The Supreme Court's latest term featured landmark decisions on executive power, birthright citizenship, voting rights, and more. But beyond the headlines, what did the term tell us about the Roberts Court itself? In this episode, Masha Hansford and Jonathan Adler examine the justices' opinions to explore the defining decisions, shifting coalitions, and influential concurrences and dissents that shaped the term. Together, they consider the Court's institutional role, the distinct jurisprudence of its individual justices, and what this term may signal for the future of constitutional law.  Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

Resources 

• 2026 Supreme Court Review: Key Decisions, Executive Power, Civil Discourse, National Constitution Center 
• “Four cases to watch in the Supreme Court’s next term,” Scott Bomboy for the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Daily Blog 
• “The Supreme Court in Review: Another Landmark Term,” Scott Bomboy for the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Daily Blog 

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In this episode, Nadine Strossen, New York Law School professor emerita and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Jacob Mchangama, the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech, discuss the history, enduring debate, and ongoing importance of free expression in our changing world. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This program is part of the NCC Across America series and is presented in partnership with the City of Asylum Bookstore in Pittsburgh, PA. It was recorded on July 21, 2026. 

Resources 

• The First Amendment 
• Jacob Mchangama, Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media (2022) 
• Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff, The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom (2026) 
• Nadine Strossen and Greg Lukianoff, The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail (2025)

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• Stay connected with We the People—follow, rate, and review the show wherever you listen. 
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In this episode, legal scholars Michael Ramsey and Jed Shugerman the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook, which address the president’s authority to remove members of the executive branch. They trace the history of presidential removal power from the founding era through the Court’s 1935 landmark Humphrey’s Executor decision to the present day and explore what Slaughter and Cook may mean for the future of executive power. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

Resources 

• Trump v. Cook (2026) 
• Trump v. Slaughter (2026) 
• Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935) 
• “Trump v. Slaughter: Another Win for Justice Scalia,” Michael Ramsey, The Originalism Blog, June 30, 2026 
• Brief Amicus Curiae of Professor Jed Shugerman in Trump v. Slaughter 
• “Supreme Court allows Trump to fire FTC member but not Fed director,” National Constitution Center’s Constitution Daily 

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• Stay connected with We the People—follow, rate, and review the show wherever you listen. 
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In this episode, legal scholars Jonathan Adler, Greg Garre, Katherine Mims Crocker, and Howard Wasserman discuss the state of civil discourse inside the Supreme Court and in public debate about the Court. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was recorded live in Philadelphia on July 7, 2026, as part of the National Constitution Center’s 2026 Supreme Court Review, which is presented in partnership with the Center on the Structural Constitution at Texas A&M University School of Law. The program featured three panels with scholars of differing perspectives examining the Court’s 2025–2026 term, its approach to executive power, and civil discourse surrounding the Court. 

Resources 

• 2026 Supreme Court Review: Key Decisions, Executive Power, Civil Discourse, National Constitution Center 
• “Retired Justice Kennedy laments coarse discourse of Trump era and its effects on the Supreme Court,” Associated Press, Oct. 8, 2025 
• “Justice Thomas Bemoans Incivility as Security Prompts Cancellation of In-Person Speech,” The New York Times, Feb. 27, 2026 
• “Justices Hint at Strains as Supreme Court Comes Under Scrutiny,” The New York Times, May 18, 2026 
• “Takeaways From Rare Congressional Testimony by Two Supreme Court Justices,” The New York Times, July 15, 2026

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• Stay connected with We the People—follow, rate, and review the show wherever you listen. 
• Questions or comments? Email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 
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In this episode, legal scholars Gillian Metzger, Julian Mortenson, and Ilya Somin discuss the Supreme Court’s approach to executive power in recent decisions. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was recorded live in Philadelphia on July 7, 2026, as part of the National Constitution Center’s 2026 Supreme Court Review, which is presented in partnership with the Center on the Structural Constitution at Texas A&M University School of Law. The program featured three panels with scholars of differing perspectives examining the Court’s 2025-2026 term, its approach to executive power, and civil discourse within and concerning the Court. 

Resources

• 2026 Supreme Court Review: Key Decisions, Executive Power, Civil Discourse, National Constitution Center 
• Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (2026)
• Trump v. Slaughter (2026)
• Trump v. Cook (2026)
• Trump v. Illinois (2025)

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• Stay connected with We the People—follow, rate, and review the show wherever you listen. 
• Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. 
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In this episode, Richard Epstein and Martha Jones discuss the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Trump v. Barbara, which struck down President Trump’s Executive Order on birthright citizenship. At issue in the case was whether the Constitution guarantees citizenship to children born to parents unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States. The Court concluded that it did. Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

Resources 

• Trump v. Barbara (2026) 
• Brief of Amicus Curiae Professor Richard A. Epstein 
• Brief of Historians Martha S. Jones and Kate Masur as Amici Curiae 
• “Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order in landmark decision,” Scott Bomboy for the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Daily Blog 
• “In birthright citizenship opinions, a major constitutional disagreement,” Marcia Coyle for the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Daily Blog 
• United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), National Constitution Center 
• The Citizenship Clause, National Constitution Center

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• Stay connected with We the People—follow, rate, and review the show wherever you listen. 
• Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. 
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In this episode, David Blight, Robert P. George, and Annette Gordon-Reed explore the enduring ideas at the core of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution—including equality, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and government by consent—and examine how those principles have been debated, interpreted, and contested over time. Moderated by Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, the conversation invites audiences to engage deeply with the ideas that launched a nation and to consider how our shared constitutional story continues to unfold. 

This conversation was recorded live in Philadelphia on June 8, 2026, as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series. It is presented in partnership with the Organization of American Historians and the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute. 

Resources 

• Annotated Declaration of Independence, National Constitution Center 
• Interactive Constitution, National Constitution Center 
• The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals 

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• Stay connected with We the People—follow, rate, and review the show wherever you listen.
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The National Constitution Center recently published The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals (Simon & Schuster), a keepsake collection of essays bringing together leading thinkers from across perspectives to reflect on the ideals at the heart of the American experiment and what those principles have meant across generations of American life. In this episode, Professor Eric Slauter discusses his essay, “The Declaration’s Promises,” which explores how the Declaration of Independence evolved from a justification of America’s separation from the British Empire into a global charter of liberty. As Slauter writes, in 1776, “very few in the newly United States besides a small contingent of Black and white antislavery activists would have seen the Declaration as a document of radical egalitarianism or even as a founding document.” However, over time, figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. transformed the phrase “all men are created equal” into a foundational national promise and a powerful tool for social change. As Slauter notes, “it is largely their Declaration, as much as Jefferson’s or Congress’s, that we continue to celebrate today.” Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

Resources 

• Eric Slauter, “The Declaration’s Promises” 
• National Constitution Center, The Declaration of Independence 

Stay Connected and Learn More 

• Stay connected with We the People—follow, rate, and review the show wherever you listen. 
• Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. 
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If you ask Americans to name the signers of the Declaration of Independence, they will probably mention John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams. But what about the other 52 delegates from the 13 colonies who signed the document?  Men like Thomas McKean, Lyman Hall, George Walton, Francis Lewis, Benjamin Rush, and Roger Sherman? Historian Carol Berkin, one of the nation's leading scholars of the founding era and the author of the National Constitution Center's definitive short biographies of all 56 signers, joins the Center to explore the stories of these lesser-known signers. Berkin reveals these figures not as distant icons, but as real people whose lives were marked by ambition, sacrifice, hardship, resilience, and public service. As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Berkin explains why understanding the full cast of characters behind American independence can deepen our appreciation of the nation’s founding and the ongoing work of constitutional self-government. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

Resources 

• Josiah Bartlett (New Hampshire), National Constitution Center 
• Elbridge Gerry (Massachusetts), National Constitution Center 
• Button Gwinnett (Georgia), National Constitution Center 
• Lyman Hall (Georgia), National Constitution Center 
• Francis Lewis (New York), National Constitution Center 
• Thomas McKean (Delaware), National Constitution Center 
• Robert Morris, Jr. (Pennsylvania), National Constitution Center 
• Benjamin Rush (Pennsylvania), National Constitution Center 
• Roger Sherman (Connecticut), National Constitution Center 
• Richard Stockton (New Jersey), National Constitution Center 
• George Walton (Georgia), National Constitution Center 
• Biographies of all the Declaration’s Signers, National Constitution Center

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In this episode, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, retired, honorary co-chair of the National Constitution Center, joins to discuss The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals, a new keepsake volume from the National Constitution Center. Justice Breyer, who wrote the book’s foreword, reflects on the enduring constitutional ideals explored in the volume and their continued relevance today. He is joined by the Honorable Cheryl Ann Krause, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and member of the National Constitution Center Board of Trustees. 

This conversation was streamed live from Philadelphia as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on May 16, 2026. 

Resources  

• The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals 
• Justice Stephen G. Breyer, “It's up to us whether the American experiment succeeds,” (USA Today, May 11, 2026) 
• Justice Neil Gorsuch, “How Imperfect People Form a More Perfect Union,” (Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2026) 
• Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals: A Conversation with Justice Stephen Breyer , National Constitution Center, America’s Town Hall 

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The National Constitution Center recently published The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals (Simon & Schuster), a keepsake collection of essays bringing together leading thinkers from across perspectives to reflect on the ideals at the heart of the American experiment and what those principles have meant across generations of American life. In this episode, Professor David Armitage discusses his essay, “The Declaration’s Influence Around the World,” which explores the document’s international legacy as a powerful blueprint for collective rights and national self-determination, and its ever-evolving domestic legacy as a touchstone for individual rights and human equality. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

Resources 

• David Armitage, “The Declaration’s Influence Around the World” 
• National Constitution Center, The Declaration of Independence 
• Lemuel Haynes, “Liberty Further Extended” (1776) 
• Vermont Declaration of Independence (1777) 
• French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789) 
• Haitian Declaration of Independence (1804) 
• Venezuelan Declaration of Independence (1811) 
• Greek Declaration of Independence (1822) 
• Belgian Declaration of Independence (1830) 
• New Zealand Declaration of Independence (1835) 
• Texas Declaration of Independence (1836) 
• Liberia Declaration of Independence (1847) 
• Declaration of Sentiments (1848) 
• Hungary Declaration of Independence (1849) 
• Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945) 
• Israel Declaration of Independence (1948) 
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) 
• Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Southern Rhodesia (1965) 
• The Black Declaration of Independence (1970) 
• Kosovo Declaration of Independence (2008) 

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