We the People
National Constitution Center
Constitutional debates from the National Constitution Center hosted by Jeffrey Rosen
- 57 minutes 44 secondsCan President Trump unilaterally lay off 1,400 Department of Education employees?
In this episode, Derek Black of the University of South Carolina School of Law and Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute join to discuss this recent emergency docket decision and explore the history of federal involvement in education.
Resources
- McMahon v. New York (2025)
- Scott Harris with Derek Black, “Trump’s Targeting of Education Department Could Eliminate Dozens of Federal Programs for Millions of Students Nationwide,” Counterpoint (Feb. 10, 2025)
- Derek Black, “Dangerous Learning: The South’s Long War on Black Literacy,” (2025)
- Neal McCluskey, “Right Supreme Court Call on Downsizing the US Department of Education,” Cato at Liberty (July 14, 2025)
- Neal McCluskey, Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education, (2007)
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17 July 2025, 11:32 pm - 52 minutes 15 secondsCovering the Supreme Court
In this episode, Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal, Jan Crawford of CBS News, and Fred Smith Jr. of Stanford Law School join to explore polarization on the Court and the role of the media and the political branches in shaping public perceptions.
Resources
- Trump v. CASA, Inc. (2025)
- Jess Bravin and Mariah Timms, “Supreme Court Limits Rulings Against Trump on Birthright Citizenship,” The Wall Street Journal (June 27, 2025)
- Jan Crawford, Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for the Control of the United States Supreme Court (2007)
- Fred O. Smith, Jr. and Peter O’Neill, “The Forgotten Face of ‘Our Federalism,’” The Yale Law Journal (forthcoming, 2026)
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10 July 2025, 10:50 pm - 1 hour 22 secondsSupreme Court Term Roundup
On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court delivered its final decisions of the 2024–25 term. In this episode, Steve Vladeck of the Georgetown University Law Center and Sarah Isgur of SCOTUSblog join to discuss the significant cases from this Supreme Court term.
Resources
- Trump v. CASA, Inc. (2025)
- Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025)
- DHS v. DVD (2025)
- Steve Vladeck, “163: A New Kind of Judicial Supremacy,” One First (June 30, 2025)
- Advisory Opinions podcast
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3 July 2025, 8:53 pm - 1 hour 6 minutesUnpacking the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skrmetti
On June 18, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law that prohibits medical transitions for transgender minors. In this episode, William Eskridge Jr. of Yale Law School and Christopher Green of The Ohio State University join to debate the decision and to discuss the meaning of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Resources
- United States v. Skrmetti (2025)
- Christopher Green, Brief amicus curiae, United States v. Skrmetti (Oct. 15, 2024)
- William Eskridge, et al., Brief amici curiae, United States v. Skrmetti (Sept. 3, 2024)
- Geduldig v. Aiello (1974)
- Bostock v. Clayton County (2020)
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26 June 2025, 10:05 pm - 58 minutes 15 secondsCan President Trump Federalize the California National Guard?
On June 7, President Trump asserted control over California’s National Guard. In this episode, Professor Michael Ramsey of the University of San Diego School of Law and Liza Goitein of the Brennan Center join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the meaning of 10 U.S.C. 12406 and unpack California Governor Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit challenging the legality of President Trump’s actions.
Resources
- Michael Ramsey, “John Yoo on Presidential Authority to Use the National Guard,” The Originalism Blog (June 13, 2025)
- Elizabeth Goitein, “Unpacking Trump’s Order Authorizing Domestic Deployment of the Military,” The Brennan Center (June 10, 2025)
- Elizabeth Goitein, “Preventing Use of National Guard to Evade Posse Comitatus Act,” Center for a New American Security (May 20, 2025)
- Newsom v. Trump, Northern District of California (June 12, 2025)
- Martin v. Mott (1827)
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19 June 2025, 11:45 pm - 57 minutes 30 secondsExecutive Authority: Presidential Power From America’s Founding to Today
Gillian Metzger of Columbia Law School and Saikrishna Prakash of the University of Virginia School of Law join Jeffrey Rosen to examine the founders’ vision for the presidency, review how presidential power has changed over time, and debate the constitutional questions—including the unitary executive theory—that have shaped the modern presidency.
Resources
- Federalist No. 70, New York Packet (March 18, 1788)
- Myers v. United States (1926)
- Trump v. United States (2024)
- Saikrishna Prakash, The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument Against Its Ever-Expanding Powers, (2020)
- Saikrishna Prakash, Imperial from the Beginning: The Constitution of the Original Executive, (2015)
- Gillian Metzger, “Disqualification, Immunity, and the Presidency,” Harvard Law Review, Vol. 138 (April 1, 2025)
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12 June 2025, 9:32 pm - 58 minutes 58 secondsCharles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation
Charles Sumner was an abolitionist senator who helped to write the post-Civil War Constitution and give birth to modern civil rights law. Zaakir Tameez, author of the new biography Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation, joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Sumner as a moral thinker, political activist, and constitutional visionary.
Resources
- Zaakir Tameez, Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation
- Zaakir Tameez, “What we can learn from the senator who nearly died for democracy,” The Washington Post (June 1, 2025)
- Richard Kreitner “Charles Sumner Was More Than Just a Guy Who Got Caned on the Senate Floor,” The New York Times (June 2, 2025
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6 June 2025, 12:32 am - 56 minutes 7 secondsThe History of Jews in the American South
In celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, Richard Kreitner, author of Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery, and Shari Rabin, author of The Jewish South: An American History, join Jeffrey Rosen for a wide-ranging discussion on the Southern Jewish experience from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War. They discuss how American Jews reckoned with religious discrimination and slavery, explore Jewish participation in the Civil War, and remember some of the notable American Jews who helped shape this tumultuous era.
This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on May 29, 2025. It was presented in partnership with the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.
Resources
- Richard Kreitner, Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery (2025)
- Shari Rabin, The Jewish South: An American History (2025)
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29 May 2025, 11:12 pm - 45 minutes 15 secondsExecutive Power in the Trump Era
Constitutional scholars Ilya Shapiro, Stephen Vladeck, and Adam White join NCC President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to debate whether the Trump administration has overreached on executive power, analyze the relationship between the federal courts and the president, and put the present moment in historical context. This conversation was originally recorded on May 21, 2025, at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Resources
- J. Michael Luttig, “The End of Rule of Law in America,” The Atlantic (May 14, 2025)
- Stephen Vladeck, “What the Courts Can Still Do to Constrain Trump,” The Atlantic (April 15, 2025)
- Ilya Shapiro, “Don’t Throw My Executive Power in That Briar Patch!,” Shapiro’s Gavel Substack (April 24, 2025)
- Adam White, “WTH Is Going On with Birthright Citizenship? Adam White Explains” WTH Is Going On podcast (Jan. 30, 2025)
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23 May 2025, 12:12 am - 1 hour 11 minutesThe Legacy of Justice Souter
Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter passed away on May 8, 2025, at his home in New Hampshire. In this episode, his former clerks, Judge Kevin Newsom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and Professor Jeannie Suk Gersen of Harvard Law School, join Jeffrey Rosen for a conversation on Justice Souter’s life and constitutional legacy. Retired Justice Stephen Breyer also shares memories of his former colleague.
Resources
- Jeannie Suk Gersen, “Justice Souter Was the Antithesis of the Present,” The New Yorker (May 15, 2025)
- Linda Greenhouse, “David H. Souter, Republican Justice Who Allied With Court’s Liberal Wing, Dies at 85,” The New York Times (May 9, 2025)
- Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
- Bush v. Gore (2000)
- Atwater v. City of Lago Vista (2001)
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15 May 2025, 11:15 pm - 59 minutes 52 secondsThe Presidential Pardon Power
Brian Kalt of Michigan State College of Law and Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy, join Jeffrey Rosen to explore the founders’ vision for the pardon power and the use of the presidential pardon throughout American history—from Thomas Jefferson’s pardons to those issued by Presidents Biden and Trump.
This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on March 27, 2025.
Resources
- Jeffrey Toobin, The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy (2025)
- Brian Kalt, Constitutional Cliffhangers (2012)
- Nixon Pardon (Gerald Ford Presidential Library)
- Trump v. United States (2024)
- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist No. 74, New York Packet (March 28, 1788)
- Abraham Lincoln, “Proclamation 124—Offering Pardon to Deserters” (March 11, 1865)
- United States v. Klein (1871)
- Ex parte Garland (1866)
- Andrew Glass, “Bush pardons Iran-Contra felons, Dec. 24, 1992,” Politico (Dec. 24, 2018)
- Presidential Records Act
- Donald Trump, “Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” (Jan. 20. 2025)
- Jimmy Carter, “Proclamation 4483—Granting pardon for violations of the Selective Service Act, August 4, 1964, to March 28, 1973,” (Jan. 21, 1973)
- Pardons granted by President Barack Obama
- Pardons granted by President Joe Biden
- Pardons granted by President Bill Clinton
- Pardons granted by President Donald Trump
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