In this episode, the National Constitution Center launches our Article V Project, a new initiative examining the founders’ vision for Article V and an historical look at the use of the Article V process from 1789 to the present. Project contributors and constitutional law scholars Gerard Magliocca, Sanford Levinson, Michael Rappaport, and Stephen Sachs explore the origins, debates, and ongoing challenges surrounding Article V, as presented in their new essays. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall program series on December 3, 2025. The Article V Project was made possible with the support of Democracy Restated.
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Today’s episode was produced by Bill Pollock and Griffin Richie. It was engineered by Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Griffin Richie, Anna Salvatore, Trey Sullivan, and Tristan Worsham.
Participants
Gerard Magliocca is a Distinguished Professor and Samuel R. Rosen Professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. The author of six books and over 20 articles on constitutional law, his newest book is The Actual Art of Governing: Justice Robert H. Jackson's Concurring Opinion in the Steel Seizure Case.
Sanford Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law. He has authored approximately 450 articles, book reviews, and commentaries in professional and popular journals, as well as seven books, in the areas of constitutional law, legal history, and foreign and international law.
Michael Rappaport is the Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism at the University of San Diego School of Law. He is the author, with John McGinnis, of Originalism and the Good Constitution and numerous law review articles about originalism, administrative law, federalism, and the constitutional amendment process.
Stephen Sachs is the Antonin Scalia Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. In his numerous articles, essays, and book chapters, he focuses on the law and theory of constitutional interpretation, the jurisdiction of state and federal courts, and the role of the general common law in the U.S. legal system.
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. He is also professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. His new book is Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle over Power in America.
Additional Resources
- Article V: Amending the Constitution
- Gerard Magliocca, Report: Article V Constitutional Conventions
- Sanford Levinson, Reflections on the Possibility of a New Constitutional Convention
- Michael B. Rappaport, The Convention Method for Proposing Amendments: Essential, Misunderstood, and Broken
- Stephen E. Sachs, Restoring Conventions, One Amendment at a Time
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