We The People

Jeffrey Rosen answers your constitutional questions

February 08, 2018

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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 answered 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?

FULL PODCAST

PARTICIPANTS

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. 
 


Additional Resources

Our Interactive Constitution is the leading digital resource about the debates and text behind the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. Here, scholars from across the legal and philosophical spectrum interact with each other to explore the meaning of each provision of our founding document. 

Amendment I: Freedom Of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, And Petition

The Free Exercise Clause By Frederick Gedicks and Michael McConnell

Freedom Of Speech And The Press By Geoffrey R. Stone and Eugene Volokh

The Ninth Amendment By Randy E. Barnett and Louis Michael Seidman

The Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause By Nathan S. Chapman and Kenji Yoshino


Constitutional Rights Origins and Travels: Writing Rights

How did the Founders write the Bill of Rights? Explore key historical documents that inspired the Founders during their drafting process as well as the drafts and proposals for each amendment. Learn more.


Stay Connected and Learn More

Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.

Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.

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. Check out the full roster of podcasts at Panoply.fm.

The Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Click here to learn more.

And finally, despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. 

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at [email protected]

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