What the Constitution Means to Us 2026
September 17, 2026 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM | Robsham Theater Arts Center | Registration to Come
Throughout the history of the United States, the Constitution has been central to our public life. It has inspired hope, and it has provoked despair. It has remained in place as few other national constitutions have. Yet it has also been amended, and some today think it needs to change again. At a moment when our founding document's basic meaning seems more contested than ever, how should we look at the Constitution?
To engage this urgent question, the Clough Center is delighted to host its fifth annual “What the Constitution Means to Us” event, in cooperation with the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. Inspired by Heidi Schreck’s award-winning play, and in the spirit of Constitution and Citizenship Day, this event provides the Boston College community with an opportunity to reflect on our Constitution.
In addition to showcasing contributions from select students and faculty, this year’s celebration will feature two renowned scholars: Doris Kearns Goodwin, the celebrated presidential historian, and Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and the author, most recently, of Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840–1920 (2025).
Event starts at 4:00pm, with reception to follow at 5:30pm. This event is free and open to the public, with registration.
Registration to come.
Speakers
Akhil Reed Amar
Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School. After graduating from Yale College, summa cum laude, in 1980 and from Yale Law School in 1984, and clerking for Judge (later Justice) Stephen Breyer, Amar joined the Yale faculty in 1985 at the age of 26. He is Yale’s only living professor to have won the University’s unofficial triple crown — the Sterling Chair for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service.
Amar’s work has won awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, and he has been cited by Supreme Court justices across the spectrum in more than 50 cases — tops among scholars under age 70. According to both Fred Shapiro’s landmark 2021 study of lifetime scholarly citations and Heinonline’s most recent tabulation of lifetime law-review citations, Amar is America’s second most-cited legal scholar still under age 70. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has written widely for popular publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and The Atlantic. He was an informal consultant to the popular TV show The West Wing and his scholarship has been showcased on many broadcasts, including The Colbert Report, Morning Joe, AC360, Velshi, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fareed Zakaria GPS, Erin Burnett Outfront, and Constitution USA with Peter Sagal.
He is the author of more than a hundred law review articles and several books, including The Bill of Rights (1998 — winner of the Yale University Press Governors’ Award), America’s Constitution (2005 — winner of the ABA’s Silver Gavel Award), America’s Unwritten Constitution (2012 — named one of the year’s 100 best nonfiction books by The Washington Post), and The Constitution Today (2016 — named one of the year’s top ten nonfiction books by Time magazine). The first volume of his ambitious trilogy on American constitutional history from the Founding to the present, The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, came out in May 2021. The second volume, Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920, will be published in September 2025 and is already available for pre-order. All together, his nonfiction books have won two starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and three starred reviews from Kirkus—tops, it is believed, among legal scholars under age 70. Together with Vikram David Amar (YLS ’88), he has a bi-weekly column on the Supreme Court on the distinguished website SCOTUSblog. Along with Andy Lipka, he co-hosts a popular and free weekly podcast, America’s Constitution, whose listeners are eligible for CLE credit in most American jurisdictions. A wide assortment of his articles and op-eds and video links to many of his public lectures and free online courses may be found at akhilamar.com.
Campus Map and Parking:
Parking is available at the nearby Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue Garages.
Boston College is also accessible via public transportation (MBTA B Line - Boston College).