Smita Ghosh of the Constitutional Accountability Center join Jeffrey Rosen to preview the arguments in the case, review the founders’ views on executive immunity, and discuss how the Court might decide this crucial case.

Resources:

Trump v. United States (oral argument via C-SPAN; transcript)
Constitutional Accountability Center, Smita Ghosh, et al, Brief of Scholars of Constitutional Law in Support of Respondents, Trump v. United States
Smita Ghosh, “The Founding Fathers Didn’t Think Trump Should Get Immunity Either,” Newsweek, Feb 8, 2024
John Yoo, “The Trump Immunity Case is Weak—But He Doesn’t Need it to Prevail,” Newsweek, Mar 6, 2024
Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982)
Blassingame v. Trump (D.C. Cir. 2023)

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

Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast

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. 

America’s Most Consequential Elections: From FDR to Reagan Apr 18, 2024

Show notes

Michael Gerhardt, author of the new book FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness, and Andrew Busch, author of Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right, join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the pivotal elections of 1932 and 1980. They compare the transformative presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, and trace how founding-era debates between Hamilton and Jefferson over the scope of federal and executive power re-emerged during the New Deal and Reagan Revolution. This program originally streamed live on April 16, 2024.

Resources:

Michael J. Gerhardt, FDR’s Mentors: Navigating the Path to Greatness (2024)
Andrew E. Busch, Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom (2001)
Andrew E. Busch, Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right(2005)
Andrew E. Busch, The Constitution on the Campaign Trail: The Surprising Political Career of America’s Founding Document (2007)
Friedrich Hayek, “The Road to Serfdom,” Teaching American History (May 21, 2020)
Ronald Reagan, Remarks to Commonwealth Club members on March 4, 1983, Reagan Library (July 19, 2018)
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Undelivered Address Prepared for Jefferson Day, The American Presidency Project

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. 

Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment Apr 11, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of We the People, Jeffrey Rosen has a special one-on-one conversation with the historian Allen Guelzo on his new book Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment. They discuss Lincoln’s powerful vision of democracy, revisit his approach to tackling slavery and preserving the Union, and explain how Lincoln remains relevant as a political thinker today.

Resources

Allen Guelzo, Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment(2024)
“Lincoln’s Speeches and the Refounding of America,”NCC America’s Town Hall program (Nov. 2021)
William H. Herndon, Herndon on Lincoln:Letters(2016)
Abraham Lincoln, “Speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield,” (1838)

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

Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast.

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. 

Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics Apr 04, 2024

Show notes

On November 7, 2023, historians 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, joined Jeffrey Rosen for a conversation on political partisanship and nationalism in early America, and how, despite the founders’ fear of factionalism, deep partisan divisions emerged almost immediately after the Revolution. They discuss the election of 1800, the first hotly contested partisan election in American history, and trace the history of American partisanship to the present day.

Resources:

H.W. Brands, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics (2023)
Carol Berkin, A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism (2017)
“Genet Affair,” Mount Vernon
The Alien and Sedition Acts, NCC Founders’ Library
Virginia Resolutions, NCC Founders’ Library

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

Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast.

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. 

Justice Stephen Breyer on Reading the Constitution Mar 29, 2024

Show notes

On Thursday March 28 at the NCC, Jeffrey Rosen sat down with Justice Stephen Breyer to discuss his new book, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism. Justice Breyer deconstructs the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s majority and makes the case for a better way to interpret the Constitution based on pragmatism.

Resources

Justice Stephen Breyer, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism (2024)

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

Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast.

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. 

Can the Government Pressure Private Companies to Stifle Speech? Mar 22, 2024

Show notes

On March 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri and NRA v. Vullo—two cases in which government officials allegedly pressured private companies to target disfavored viewpoints. Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute and David Greene of the Electronic Frontier Foundation join Jeffrey Rosen to break down both cases. Together they discuss the state action doctrine, explore the line between coercion and persuasion, and interrogate the tension between government speech and private speech.

Resources:

Murthy v. Missouri (oral argument via C-SPAN; transcript)
NRA v. Vullo (oral argument via C-SPAN; transcript)
Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan (1963)
Alex Abdo, Brief in Support of Neither Party, Murthy v. Missouri
David Greene, Brief in Support of Neither Party, Murthy v. Missouri
David Greene and Karen Gullo, “Lawmakers: Ban TikTok to Stop Election Misinformation! Same Lawmakers: Restrict How Government Addresses Election Misinformation!,” EFF (March 15, 2024)

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. 

Democracy, Populism, and the Tyranny of the Minority Mar 14, 2024

Show notes

Three political scientists join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss democratic instability, backsliding, and demagogues from a historical and global perspective. Guests included Harvard’s Steven Levitsky, author of Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, the University of Texas-Austin’s Kurt Weyland, author of Democracy’s Resilience to Populism’s Threat, and Princeton University’s Frances Lee. This program originally aired on November 27, 2023.

Resources:

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

Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast.

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 Supreme Court Says States Can’t Keep Trump Off the Ballot Mar 08, 2024

Show notes

On Monday March 4th, the Supreme Court reversed Colorado’s decision to remove President Trump from the ballot. The Court unanimously held that individual states cannot bar insurrectionists from holding federal office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Five Justices went further, ruling that Congress alone may enforce Section 3. In this episode, constitutional scholars Mark Graber of the University of Maryland Law School and Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the Court’s 9-0 decision to avoid a chaotic “patchwork” of state-level ballot eligibility decisions and the 5-4 majority’s view that Section 3 requires Congress to act before an insurrectionist may be disqualified from office.

Resources: