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The Future of Birthright Citizenship Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

On May 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case challenging the constitutionality of President Trump’s executive order which seeks to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. Legal scholars Gabriel Chin of the University of California, Davis School of Law; Amanda Frost of the University of Virginia School of Law; Kurt Lash of the University of Richmond School of Law; and Ilan Wurman of the University of Minnesota Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to debate the scope of the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Resources

Gabriel J. Chin and Paul Finkelman, “Birthright Citizenship, Slave Trade Legislation, and the Origins of Federal Immigration Regulation,” UC Davis Law Review (April 8, 2021)
Ilan Wurman, “Jurisdiction and Citizenship,” Minnesota Legal Studies Research Paper No.25-27 (April 14, 2025)
Amanda Frost, “The Coming Assault on Birthright Citizenship,” The Atlantic (Jan. 7 2025)
Kurt Lash, “Prima Facie Citizenship: Birth, Allegiance and the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause,” SSRN (Feb. 22, 2025)
Amanda Frost, Testimony Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, U.S. House of Representatives (Feb. 25, 2025)

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The Day the Revolution Began Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, historians Rick Atkinson, author of The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777; Mary Beth Norton, author of 1774: The Long Year of Revolution; and Rosemarie Zagarri, author of Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic, join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the events leading to the first shots of the American Revolution, the battles themselves, and the colonists’ response to this pivotal moment in history.

Resources

Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (2019)
Mary Beth Norton, 1774: The Long Year of Revolution (2020)
Rosemarie Zagarri, Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic (2008)

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Do the Trump Tariffs Violate the Constitution? Apr 11, 2025

Show notes

Steven Calabresi of Northwestern University and Samuel Estreicher of New York University join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the statutory authority for President Trump’s tariffs and whether they violate federal law or the Constitution.

Resources

Samuel Estreicher & Andrew Babbitt, “Are Tariffs an Emergency Power?,” Lawfare Blog (April 3, 2025)
Steven Calabresi, “President Trump's New Tariffs Are Unconstitutional,” Volokh Conspiracy (April 5, 2025)
Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief, Emily Ley Paper v. Trump, 3:25-cv-00464 (N.D. Fla., April 3, 2025)

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Judges on Judicial Independence Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen leads a special panel discussion with Federal Judges Association President Judge J. Michelle Childs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Judge M. Margaret McKeown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and past president of the Federal Judges Association; Judge Beth Bloom of the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida; and Judge Stephen R. Bough of the U.S. District Court Western District of Missouri. The judges explore threats to the judicial branch and the importance of judicial independence and civic education in maintaining the rule of law. This program was presented in partnership with the Federal Judges Association.

Resources

Michelle Childs, Justice Jackson Lecture: “The Republic is Safe as Long as the Courts Remain Open” (April 1, 2025)
Code of Conduct for United States Judges
John Roberts, 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary (December 2024)
Federal Judges Association Civics Challenge

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Who Is Government? Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

Best-selling author Michael Lewis discusses his new book, Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, with Jeffrey Rosen. As government programs face political headwinds, Lewis and his favorite writers examine the human stories of the heroic civil servants who make government work and why their contributions matter.

This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on March 26, 2025.

Resources

Michael Lewis, ed., Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service (2025)
Michael Lewis, “The free‑living bureaucrat,” The Washington Post (March 2025)
Michael Lewis, “Directions to a journalistic gold mine,” The Washington Post (Nov. 2024)
Michael Lewis, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story (2022)
Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk (2018)
CURE ID

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Deportations and the Law Mar 21, 2025

Show notes

Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority, to summarily deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang. He also invoked a Cold War-era statute to deport a student activist at Columbia University. In this episode, Adam Cox of New York University and Ilya Somin of George Mason University join to discuss the scope of the president’s deportation power and to evaluate whether the administration violated the due process or speech rights of the deportees.

Resources

Adam Cox and Cristina Rodríguez, The President and Immigration Law (2020)
Ilya Somin, Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (2021)
Adam Cox and Ahilan Arulanantham, “Explainer on First Amendment and Due Process Issues in Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Student Activist(s),” Just Security (March 12, 2025)
Ilya Somin, “The Case Against Deporting Immigrants for ‘Pro-Terrorist’ Speech,” Volokh Conspiracy (March 10, 2025)
Ilya Somin, “What Just Happened: The “Invasion” Executive Order and Its Dangerous Implications” Just Security (January 28, 2025)
Adam Cox, “The Invention of Immigration Exceptionalism,” Yale Law Review (November 2024)
Bridges v. Wixon (1945)
Harisiades v. Shaughnessy (1952)

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Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org
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Is DOGE Breaking the Law? Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

Kate Huddleston, senior legal counsel of litigation at the Campaign Legal Center, and Michael McConnell, Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, join Jeffrey Rosen to debate whether the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has acted lawfully in firing federal workers and freezing federal spending.

Resources

Campaign Legal Center, Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (March 3, 2025)
Michael McConnell and Laurence Tribe, “Is Musk’s DOGE Dodging the Law?,” Open to Debate (March 7, 2025)

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The State of Partisanship Mar 06, 2025

Show notes

Jonathan Rauch, author of Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy, and Julian Zelizer, author of In Defense of Partisanship, join Jeffrey Rosen for a wide-ranging discussion on their new books and the rise of partisanship in America.

This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on March 3, 2025.

Resources

Julian E. Zelizer, In Defense of Partisanship (2025)
Jonathan Rauch, Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (2025)
Julian E. Zelizer, Abraham Joshua Heschel: A Life of Radical Amazement (2021)
Jonathan Rauch, “Christian Renewal and the Future of American Democracy,” Brigham Young University Wheatley Institute (Jan. 24, 2025)
Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (2024)

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Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org
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The Supreme Court and the Trump Administration Feb 27, 2025

Show notes

Jamelle Bouie and David French of The New York Times, Sarah Isgur of The Dispatch, and Melissa Murray of NYU School of Law join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the relationship between the Roberts Court and the Trump administration. They discuss how the Supreme Court might resolve open legal questions—including impoundment and the unitary executive theory—and debate the Court’s role in maintaining the separation of powers.

This conversation was originally recorded on February 22, 2025, as part of the NCC’s President’s Council Retreat in Miami, Florida.

Resources

Melissa Murray (with Leah Litman and Kate Shaw), “Yes, We’re in a Constitutional Crisis” Strict Scrutiny podcast (Feb. 17, 2025)
Jamelle Bouie, Michelle Cottle, David French, and Carlos Lozada, “Opinion: Don’t be Fooled, ‘Trump is a Weak President’” The New York Times (Feb. 14, 2025)
David French, “The Trump Crisis Deepens,” The New York Times (Feb. 6, 2025)
Sarah Isgur and David French, “Lawless or Unwise?” Advisory Opinions podcast (Feb. 14, 2025)

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Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org
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How Powerful is the President? Feb 21, 2025

Show notes

President Trump’s far-reaching executive actions have given rise to a debate about whether the president is acting within the tradition of presidential power—or whether recent events represent a departure from the constitutional order and precedent. Melody Barnes of the University of Virginia Karsh Institute for Democracy, Charles Cooke of National Review, Joanne Freeman of Yale University, and Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise Institute join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss the American tradition of presidential power and evaluate analogues to our constitutional moment from across U.S. history.

This conversation was originally recorded on February 20, 2025, as part of the NCC’s President’s Council Retreat in Miami, Fla.

Resources

Yuval Levin, “A Rule of Thumb for the Executive Power Debates,” National Review Online (February 5, 2025)
Melody Barnes et al., Karsh Institute of Democracy Statement of Principles
Melody Barnes, Corey D. B. Walker and Thad M. Williamson, “Introduction: Can We Make American Democracy Work?,” in Community Wealth Building and the Reconstruction of American Democracy (2020)
Charles Cooke, The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right’s Future (2015)
Charles Cooke, “The American System Works, and It Will Work If Trump Wins Again,” National Review (Dec. 15, 2023)

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