We the People

With the 2018 midterm elections fast approaching, this episode delves into the history of congressional elections, from the Founding to today, answering the questions: What did the Founders expect that Congressional elections would look like? What did they look like throughout the 19th and 20th centuries? How did they lead to the political tribalism of the 21st century? And what can the most consequential congressional elections, the ones that realigned and redefined our nation, tell us about the upcoming election? Host Jeffrey Rosen is joined by two leading experts on Congress, its history, and congressional elections – Matthew Green of Catholic University and Thomas Mann of UC Berkeley and Brookings.

In the aftermath of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, debates about the Supreme Court’s legitimacy remain in the public spotlight. Some believe that the Kavanaugh confirmation caused a legitimacy crisis that can only be solved by reform proposals such as court packing and term limits for justices, while others believe the Court has maintained its legitimacy and is still a neutral arbiter of the law. Is the Supreme Court really having a legitimacy crisis? Host Jeffrey Rosen discusses that question and the future of the Court with two constitutional scholars from opposing sides of the Kavanaugh debate – Professor Jennifer Mascott, who testified on Justice Kavanaugh’s behalf at his confirmation hearings, and Professor Melissa Murray, who testified against his nomination.

Cries of “defamation” came from the White House following the publication of in-depth reporting on President Donald Trump and his finances by The New York Times, but this is not the first time the president has expressed criticism of the press or U.S. libel laws. Adam Liptak of The New York Times and NYU Law Professor Richard Epstein join Jeffrey Rosen to explain what libel is and how laws against libel and slander fit within the First Amendment’s protections of free speech and the free press. Liptak and Epstein also debate media objectivity today and the effect of the heated coverage of the Kavanaugh confirmation battle on the legitimacy of our democratic institutions.

Senators Jeff Flake and Chris Coons join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss their important role in the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, including their last-minute agreement to pause the nomination to allow for an FBI investigation of the allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh. They also share their hopes and fears for the future of the Senate and the Supreme Court, and how political tribalism today threatens the legitimacy of these American institutions. This conversation, recorded live at The Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, was presented in partnership with The Atlantic and generously sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. This episode was engineered by Greg Scheckler and David Stotz, and produced by Jackie McDermott and Scott Bomboy. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich and Jackie McDermott.

We take a deep dive into the upcoming Supreme Court term, set to begin Monday, October 1, and explore forthcoming cases that involve everything from double jeopardy and excessive fines to cemeteries and endangered frogs. Host Jeffrey Rosen is joined by Brianne Gorod of the Constitutional Accountability Center and Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute, who both filed amicus briefs in many of the cases discussed, and filed jointly in one of this term’s key cases, Gamble v. United States.

This episode, recorded live in New York City at the Federal Bar Association’s 2018 annual convention, features a debate of the following question: “Should Chevron Be Overturned?” The 1984 Supreme Court decision Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council established a judicial doctrine of deference to certain administrative agency actions commonly known as “Chevron deference.” As wonky as it may sound, Chevron is implicated in important constitutional debates surrounding the modern administrative state and separation of powers. Columbia Law School professors Philip Hamburger and Gillian Metzger explain just what Chevron deference is, why it matters, and whether or not it should be overturned. Lana Ulrich guest hosts.

Nina Totenberg and Neal Katyal join host Jeffrey Rosen to unpack Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings and evaluate his testimony. Totenberg and Katyal recap what we learned about Kavanaugh’s judicial philosophy and his views on everything from the role of precedent to presidential power, and forecast how Kavanaugh, if confirmed, might shape the Supreme Court in years to come.

In the midst of the contentious confirmation hearings of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, we explore the history of Supreme Court confirmation hearings and consider their constitutional implications. How did the Framers envision the Senate’s role in providing “advice and consent,” and how has it evolved over time? Guests: Lori Ringhand – professor at the University of Georgia School of Law and Adam J. White – research fellow at the Hoover Institution. This is the first episode in a two-part series covering the confirmation process. Join us next week for a post-hearing wrap-up.

Last week’s guilty plea from Michael Cohen and the conviction of Paul Manafort prompted widespread debate over whether the president was implicated in criminal acts and if he should be impeached. Alan Dershowitz and Joshua Matz join host Jeffrey Rosen for a spirited debate on when and how the Framers intended for the impeachment power to be used. A transcript of the podcast is linked here. This text may not be in its final form and accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.

In the midst of the Civil War, Robert Smalls overtook a Confederate boat filled with 17 other enslaved people and steered it to freedom. This extraordinary act was the first of many, as Smalls went on to a groundbreaking career of activism and became one of the first African American men elected to Congress. We examine his remarkable life on this final episode of our special Stories of the Civil War and Reconstruction series. Guests: Kate Masur, associate professor of history at Northwestern University, and Michael B. Moore, CEO and president of the forthcoming International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Moore is the great-great-grandson of Robert Smalls.

This week, we uncover the life of Harriet Scott, the wife and co-plaintiff of Dred Scott in the infamous case Dred Scott v. Sanford. Although much is known about the case itself – in which the Supreme Court held that African Americans were not citizens of the United States – little attention has been devoted to the people who brought the case before the Court and lived with the devastating consequences. Guests: Martha S. Jones – author and professor at Johns Hopkins University, and Lea VanderVelde – professor at Iowa College of Law and author of the definitive biography on Harriet Scott. Guest hosted by Lana Ulrich.

This episode delves into the extraordinary life of reparations advocate Callie House, who tirelessly traveled the country organizing newly freed African Americans in the quest to right the wrongs of slavery. Despite her status as a former slave, a woman, and a widower with five children, House defied societal conventions and led one of the largest grassroots movements in African American history. Guests: Mary Frances Berry – professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the definitive biography on House, and Tiffany Patterson – professor at Vanderbilt University. Hosted by Lana Ulrich.

John Bingham was one of the most influential but least known visionaries of the post-Civil War Constitution. Dubbed “the James Madison of the 14th Amendment” by Justice Hugo Black, Bingham drafted a constitutional provision that changed the course of American history by ensuring that states were duty-bound to uphold their citizens’ constitutional rights. A moderate Republican and dedicated supporter of abolition before the Civil War, Bingham spearheaded the Reconstruction-era efforts to guarantee citizenship to all people born in the United States, regardless of race, and to extend the Constitution’s promise of equality to all American citizens. Gerard Magliocca is the Samuel R. Rosen Professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and the author of the definitive biography of Bingham. Kurt Lash is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law and the author of the book The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities of American Citizenship. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

On this debut episode of our special Stories of the Civil War and Reconstruction Series, we examine the life of one of America’s most influential abolitionists, orators, writers, and statesmen – Frederick Douglass. Growing up as an enslaved person in Maryland, Douglass set himself apart by learning to read and write at an early age. After escaping from slavery, Douglass moved to Massachusetts where he became involved with local anti-slavery groups and newspapers. Ardently advocating for abolition, Douglass toured the country with William Lloyd Garrison and spoke extensively about the relationship between the Constitution and slavery in America. David Blight is Class of 1954 Professor of American History at Yale University. An expert scholar on Frederick Douglass, Blight has written extensively on him. Blight’s newest book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, will be released on October 2. Blight also serves as Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale and previously taught at Amherst College for 13 years. Noelle Trent is director of interpretation, collections and education at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Trent earned her doctorate in American history at Howard University, where she also served as a lecturer for 4 years. Her dissertation, “Frederick Douglass and the Making of American Exceptionalism,” is currently being expanded into a book. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

After his recent meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin and comments about Russian interference in the 2016 elections, President Donald Trump has sparked a new controversy relating to the constitutional definition of treason, and to what extent actions taken in support of a foreign nation might constitute treason. Jeffrey Rosen leads a discussion about the Treason Clause of the Constitution, what it means, and how it has been interpreted. Paul Crane is an assistant professor of law at the University of Richmond Law School. Previously, he served as a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. He has also worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, as a Bristow Fellow for the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States, and clerked for Chief Justice Roberts on the U.S. Supreme Court. Deborah Pearlstein is a professor of law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. Previously, she served in the White House from 1993 to 1995 as a Senior Editor and Speechwriter for President Clinton, and served as the founding director of the Law and Security Program at Human Rights First, where she worked on military commission trials at Gitmo. Pearlstein also clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Jeffrey Rosen leads a discussion about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Gorsuch’s first year on the Supreme Court, and what the future of the Court might look like. Brianne Gorod is the Constitutional Accountability Center’s chief counsel. She previously served as CAC’s Appellate Counsel. Elizabeth Slattery is a legal fellow and appellate advocacy program manager at the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and Institute for Constitutional Government at the Heritage Foundation. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Leading Civil War and Reconstruction scholars discuss the history and meaning of the 14th Amendment in celebration of its 150th anniversary. Allen Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era, and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. Martha Jones is Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. Kurt Lash is E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law and Founder and director of the Richmond Program on the American Constitution at Richmond School of Law. Darrell A.H. Miller is Melvin G. Shimm Professor of Law at Duke Law School. The host is Jeffrey Rosen. Sherrilyn Ifill, the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Trustee of the National Constitution Center, provides introductory remarks. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

John Elwood, Leah Litman, and Christopher Yoo, three of Anthony Kennedy’s former clerks, join We The People to discuss the Justice’s Supreme Court legacy. John Elwood is a partner at Vinson & Elkins law firm, teaches at the University of Virginia School of Law’s Supreme Court litigation clinic, and is a contributor to SCOTUSblog. He clerked for Justice Kennedy from 1996–1997. Leah Litman is assistant professor of law at the University of California, Irvine Law School. She is a guest host of the First Mondays Supreme Court podcast and blogs at the Take Care blog. She clerked for Justice Kennedy from 2011-2012. Christopher Yoo is John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; director, Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition at Penn Law School. He clerked for Justice Kennedy from 1997-1998. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Jeffrey Rosen, host of “We the People,” moderates a panel discussion at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival about the Supreme Court’s momentous recent term. From same-sex wedding cakes to voting rights to gerrymandering to public unions, the latest term was full of news-making decisions, even when the Justices decided not to decide. Note: This event was held several hours before Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Court. Next week on "We the People," former Kennedy clerks will be joining us to discuss Justice Kennedy's legacy and the ways in which he shaped the Court. Emily Bazelon is a Lecturer in Law and Senior Research Scholar in Law at Yale Law School. She is also a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine Judge Nancy Gertner is a senior lecturer at Harvard Law School. In September of 2011, Judge Gertner retired from the federal bench. Mimi Marziani is President of the Texas Civil Rights Project and she teaches at the University of Texas School of Law. Ramesh Ponnuru is senior editor at National Review, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and contributor to CBS News. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Erin E. Murphy of New York University Law School and Andrea Roth of University of California Berkeley School of Law discuss the Golden State killer case and the future of genetic privacy with host Jeffrey Rosen. This past April, California police announced they had a suspect for the “Golden State Killer” – 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo. Using genetic data from old crime scene samples, police uploaded his information into a genealogy website, GEDmatch, enabling them to identify DeAngelo’s relatives, and eventually narrow the pool down to find DeAngelo. This case – along with others that have followed - has raised privacy concerns, leading many to wonder what the future for genetic privacy is under the Fourth Amendment. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

In this episode, We the People host Jeff Rosen answers constitutional questions that you, our listeners, have been asking. We’ve been collecting your questions over the past few months from social media, our weekly newsletter, Constitution Weekly, and email. Among the topics: the limits of presidential pardons, james Madison’s views about political factions, and new Court guidance about automobile searches. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Michael Dorf from the Cornell University Law School and Ilya Shapiro from the Cato Institute join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss some major cases already decided in the Supreme Court's current term and others expected from the Justices in the next few weeks. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Today we are joined by Ken Burns, renowned American filmmaker and documentarian, to discuss the history of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the legacy of the 14th Amendment. Ken Burns is prolific: His widely known documentary series include The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The War (2007), The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), Prohibition (2011), The Roosevelts (2014), and The Vietnam War (2017). He’s won 15 Emmy Awards, been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has been featured on PBS numerous times. His 11-hour magnum opus, The Civil War, has won over 40 major awards. This year being the 150th Anniversary of the 14th Amendment, there is no better figure to speak to on its enduring legacy than Ken. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

This week, during a symposium held at the National Constitution Center, We the People host Jeffrey Rosen sat down with George Will, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist for The Washington Post, to discuss federalism, the 17th Amendment, and the state of American politics today. This America’s Town Hall program was made possible through the generosity of John Agliolaro. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

On May 8, President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, calling the deal “horrible,” “one-sided” and “the worst deal ever.” The president said he planned to institute sanctions against Iran, and that the U.S. would also sanction any other nation that helps it pursue nuclear weapons, as well as U.S. and foreign companies and banks that continue to do business with Iran. The Iran Deal was one of President Obama’s major foreign policy achievements, which had re-opened diplomatic negotiations between the two countries; yet the deal also had its critics, both of its merits and its constitutionality. Joining us to discuss the complex history of Iran-U.S. relations, President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran Deal, and any constitutional issues implicated as a result are two leading national security and constitutional experts. Jamil Jaffer is the founder of National Security Institute and an Adjunct Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law & Policy Program at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. Jake Sullivan is a Martin R. Flug Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. He served in the Obama administration as a national security and served as the key architect of the Iran Nuclear Deal. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

On May 3, the National Constitution Center hosted a traveling America’s Town Hall panel at Stanford Law School to discuss the effects of digital disinformation on democracy today. We the People host Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s Vice President of Communications and Public Policy, Nick Pickles, Senior Public Policy Strategist at Twitter, Juniper Downs, Global Head of Public Policy and Government Relations at YouTube, as well as Nathaniel Persily of Stanford Law School and Larry Kramer President of the Hewlett Foundation. They discuss whether digital disinformation poses a threat, what its effect on speech, democracy, and government regulation might be, and the role of the Internet and social media in combatting disinformation. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified on July 9, 1868. Last week, the National Constitution Center and the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund co-hosted a daylong symposium commemorating this important anniversary. In this We the People episode, former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., discusses the importance of the 14th Amendment today during the symposium’s keynote conversation. He is joined by Sherilynn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of LDF, and We the People host Jeffrey Rosen. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

On Wednesday, April 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of the biggest cases of the year: Trump v. Hawaii, the challenge to the latest iteration of President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict travel to the United States by nationals from certain countries. The federal government contends that a ruling for the challengers would “hamstring” the president’s ability to conduct foreign relations and protect the national security; the challengers counter that allowing the so-called “travel ban” to stand will not only preclude over 150 million people, overwhelmingly Muslim, from coming to the United States, but it will also consolidate “breathtakingly vast” power in the executive branch. Josh Blackman is an Associate Professor of Law at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He blogs at JoshBlackman.com and has written dozens of blog posts, editorials, and articles on the Trump v. Hawaii case. Joshua Matz is of counsel at Gupta Wessler PLLC and Kaplan & Company LLP. He is the publisher of the Take Care blog. He filed an amicus brief (with Robbie Kaplan) on behalf of constitutional law scholars in Trump v. Hawaii, on behalf of the respondents. Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Jeffrey Rosen discusses the recent Facebook hearingsand the broader impact of social media on free speech and democracy with Nate Persily of Stanford Law and Kate Klonick of Yale Law School. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Our president and CEO, Jeffrey Rosen sits down with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston. They discuss the First Amendment, hate speech, the Citizens United decision, and other free speech cases. Stephen G. Breyer is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

When President Donald Trump took office last year, there were over 100 federal court vacancies, roughly twice as many as when President Barack Obama faced the same situation in 2009. Since then, President Trump has been nominating judges and having nominees confirmed at “record speed,” leading many senators from both sides of the aisle—from Senator Ted Cruz to Senator Chris Coons—to assert that the most long-lasting and significant legacy to the Trump administration “will be the men and women appointed and confirmed to the federal bench.” This topic and others were part of the Federal Bar Association’s annual mid-year meeting in Washington, D.C. John Malcolm is Vice President of the Institute for Constitutional Government and Director of the Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies and Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where he oversees the Heritage Foundation’s work to increase understanding of the Constitution and the rule of law. Elizabeth Wydra is President of the Constitutional Accountability Center. From 2008-2016, she served as the CAC’s Chief Counsel, representing the Center as well as constitutional scholars and historians, state and local government organizations, and groups such as the League of Women Voters and the AARP. Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” He is also a professor at The George Washington University Law School, and a contributing editor for The Atlantic. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

This week, the National Constitution Center celebrates the March 2018 opening of its new exhibit, Hamilton: The Constitutional Clashes That Shaped a Nation. This compelling new exhibit highlights the competing ideas of Alexander Hamilton and his legendary rivals, including Madison, Jefferson, Adams, and Burr, and the personalities and constitutional debates that shaped America. The exhibit also provides an intimate look into Hamilton’s enduring role in the constitutional and political arguments that continue to create sparks to this day. Joining us to discuss the debut of this fascinating new exhibit and the life and constitutional legacy of Alexander Hamilton are two of America’s leading scholars of Hamilton and the Founding. Jay Cost is a political historian and journalist and a contributing editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributor to the National Review. He is the author of the new book The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy. Nancy Isenberg is an American historian, and T. Harry Williams Professor of history at Louisiana State University. She is the author of Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr, and co-author (with Andrew Burstein) of a dual biography of Madison and Jefferson. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

In his new book for The American Presidents Series, the National Constitution Center’s President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen argues that William Howard Taft was our most judicial president and presidential Chief Justice, and explores Taft’s crucial role in shaping how America balances populism with the rule of law. In this exclusive book launch held at the Constitution Center on March 20, Mr. Rosen was interviewed by Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, who calls Taft “the most under-appreciated constitutional figure since George Mason.”

Over the past few months, President Trump has announced new tariffs on imported goods from solar panels and washing machines to steel and aluminum. He has also taken swift executive action to block international mergers that he has deemed harmful to U.S. interests from occurring, and has even said he would consider withdrawing from NAFTA and related trade agreements. President Trump’s protectionist policies are a reversal of mostly free-trade orientated policies of past administrations, and his actions raise important constitutional questions about the extent of executive power over trade policy, separation of powers and the non-delegation doctrine, as well as the future of U.S. and global trade. Timothy Meyer is a Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School. He is an expert in public international law, with an emphasis on international economic and energy law. He previously worked as a Legal Advisor for the Department of State, and clerked for now-Justice Neil Gorsuch while he was on the 10th Circuit. Steve Charnovitz is Associate Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School. He is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Law Institute, and the author of many publications including The Path of World Trade Law in the 21st Century. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Can an employment lawsuit be based on the premise that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a Title VII violation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964? On Feb. 26, 2018, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 10-3 decision in Zarda v. Altitude Express Inc. that sexual orientation discrimination constitutes a form of discrimination “because of . . . sex,” in violation of Title VII. Some legal experts have predicted that the case might eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. Last April, the Seventh Circuit ruled in a separate case that Title VII could be applied to a similar workplace situation. But the Supreme Court passed on a third case, out of Georgia, that dealt with the same issue. Joining us on this podcast are two experts with different takes on this question. John Eastman is Henry Salvatori Professor of Law and Community Service and Former Dean at Chapman University Law School. He is also the Director of the University’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. Suzanne Goldberg is Herbert and Doris Wechsler Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where she also directs the Law School’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law and its Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic. National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen moderates the discussion. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Can the federal government compel a U.S.-based email provider to turn over its records as part of a criminal investigation when those records are located outside of the country? The United States v. Microsoft case pending before the Supreme Court could have big implications for law enforcement, consumer privacy and the business operations of many companies that do business overseas. The Microsoft case deals with a specific question: If a U.S. provider of email services must comply with a probable-cause-based warrant (issued under 18 U.S.C. § 2703) by disclosing in the United States electronic communications within that provider’s control, even if the provider has decided to store that material abroad. Joining us to discuss these important issues are two leading experts on the case. Benjamin Battles is the solicitor general of Vermont, which filed an amicus brief with 34 other states and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico in support of the federal government in United States v. Microsoft. Vivek Krishnamurthy is a Clinical Instructor in Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic. He specializes in the international aspects of internet governance and on the human rights challenges associated with offering new internet-based services in different legal environments around the world. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Alicia Hickok and Eugene Volokh join National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss a major Supreme Court case about public-union dues. The Supreme Court is considering arguments in a case that could have a huge effect on public-section unions and their membership. The case of Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) will be heard on February 26 at the Court. The question in front of the nine Justices is if public-sector “agency shop” arrangements -- payments that workers represented by a union must pay even if they are not dues-paying members -- should be invalidated under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court said in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977) that government employees who don’t belong to a union can be required to pay for union contract negotiating costs that benefit to all public employees, including non-union members. The Abood decision has been challenged in court several times, and an evenly divided Court couldn’t decide a similar case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, in 2016. This time, a full Court will consider the issue. Alicia Hickok is a Partner at the law firm Drinker Biddle and a Lecturer in law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She wrote an amicus brief in the Janus case on behalf of the Rutherford Institute, siding with Janus’s position. Eugene Volokh is Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA Law School. He co-wrote an amicus brief in Janus with Will Baude siding with the union. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] And don't forget to take our new podcast survey at constitutioncenter.org/survey The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joins National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen for a wide-ranging conversation in celebration of the 25th anniversary of her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the 75-minute interview, Justice Ginsburg talks about the #MeToo movement, confessed her affection for Millennials, discussed the Supreme Court cases she’d like to see overturned, and told some personal stories about the progress women’s rights have made—while reminding the audience of just how recently gender discrimination in American law seemed not only normal but entrenched. The event took place in Philadelphia on February 12, 2018, in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Law School as the Owen J. Roberts Memorial Lecture in Constitutional Law.

In this episode, we’re answering questions that you, our listeners, have been asking about the Constitution, with the National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. We’ve been collecting your questions over the past few months from social media, our weekly newsletter Constitution Weekly, and email. For starters, here were some of the questions discussed in this podcast: Why is the Ninth Amendment so important to understanding the Constitution? What are the unenumerated rights provided for in the Constitution and what were the big arguments about them in the past 100 years? What is the basis for the idea of the separation of church and state as understood by the Founders? And what are the theories of interpreting the Constitution that most apply to you? Jeffrey Rosen is president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates the discussion. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] And don't forget to take our new podcast survey at constitutioncenter.org/survey The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

In anticipation of the 150th anniversary of the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, on Feb. 24, we look at the history of presidential impeachments, the interpretation of the Impeachment Clause, and the application to current day controversies. Joining us to discuss this important historical episode are two of America’s leading scholars on the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Keith Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He co-wrote the IC explainers on the Impeachment Clause with Neil Kinkopf. David O Stewart is a writer, historian, and former appellate lawyer. He is the author of many books including Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates the discussion. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] And don't forget to take our new podcast survey at constitutioncenter.org/survey The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

On January 20, 2017, President Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. In the year since he took office, a variety of novel constitutional issues have arisen, from the interpretation of the Emoluments Clauses, to the constitutionality of Executive Orders on immigration, and even the meaning of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. In this episode, we look at the past year of the Trump presidency and what it means for our Constitution. Joining us to discuss the past year of constitutional debates are two of America’s leading scholars of constitutional law. Josh Blackman is an Associate Professor of Law at the South Texas College of Law in Houston who specializes in constitutional law, the United States Supreme Court, and the intersection of law and technology. He filed an amicus brief in the CREW v. Trump and DC and Maryland v. Trump lawsuits on behalf of another legal scholar, Seth Barrett Tillman. Lisa Manheim is an associate professor of law at the University of Washington School of Law and co-author of a recently published book, intended for lawyers and non-lawyers alike, called The Limits of Presidential Power: A Citizen’s Guide to the Law. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] And don't forget to take our new podcast survey at constitutioncenter.org/survey The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

The relationship between the federal government and the states is currently at the center of controversies about sports gambling, marijuana use and sanctuary cities policies. In the past year, these and related issues have come before federal courts, including the Supreme Court. In December 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Christie v. NCAA, a case that examines whether a federal law that prohibits the modification or repeal of state gambling laws violates the Tenth Amendment and the anti-commandeering doctrine that bars the federal government from imposing certain costs on local government. The anti-commandeering doctrine is also at the heart of several federal lawsuits about the legal status of sanctuary cities. And Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to reverse marijuana prosecution guidelines for federal attorneys in states with legal recreational marijuana has broad potential constitutional implications. Joining Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, to discuss these questions are two leading national constitutional experts. Michael Dorf is Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] And don't forget to take our new podcast survey at constitutioncenter.org/survey

This week, we look at the case Hargan v. Garza, a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of undocumented immigrantthat asks if the federal government can deny access to an abortion for pregnant undocumented teens. As of January 11, 2018, the Supreme Court was considering the case in private conference. Joining us to discuss this important question are two of America’s leading experts on constitutional and family law. Catherine Glenn Foster is President and CEO of Americans United for Life. She served as Counsel of Record for amicus curiae Alliance Defending Freedom’s Amicus Brief in Planned Parenthood v. Abbott, which defended Texas’ healthcare regulations around abortion clinics. Leah Litman is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. She co-authored Petitioner’s Brief in Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt case, which successfully challenged Texas’ healthcare regulations around abortion clinics. Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” He is also a professor at The George Washington University Law School, and a contributing editor for The Atlantic. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected] And don't forget to take our new podcast survey at constitutioncenter.org/survey

In the Gill case this year, the Supreme Court might determine the constitutional future of partisan gerrymandering. Scholars and advocates have been discussing the arguments at the heart of the case – as well as those involved in related cases heading toward the Supreme Court. At a December event at the National Constitution Center, Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society, Nolan McCarty, professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University, and David Wasserman, house editor for The Cook Political Report, explored the practical effects of gerrymandering, including its impact on polarization and competitive elections. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates this discussion. To learn more about this week's topic, visit our podcast resources page to explore show notes, guest bios, related Interactive Constitution essays, and more. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected]

Franklin Foer, national correspondent for The Atlantic, explores how tech platforms like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google have transformed the way we think and produced a new culture of misinformation that is trampling values such as privacy, autonomy, and individuality. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates this discussion, hosted at the Center in November 2017.

Gail Heriot and Diane Rosenfeld join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to discuss how several federal laws may work to address sexual harassment and assault claims. Gail Heriot is Professor of Law at the University of San Diego Law School and a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She is also a contributor to our Interactive Constitution on the 19th Amendment. Diane Rosenfeld is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and Director, Gender Violence Program, Harvard Law School. She previously served as the served as the Senior Counsel to the Office of Violence Against Women Office of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” He is also a professor at The George Washington University Law School, and a contributing editor for The Atlantic. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected]

In May, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Since Mueller’s appointment, the probe has raised a number of constitutional questions, ranging from whether the president can legally fire Mueller and end the investigation to what remedies exist should Mueller find evidence of collusion. Specifically, the investigation has led to debates about the nature of potential obstruction of justice charges against a President; if a President can actually be charged with obstruction; and the role of Congress in the investigative process. National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen moderates a discussion about these issues two leading experts on these topics: Laura Donohue and Sai Prakash. Donohue is Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, Director of Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law, and Director of the Center on Privacy and Technology. Prakash is James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law and Paul G. Mahoney Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected]

Gus Hurwitz and Travis LeBlanc join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen for an engaging debate about the potential repeal of Obama-era net neutrality rules. To learn more about this week’s topic, visit our podcast resources page at constitutioncenter.org/debate/podcasts. Visit the resources page to explore show notes, guest bios, related Interactive Constitution essays, and more. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network.

Vanita Gupta and Michael Moreland join National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to preview next week’s Supreme Court arguments about a dispute over a cake shop owner’s right to not create a cake for a same-sex marriage event. Gupta is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The Leadership Conference joined an amicus brief in this case with other civil rights groups (NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center), siding with the Civil Rights Division. Moreland is University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova Law School. He joined an amicus brief along with 34 other legal scholars supporting the cake shop owner. To learn more about this week’s topic, visit our podcast resources page at constitutioncenter.org/debate/podcasts. Visit the resources page to explore show notes, guest bios, related Interactive Constitution essays, and more. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network.

Alex Abdo of the Knight First Amendment Institute and Orin Kerr of George Washington Law debate whether warrantless searches and seizures of cellphone records violate the Fourth Amendment in a special podcast hosted at the National Press Club. In late November, the Supreme Court will tackle a very modern question about the venerable Fourth Amendment: Does it allow police to see where you’ve been for the past four months by looking at your cellphone data without a warrant? In Carpenter v. United States, which will be argued on November 29, cell number data placed a robbery suspect, Timothy Ivory Carpenter, near the scenes of several crimes, and at about the same time as those crimes happened. The phone information was used as evidence leading to Carpenter’s conviction on robbery charges and he is serving a long prison sentence. The Carpenter case has spurred a flurry of activity among Fourth Amendment scholars. Carpenter’s lawyers believe modern cellphone records are fundamentally different than traditional phone records cited in a 1979 Supreme Court decision at permits such searches without warrants. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled against Carpenter and said the Fourth Amendment’s search warrant requirement only protects what was actually said in phone conversations. And it upheld a third-party doctrine that the phone records belong to the phone company, they aren’t private information. Note: Audio for this podcast was recorded at an October 26, 2017 live event at the National Press Club sponsored by the American Constitution Society and The Federalist Society and presented with the generous support of the Bernstein Family Foundation.