The Constitution has guided our civic life for 211 years. In that time, it has seen 43 Presidents, 108 Congresses, and 108 Supreme Court Justices. It has existed through rebellion, assassinations, and world wars. It has been denounced as a "dangerous folly" and a "covenant with death". It has even been burned in effigy.

This institute is meant to immerse us in the fundamental principles of the Constitution by looking at the controversies that have been at the center of the life of its most well-known interpreter: the United States Supreme Court. We will examine such questions as: What is the "judicial power"? Is it true that—barring constitutional amendment—Supreme Court decisions are the law of the land? How did an un-elected court ever acquire such power in a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people"?

We will dig into constitutional history and biography as well as some of the most important and controversial Supreme Court decisions on issues like the power of the federal government, freedom of speech, and civil liberties in wartime. By looking at how the Court has decided such critical issues, we will try to understand whether the Supreme Court deserves to be the final authority on the Constitution that most Americans believe it to be.

Faculty: Jeffrey Sikkenga is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ashland University, where he teaches courses on Constitution law. He is the co-editor of the History of American Political Thought (forthcoming), and associate editor of the Journal of Market & Morality. Ken Masugi is the Director of the Center for Local Government at the Claremont Institute. He is the editor of Interpreting Tocqueville's Democracy in America and co-editor of Japanese-American Internment, The American Founding, The Supreme Court and American Constitutionalism.

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