President-elect Trump’s allies have floated the possibility of suspending Congress in order to use the Recess Appointments Clause to install Cabinet officials without Senate confirmation. In this episode, Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Thomas Berry of the Cato Institute join Jeffrey Rosen to preview this plan and debate its legal merits. 

Resources: 

• Center for Renewing America, “Brief: On the Article II Recess Appointments Clause” (November 17, 2024) 
• Ed Whelan, “A Terrible Anti-Constitutional Scheme of Recess Appointments,” National Review (November 12, 2024) 
• Ed Whelan, “The House Has No Authority to ‘Disagree’ with Senate’s Decision to Remain in Session,” National Review (November 17, 2024) 
• Edward Whelan, “The Radical Consequences of an Immediate Senate Recess," National Review (November 19, 2024) 
• Thomas Berry, “Thomas Berry (Cato Institute) on Trump's Recess Appointment Plan,” Volokh Conspiracy (November 15, 2024) 
• National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning (2014) 
• Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 76 (April 1, 1788) 

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In celebration of John Adams’s 289th birthday, Jeffrey Rosen joins a discussion on Adams’s legacy with Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Jane Kamensky, president and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Kurt Graham, president of the Adams Presidential Center, moderates. They explore the constitutional legacy of the Adams family—including John and Abigail Adams and John Quincy and Louisa Catherine Adams—and discuss the importance of resurrecting the Adams family’s tradition of self-mastery and self-improvement to defend the American Idea. This conversation was originally aired at the Adams Presidential Center as part of the 2024 Adams Speaker Series.  

Resources: 

• Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness (2024) 
• Jane Kamensky, The Colonial Mosaic: American Women 1600-1760 (1998) 
• Danielle Allen, Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (2014)

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In celebration of Native American History Month, Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Keith Richotte Jr., author of the forthcoming book The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution and Matthew L.M. Fletcher, author of The Ghost Road: Anishinaabe Responses to Indian Hating to explore how Native American law has evolved from the Marshall Court to the present day—tracing how the Court came to grant the federal government broad authority over tribal affairs, and how tribes have begun to reassert their sovereignty under the Roberts Court. 

This program was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on November 4, 2024.

Resources: 

• Keith Richotte Jr., The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution (2025) 
• Matthew Fletcher, The Ghost Road: Ashinaabe Responses to Indian Hating (2020) 
• Matthew Fletcher, “Muskrat Textualism,” Northwestern Law Review (2022) 
• Matthew Fletcher, “The Dark Matter of Indian Law: The Duty of Protection” (June 2023) 

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On the eve of the 2024 presidential election, Jesse Wegman, member of The New York Times editorial board and author of Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College, and Robert Hardaway, professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and author of Saving the Electoral College: Why the National Popular Vote Would Undermine Democracy, join Jeffrey Rosen to debate the Electoral College and preview potential legal challenges that might arise in the aftermath of the election. This program was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on October 29, 2024.  

Resources: 

• Robert Hardaway, Saving the Electoral College Why the National Popular Vote Would Undermine Democracy (2019) 
• Jesse Wegman, Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College (2020) 
• Electoral College, Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 3, Interactive Constitution 
• National Popular Vote 
• Ranked Choice Voting 
• Article I, Section III, The Senate, Interactive Constitution 
• Cass Sunstein, “On Jan. 6, Will Vice President Harris Certify the Election?,” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 25, 2024 
• Gary Lawson and Jack Beerman, “Congressional Meddling In Presidential Elections: Still Unconstitutional After All These Years; A Comment On Sunstein,” April 2023 
• “The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway,” Politico, Oct. 20, 2024 
• Moore v. Harper (2023)

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This week, the National Constitution Center convened the 2024 National First Amendment Summit, in partnership with FIRE and NYU’s First Amendment Watch. America’s leading legal thinkers joined for a vigorous discussion on the state of free speech in America and around the globe. “Free Speech on Campus Today” features Mary Anne Franks, author of the new book Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment;  FIRE’s Vice President of Campus Advocacy Alex Morey; and Keith Whittington, author of You Can't Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms. “Free Speech In and Out of the Courts” features Nadine Strossen, author of Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know; Jonathan Turley, author of the new book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage; and Kenji Yoshino of NYU School of Law and Meta's Oversight Board.  

Resources:

• 2024 National First Amendment Summit 
• FIRE: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression 
• NYU’s First Amendment Watch 
• Mary Ann Franks, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment (2024) 
• Keith Whittington, You Can’t Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms (2024) 
• Nadine Strossen, Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know (2023) 
• Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (2024) 
• Meta Oversight Board 

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Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Glossip v. Oklahoma, a case challenging the constitutionality of Richard Glossip’s conviction and sentencing to death for a 1997 murder. In this episode, Paul Cassell of the University of Utah and Andrea Miller of the Oklahoma Innocence Project join Jeffrey Rosen to recap the oral arguments and debate whether or not Glossip’s conviction should stand in light of newly revealed documents that allegedly suggest prosecutorial misconduct. 

Resources: 

• Glossip v. Oklahoma, Supreme Court oral argument (audio via C-SPAN; transcript)  
• Brief of Amicus Curiae the Innocence Project in Support of Petitioner Richard Eugene Glossip, Glossip v. Oklahoma   
• Paul G. Cassell, “Brief of Victim Family Members Derek Van Treese, Donna Van Treese, and Alana Mileto as Amici Curiae in Support of Affirming the Judgment Below,” Glossip v. Oklahoma

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This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok, a case challenging the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to regulate “ghost guns” under the Gun Control Act. In this episode, Clark Neily of the Cato Institute and Dru Stevenson of the South Texas College of Law join Jeffrey Rosen to recap the oral arguments and debate whether ghost guns—which are untraceable weapons without serial numbers, assembled from components or kits that can be bought online—may be regulated as firearms.  

Resources: 

• Garland v. VanDerStok (oral argument audio via CSPAN; argument transcript) 
• Dru Stevenson, quoted in: “‘Ghost guns’ in the crosshairs”,  BusinessDay (March 7, 2024)  
• Drury Stevenson, “Shall Not Be Infringed,” (July 2024) 
• Clark Neily, quoted in: “Will ‘sigh of relief’ after US supreme court gun ruling be short-lived?,” The Guardian (June 22, 2024) 

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In this episode, Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and staff writer for The Atlantic, joins to discuss her newest book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Rule the World, which explores how autocracies work together to undermine the democratic world, and how democracies should organize to defeat them. She joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss new threats from autocratic leaders at home and around the world and how liberal democracies should fight these threats.

Resources: 

• Anne Applebaum, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Rule the World (2024) 

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This week, the National Constitution Center held its annual Liberty Medal ceremony honoring America’s storyteller, Ken Burns, for illuminating the nation’s greatest triumphs and tragedies and inspiring all of us to learn about the principles at the heart of the American idea. In this episode, Jeffrey Rosen and Burns’s co-director Sarah Botstein talk about Burns’s life and work, followed by Ken Burns’s inspiring acceptance speech. Burns then sits down with Rosen for a conversation about the American Idea.  

Resources: 

• The National Constitution Center’s 2024 Liberty Medal Ceremony 

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On September 17, 2024, the Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and NCC honorary co-chair, and his co-author and former law clerk Janie Nitze, joined Jeffrey Rosen for an America’s Town Hall program in celebration of Constitution Day 2024 and the release of their latest book, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law.  

Resources: 

• Neil M. Gorsuch and Janie Nitze, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law (2024) 
• National Constitution Center: Constitution 101 with Khan Academy 
• National Constitution Center Classroom resources: Federalism 
• National Constitution Center Classroom resources: Federalism and the Separation of Powers  

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On September 12, 2024, best-selling author, philanthropist, and National Constitution Center Trustee David Rubenstein joined Jeffrey Rosen at the Center in Philadelphia to discuss his new book, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency. The book, which features interviews with presidential historians and living U.S. presidents, chronicles the journeys of the leaders who have defined America. They discuss the duties and responsibilities of the presidency, the triumphs and failures of its officeholders, and the future of the role in the twenty-first century.

Resources: 

• David Rubenstein, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency (2024) 

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• You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.

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