Tag: Constitution

  • Nation & World

    ‘Tyranny of the Minority’ warns Constitution is dangerously outdated

    In “Tyranny of the Minority,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt call for reforms in face of “radicalized” elements in GOP.

    8 minutes
    Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
  • Nation & World

    How 14th Amendment can help Biden avoid default

    Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe says in requiring the president to pay U.S. debts it supersedes debt-limit law, breaks impasse over GOP demands.

    9 minutes
    President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
  • Nation & World

    Supreme Court may halt health care guarantees for inmates

    Harvard experts on law and policy say originalist view used to overturn Roe could upend the 1976 Supreme Court ruling that requires a minimal standard for inmate health care.

    9 minutes
    Prison bars.
  • Nation & World

    Amendments should start with states

    U.S. needs to smooth process without lowering high bar for constitutional change, says Stephen Sachs

    3 minutes
    Collage of Constitution, states, Capitol.
  • Nation & World

    Change the Senate

    Disproportionate influence of smaller states creates ‘significant democratic deficit,’ Vicki Jackson argues

    4 minutes
    Collage of Constitution and disproportionate voting power.
  • Nation & World

    Enshrine an affirmative right to vote

    Amendment would demonstrate ‘absolute commitment’ to full participation in U.S. democracy, argues Tomiko Brown-Nagin

    3 minutes
    Collage of Constitution and ballot box.
  • Nation & World

    Let’s fix how we fix the Constitution

    Sanford Levinson on the ‘enduring dysfunctionality’ of Article V

    3 minutes
    Collage of Framers and Constitution.
  • Nation & World

    Let the House grow!

    A better Electoral College requires a Congress as elastic and flexible as the drafters of the Constitution intended, says Danielle Allen

    3 minutes
    Collage of Capitol, Constitution.
  • Nation & World

    ‘Defend Diversity’

    Harvard students join others from around nation in Supreme Court rally supporting race-conscious admission policies.

    5 minutes
    Harvard students pose for a group photo i
  • Nation & World

    The oddities of Inauguration Day

    An interview with constitutional scholar Sandy Levinson about the history behind Inauguration Day and the reasons why he thinks it should be moved to an earlier date.

    11 minutes
    Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover in convertible automobile on way to U.S. Capitol for Roosevelt's inauguration, March 4, 1933
  • Nation & World

    Reining in growing powers of the presidency

    Bob Bauer ’73 and Jack Goldsmith propose what they say are long-overdue reforms to the Office of the President.

    16 minutes
    Illustration of presidents tipping scales of justice.
  • Nation & World

    Sunstein on impeachment

    In a new book, Harvard’s Cass R. Sunstein discusses the vital role that the impeachment process plays in American democracy and dispels some misconceptions about the scope of presidential powers.

    7 minutes
    Federal charges have been brought against two former Trump advisers, including Paul Manafort (center). If evidence links Trump to criminal activity, Congress may have to consider impeachment. But as Harvard Professor Cass Sunstein points out, the Constitution sharply limits the category of impeachable offenses.
  • Nation & World

    Khizr Khan, reluctant activist

    Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who offered to lend Donald Trump his pocket Constitution in a rebuke of a proposed Muslim ban during the Democratic National Convention, urged Harvard students to “remain standing” for democratic values and principles during this “dark chapter” in American history.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Legal remedies

    Attorneys, judges, scholars and activists interested in expanding health rights through the law were at the Harvard School of Public Health to discuss progress and challenges.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Bypassing the Bible

    Ellery Schempp, one of the last living symbols of a series of Supreme Court cases that banned mandatory displays of faith in public schools, brought the contentious battle over religious expression to life for a Harvard Divinity School audience.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A warning from inside Tunisia

    A Tunisian constitutional expert said Sept. 17 that recent violence, coupled with moves by the ruling Islamist Ennahda party to enshrine religion in the nation’s new constitution, are a bad sign for a pluralistic, democratic future.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    High drama

    In a talk at the Boston Public Library’s Honan-Allston Branch, the final event in the John Harvard Book Celebration, Linda Greenhouse ’68 said President Obama’s health care law is constitutional and should stand.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Q&A on health care reform

    Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe offers his analysis of this week’s hearings before the Supreme Court on mandatory coverage.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    ‘The Constitution and the Question of Power’

    Noah Feldman, Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, will deliver a lecture titled “The Constitution and the Question of Power” at 1 p.m. Sept. 19 in Emerson Hall, Room 101. The event is free and open to the public.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    To the heart of a movement

    Professor Jill Lepore, a contributor to The New Yorker, examines the movement behind the tea party in “The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History.”

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Plain language, complex meanings

    Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter said the simple interpretation of the U.S. Constitution is rarely so easy. He spoke during Afternoon Exercises on Commencement Day at Harvard.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Gates wins Madison Freedom Award

    Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, was presented the 2009 Madison Freedom Award at The Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 16.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A Constitution of Many Minds: Why the Founding Document Doesn’t Mean What It Meant Before

    Sunstein breaks down the Constitution by looking at the diverse ways and methods it is interpreted. A heady book on America’s revered — and debated — political blueprint.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Challenging the Constitution

    To honor the signing of the Constitution, a panel of experts examined the legacy of the historic document, followed by a discussion with retired Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Kudos, criticisms for U.S. Constitution

    In honor of Constitution Day, a panel of constitutional scholars will discuss the historic document’s merits and shortcomings. The event will also include a conversation between retired U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter and Noah Feldman, Bemis Professor of Law.

    3 minutes