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Trending Now

  • Lawrence Lessig on How the Internet is Breaking Democracy November 14, 2019
  • Confronting Deep Fakes and Other Forms of Deception October 12, 2019
  • Two Videos of State Legislative Speeches that Can Provoke Discussion of Religious Freedom and Discrimination March 27, 2019
  • 8th Amendment Excessive Fines Clause Incorporated March 11, 2019
  • Opportunities and Resources for Developing News Literacy Skills February 19, 2019

A Statement on Civility and Civil Discourse

Last week, in one of our large 120-student sections, a student was threatened by another student after class for something she had said in class. She did not see the student’s face, but she heard him say “You better watch what you say, or I’ll shoot you.” Or something like that. After trying and failing […]

The Birthright Citizenship Controversy

I was going to write something more substantial here about the Birthright Citizenship controversy, but I don’t have time (today at least). But a quick overview of the legal landscape with good links is provided by Eugene Volokh here and by Adam Liptak here Link to US Civitas Facebook Discussion Thread

My Musings on the Founders’ Expectations, Voting Behavior, and “Identity Politics”

This Economist article offers an interesting analysis, further confirming the extent to which social group identities are the proper unit of analysis in understanding American politics today. This could provoke a lot of discussion, but I want to respond to the opening sentence in that article. I’m doing this because I believe the thinkers of […]

The Second Founding: Reflecting on the 14th Amendment

The 14th Amendment turns 150 today. Put another way, the Constitution we live under today is now 150 years old. ‘The Constitutional Amendment That Reinvented Freedom‘- New York Times Link to US Civitas Facebook Discussion Thread

Civitas Blog

  1. A Statement on Civility and Civil Discourse
  2. The Birthright Citizenship Controversy
  3. My Musings on the Founders’ Expectations, Voting Behavior, and “Identity Politics”
  4. The Second Founding: Reflecting on the 14th Amendment

Teaching Aids

Clips and Tips

Prompting Empirical and Normative Discussion of Low Youth Voter Turnout

January 25, 2019

This Slate article by Jamelle Bouie offers an interesting empirical account of why youth vote at lower levels and also an interesting claim about the legitimacy of voting when uninformed about issues. Two factors are offered for explaining low turnout among youth: instability experienced by many under 25 at that stage of life and a lack […]

Video/Discussion Prompt: Does ‘freedom of expression’ go too far?

Blog Post: How U.S. News college rankings promote economic inequality on campus

Article for Discussion: Is “Kneeling for Life and Liberty … Patriotic”?

Survey: One-Third of Republicans Favor Leaders Unchecked by Courts or Congress

Discussion Prompts

Lawrence Lessig on How the Internet is Breaking Democracy

November 14, 2019

This brings together a lot of topics: public opinion, polling, media, polarization, and the duty of citizens and opinion leaders to be responsible consumers and producers of political information (news literacy).

Confronting Deep Fakes and Other Forms of Deception

Two Videos of State Legislative Speeches that Can Provoke Discussion of Religious Freedom and Discrimination

8th Amendment Excessive Fines Clause Incorporated

Stan Lee and America’s Creed

Political Information Literacy

Lawrence Lessig on How the Internet is Breaking Democracy

November 14, 2019

This brings together a lot of topics: public opinion, polling, media, polarization, and the duty of citizens and opinion leaders to be responsible consumers and producers of political information (news literacy).

Confronting Deep Fakes and Other Forms of Deception

Opportunities and Resources for Developing News Literacy Skills

Knowledge Mastery

Research Article: “Dark Parties: Citizens United, Independent-Expenditure Networks and the Evolution of Political Parties”

December 3, 2018 Mike E.

This is an important (although not yet published) study on the impact of Citizens United in leading to nomination and election of more extreme candidates on the right, thus driving (asymmetric) polarization. Link to US Civitas Facebook Discussion Thread

  • Article: Richard Rorty’s prescient warnings for the American left

Issues & Challenges

Blog Post: Waltzing towards the 2020 census: the need for bipartisan public action

August 30, 2018 Mike E.

Here is non-partisan issue we can encourage our students to take action on. Congress is currently not fulfilling its constitutional duty to prepare for the 2020 census. BTW, this blog, which is based on Cynthia and Sanford Levinson’s book “Fault Lines in the Constitution,” is a wonderful resource for anyone teaching the Constitution. Sanford wrote […]

  • Blog Post: How U.S. News college rankings promote economic inequality on campus
  • Provocative Article: “American Institutions Won’t Keep us Safe from Donald Trump’s Excesses”
  • Survey: One-Third of Republicans Favor Leaders Unchecked by Courts or Congress
  • Video: Agitating for gun control in Georgia

Editor’s Picks

Opportunities and Resources for Developing News Literacy Skills

February 19, 2019 Mike E.

I’ll be posting a lot about media and news literacy in the coming months, but I wanted to share now some of the best resources I’ve encountered. The News Literacy Project, which is a wonderful resource in itself, produces a weekly newsletter called The Sift. Through it, the NLP, in their own words, “sort through […]

  • A useful case study for discussing civil liberties: Nurse refuses blood test on unconscious patient; gets cuffed
  • Blog Post: Waltzing towards the 2020 census: the need for bipartisan public action
  • Article: Libertarianism’s Historical Blindspot
  • Blog Post: Slavery and the Constitution

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