How should we understand and tell the story of American constitutional development over time? Professors Wilfred Codrington III of Brooklyn Law School and the Brennan Center, and Charles Kesler of Claremont McKenna College and the Claremont Institute, discuss the different narratives of that development as explored in their newest books: Codrington’s The People’s Constitution: 200 Years, 27 Amendments, and the Promise of a More Perfect Union and Kesler’s Crisis of Two Constitutions: The Rise, Decline, and Recovery of American Greatness. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
Participants
Wilfred Codrington III is an assistant professor of law at Brooklyn Law School and a Brennan Center fellow. Codrington previously taught graduate and undergraduate courses at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service and was a fieldwork supervisor for the Brennan Center Advocacy Clinic at NYU Law School. He is also the coauthor of the new book, The People’s Constitution.
Charles Kesler is the Dengler-Dykema Distinguished Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College and a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute. He is also editor of the Claremont Review of Books, host of Claremont’s “The American Mind” video series, andt eaches in the Claremont Institute’s Publius and Lincoln Fellows Programs. Kesler is the editor of several volumes and the author of the new book Crisis of the Two Constitutions.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- John Kowal and Wilfred Codrington III, The People’s Constitution: 200 Years, 27 Amendments, and the Promise of a More Perfect Union
- Charles Kesler, Crisis of the Two Constitutions: The Rise, Decline, and Recovery of American Greatness
- Michael Rappaport and David Strauss, National Constitution Center: Interactive Constitution, "Article V"
- National Constitution Center, The Constitution Drafting Project
- California Constitution
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
- Roe v. Wade (1972)
- Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2009)
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