We the People

Michael Morley, election law scholar at Florida State, and Edward Foley, election law expert at Ohio State, discuss Louisiana v. Callais. They explore the Court’s new standard for racial considerations in redistricting. They analyze changes to Section 2, shifts in Supreme Court reasoning, and what this means for future voting rights litigation.

Sarah Isgur, SCOTUSblog senior editor, podcaster, and author of Last Branch Standing, offers a lively tour of the modern Supreme Court. She explores unanimity and coalition dynamics. She traces how Congress and the presidency shifted power and explains judicial styles, cliques, and the human side of justices.

In this episode, scholars Nicholas Cole and Robert Williams examine how American constitutional democracy is rooted in the crafting of Revolutionary-era state constitutions. Beginning in May 1776, Americans gave independence meaning by writing state constitutions, experimenting with self-government, and rooting political authority in the people. Cole and Williams explore this critical and often overlooked chapter of the founding era and how these early state constitutions shaped ideas about rights, government, and limits on power, helping to define the nation’s constitutional tradition and set its trajectory for generations to come. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. Resources Nicholas Cole, Quill Project  Robert Williams, The Law of American State Constitutions (2023)  Constitution of New Hampshire (January 5, 1776)  Constitution of South Carolina (March 26, 1776)  Constitution of Virginia (June 29, 1776)  Constitution of New Jersey (July 2, 1776)  Constitution of Delaware (September 10, 1776)  Constitution of Pennsylvania (September 28, 1776)  Constitution of Maryland (November 11, 1776)  Constitution of North Carolina (December 18, 1776)  Constitution of Georgia (February 5, 1777)  Constitution of New York (April 20, 1777)  Constitution of Vermont (July 8, 1777)  Constitution of South Carolina (March 19, 1778)  Constitution of Massachusetts (June 15, 1780)  Constitution of Vermont (July 4, 1786)  Marbury v. Madison (1803)  Alison L. LaCroix, The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms (2024)  Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (1998)  Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠podcast@constitutioncenter.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr Explore the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠America at 250 Civic Toolkit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen Join us for an upcoming ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠live program⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or watch recordings on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our important work ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate

Acclaimed historians Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita of American History at Cornell University, and Rosemarie Zagarri, distinguished university professor of history at George Mason University, examine how women influenced the political, social, and intellectual currents of the American Revolution. The conversation explores how women’s experiences and contributions deepen and expand our understanding of America’s founding. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.    This program was streamed live from Philadelphia on March 23, 2026, as a part of the NCC's America's Town Hall Series.  Resources  Mary Beth Norton, Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society  Mary Beth Norton, 1774: The Long Year of Revolution  Rosemarie Zagarri, Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic  Rosemarie Zagarri, “The Declaration’s Grievances Against the King”  Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠podcast@constitutioncenter.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr Explore the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠America at 250 Civic Toolkit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen Join us for an upcoming ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠live program⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or watch recordings on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our important work ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate

Emily Sneff, historian and author specializing in early American print culture, explores how the Declaration circulated as breaking news in 1776. She recounts stories of printers, translators, soldiers, and civilians. Short scenes cover slow news spread, multiple printings and translations, local reactions, and how the document shifted from timely report to preserved treasure.

Jonathan Rauch, Brookings senior fellow and democracy writer; Robert P. George, Princeton professor and political philosopher; Mary Sarah Bilder, law and history scholar of Madison. They discuss Madison’s evolving constitutional design, the unintended rise of parties, debates over representation and the Senate, checks against tyranny, and how civic virtue and institutional flexibility shape lasting governance.

Ellen DuBois, award-winning historian and author of a new Stanton biography, explores Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s life and long fight for women’s suffrage. She traces Stanton’s charm and radical ideas, the origins of Seneca Falls, the split over Reconstruction amendments, the Woman’s Bible controversy, and Stanton’s complicated racial rhetoric and lasting legacy.

As the Center marks the 250th anniversary of the nation, we’re taking a closer look at the people, events, and ideas that set the American Revolution in motion and ultimately led to the creation and adoption of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. This moment invites us to broaden the story of the founding by exploring not only the familiar figures we often study, but also the wider community of thinkers who helped shape the principles of our constitutional democracy.  In this episode Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School and Sara Georgini of the Massachusetts Historical Society join the program to discuss two remarkable women central to 18th-century intellectual life whose ideas influenced many of the era’s most notable figures: Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Otis Warren. Julie Silverbrook, Chief Content and Learning Officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. Resources  Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention (2017)  Mary Sarah Bilder, The Transatlantic Constitution: Colonial Legal Culture and the Empire (2008)  Mary Sarah Bilder, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (2022)  Mary Sarah Bilder, Hater of Kings: Catharine Macaulay’s Constitutional Regicide and the Declaration of Independence,” Boston College Law School Legal Studies Research Paper No. 654, (July 23, 2025)  Sara Georgini, Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family (2022)  Sara Georgini (series editor), Adams Papers Digital Edition, Massachusetts Historical Society  Karen Green (editor), The Correspondence of Catharine Macaulay (2019)  Mercy Otis Warren Letter to Catharine Macaulay, August 24, 1775, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠podcast@constitutioncenter.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr Explore the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠America at 250 Civic Toolkit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen Join us for an upcoming ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠live program⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or watch recordings on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our important work ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate

Michael D. Ramsey, a constitutional law scholar focused on war powers, and Harold Hongju Koh, a national security law expert and former Yale dean, debate who controls war making under the Constitution. They cover Epic Fury, the War Powers Resolution, historical meanings of "war," judicial avoidance, congressional inaction, and ways Congress might reassert authority.

Elizabeth Cobbs, historian and author of Fearless Women, pairs feminist lives across eras. Tomiko Brown-Nagin, legal historian of Civil Rights Queen, traces Constance Baker Motley's legal battles. They discuss women shaping constitutional change, landmark litigation and reform, and the intersections of race, law, and feminist activism in American history.