WHEN ACADEMIA TREATS CONSERVATIVES AS A PROBLEM TO BE MANAGED RATHER THAN PEOPLE WHO MIGHT HAVE A POINT: Serious institutions need people willing to challenge fashionable assumptions and steel-man unpopular arguments. Universities will not regain trust while treating conservatives and other dissenters as defects rather than intellectual participants.

THE CONSTITUTION DOES NOT MEAN WHATEVER FIVE JUSTICES CAN FIND WITH CTRL-F: Jed Shugerman and Ilan Wurman debate executive power, birthright citizenship, and whether originalism constrains judges or merely gives them a historical scavenger hunt for the result they already prefer.

ACADEMIC REFORM HELD BACK BY ACADEMICS: Viewpoint diversity does not require importing extremists into the room. It requires someone willing to question the evidence, test the consensus, and fairly state the argument everyone else would rather dismiss.

THE CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH “WE THE PEOPLE” FOR A REASON: Jesse Wegman explains how forgotten founder James Wilson championed popular sovereignty, direct representation, and a national government deriving every legitimate power from the consent of the governed.

THE AAUP’S MESSAGE TO CONSERVATIVES IS CLEAR: They will oppose your candidates, insult their critics, and still insist they are neutral guardians of academic freedom. That is not principled independence, it is partisanship with institutional branding.

THE AAUP’S PARTISAN TURN: The organization made its first-ever national political endorsement for Abdul El-Sayed, then its president reportedly called critics “clowns” in a now-deleted post. An academic-freedom organization cannot act like a political campaign and still expect everyone to trust its neutrality.

HOFSTRA INVESTIGATES PROFESSOR FOR CRITICIZING A COURSE, THEN INVESTIGATES HIM AGAIN FOR CALLING FIRE: Academic freedom apparently means keeping quiet when administrators come after you. Tell Hofstra to end the investigations and drop the charges.

“FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE” JUST PRODUCES A BIGGER FIRE: David French warns that right-wing censorship is repeating the left’s worst mistakes, from cancel campaigns to government speech codes, while weakening the liberties conservatives once defended.

THE SUPREME COURT IS SUPPOSED TO CHECK POWER, NOT JOIN THE TEAM: Sarah Isgur and Melissa Murray debate executive overreach, birthright citizenship, originalism, gun rights, and whether the justices defended the constitutional order or expanded their own authority.

THE SUPREME COURT IS SUPPOSED TO CHECK POWER, NOT JOIN THE TEAM: Sarah Isgur and Melissa Murray debate executive overreach, birthright citizenship, originalism, gun rights, and whether the justices defended the constitutional order or expanded their own authority.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS NOT A MUSEUM PIECE. IT IS AMERICA’S OPERATING CREED: Ken Burns joins Jeffrey Rosen to examine “We the people,” natural rights, religious liberty, self-government, and the duties that come with inheriting a free republic.

COLLEGES HAVE SPENT DECADES WRITING RULES THAT MAKE FREE SPEECH OPTIONAL: The good news is that the worst campus speech codes are finally retreating. FIRE’s “green light” schools have climbed from 8 in 2006 to 76 today, while “red light” schools have hit a record low. But nearly 70% still earn a “yellow light.” Progress, yes. Mission accomplished, no.

AMERICA’S FIRST PRESIDENT UNDERSTOOD THAT POWER MEANS KNOWING WHEN TO GIVE IT UP: H.W. Brands discusses George Washington’s character, his defense of national unity, and why the republic depended on a leader who put duty above ambition.

THE CENSORS CALLED IT “ORDER.” JOHN QUINCY ADAMS CALLED IT A GAG: Bob Crawford explains how a former president returned to Congress, defended Americans’ right to petition, outmaneuvered the slave power, and proved that public service matters more than political rank.

THE REPUBLIC DOES NOT RUN ON OUTRAGE. IT RUNS ON CITIZENS WHO LISTEN: Justice Stephen Breyer discusses civic education, compromise, deep reading, and why constitutional government depends on people willing to participate, deliberate, and accept less than 100 percent.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION WAS NOT INEVITABLE, AND NEITHER IS THE REPUBLIC IT CREATED: Justice Neil Gorsuch discusses the courage behind the Declaration, the character required for self-government, and why every generation must learn the country’s history before it can carry its ideals forward.

WHEN WORDS BECOME VIOLENCE, CENSORSHIP STARTS LOOKING LIKE SELF-DEFENSE. A FIRE survey found 65% of Americans accept that idea at least slightly. That is how a free-speech culture starts talking itself into silence. I explain why

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LEFT AND RIGHT READ THE SAME CONSTITUTION AND REACH VERY DIFFERENT CONCLUSIONS? Jed Shugerman and Ilan Wurman debate birthright citizenship and presidential removal power in two of the Supreme Court’s biggest cases this term. Bring popcorn.

ASKING AI ABOUT POLITICS IS NOT THE SAME AS BUYING BEER. THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT NEED TO KNOW YOUR AGE: Age-verification laws could force Americans to identify themselves before seeking lawful information. 

FRANCE IS SAVING CHILDREN FROM SOCIAL MEDIA BY SAVING US ALL FROM PRIVACY! Its under-15 ban raises the usual age-verification threats: surveillance, privacy risks, and barriers to lawful information. Europe’s identity-gated internet marches on in this week’s update.

LOS ANGELES HAS DISCOVERED THE GOVERNMENT’S FAVORITE KIND OF SPEECH: APPROVED SPEECH. City officials banned the n-word and c-word from public comment and threaten nearly weeklong exclusions for using them. More in this week’s update.

THE LEFT HAS HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE IN CAMPUS CENSORSHIP. Students and faculty drive most sanction campaigns from the left. The right more often brings political power in from public officials. FIRE’s latest data maps the divide in this week’s update.

THE CAMPUS SPEECH POLICE HAVE TOO MANY OFFICES. DEI bureaucrats are part of the problem, but the deeper threat is an entire administrative class built to investigate, regulate, and punish dissent. Higher education needs fewer ideological enforcers and more defenders of open inquiry.

THE FORGOTTEN FOUNDER BEHIND THE DECLARATION’S MOST FAMOUS WORDS. James Wilson’s arguments for popular self-rule may have helped inspire Thomas Jefferson’s immortal language. Jesse Wegman joins Jeffrey Rosen on the latest Blessings of Liberty.