Renowned constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar began his lecture at Davidson College with a warning: “If you don’t know what the Constitution is and why we have it, we die as a people and as a world.” Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School and the 18th most cited legal scholar of all time, Amar spoke to students about the importance of learning about the complex history of the US during the Center for Political Engagement’s (CPE) annual speakership event on Thursday, April 25 in the Hance Auditorium.
Amar has authored over a hundred law reviews and books, with his work cited more than 50 times by the United States Supreme Court. In addition to his scholarship, he hosts a weekly podcast called “America’s Constitution,” which has hosted notable guests like Pulitzer prize-winning historian Gordan S. Wood and retired Justice Stephen Breyer.
Every spring, CPE invites a prominent political speaker to address a topic that students are most interested in. After members of the club indicated during winter break that they most wanted a scholar with expertise on the Supreme Court, Amar emerged as the leading choice. CPE Speakership Chair Garratt Rothberg ‘27 described how they invited Amar to speak on campus.
“It was really amazing,” Rothberg said. “We just shot [sic] him an email offering him a pretty big stipend to come down here and give a talk. He responded pretty quickly and agreed, but he refused it. He said, ‘I actually don’t need the money. I just want to get the word out. So, instead of paying me that money, I rather you just buy my books with it and give it out to everyone.’”
Every student received a free copy of his latest book The Words that Made Us, and will be among the first to receive his upcoming book Born Equal in September.
Amar urged students to ground their understanding of American history in facts, not ideology, and to recognize both its achievements and failures.
“First, we all have to start with the same facts that show both sides. One side says America has never done anything bad—that’s not true. And the Howard Zinns of the world claim America has never done anything good—that’s even more false,” Amar said.
Howard Zinn is a prominent historian best known for his book A People’s History of the United States, which has been adopted into the curriculum of many universities and school districts. Zinn’s works argue that, from the viewpoint of the marginalized, America has always been an oppressive and exploitative country. Amar acknowledged Zinn’s work as factual in basis, but erroneously selective in only focusing on the bad parts of American history.
“Of course, you are told the story of slavery and exclusion of women to vote—that’s all true,” Amar said. “But you have to acknowledge that the story of the Constitution did not start in 1787. Long before Britain abolished slavery in 1834, the Northern states already did […] The Constitution is intergenerational and, in general, has gotten better over time.”
Amar continued. “If it were true [that America has never done anything good], my parents were idiots to come here from India and so are the millions of people who want to come here. I have dozens of cousins who want to come here and they can’t. Every day, I kiss the ground because I am so lucky to be here and be a birthright citizen.”
President of the Davidson College Libertarians Gabriel Russ-Nachamie ‘27 was particularly struck by Amar’s interpretation of American history.
“I think the biggest takeaway was the defense of American history. It was refreshing to hear a professor put the United States’ history in the [context of] world history […] [He] showed that it was overall a good thing that America was founded and adopted their Constitution.”
Amar extended his historical method to his own constitutional doctrine of originalism which advocates for an interpretation of the Constitution based on the original meaning of its words and how people at that time construed it. Amar’s doctrine emphasizes restraining one’s normative prejudices of good. For example, he identifies himself as a left-leaning Democrat, but still recognizes a constitutional right to guns, especially in the context of how it helped African Americans in the Jim Crow South.
“I don’t have a gun in my home,” Amar said. “But I think it becomes blindingly clear that you have a right to a gun when you read about what happened after the Civil War. More than anyone else, Blacks needed guns in their homes to protect themselves against lynchers. It’s not so much about militias in Lexington and Concord, but it’s about Blacks in the South.”
Attendee Sullivan Smith ‘28 appreciated the intersectionality of Amar’s approach.“It made me realize how important it is to incorporate both law and history together to understand key events,” Smith said.
Amar continued to stress the importance of looking at the facts when analyzing constitutional cases, even when they interfere with personal beliefs.
“So, I am pro-choice. I believe in reproductive rights and trust women over the government,” Amar stated. “But I am also a harsh critic of “Roe v. Wade” because I thought it was made-up. The author [of Roe] Harry Blackmun is a good, decent liberal, but he made no persuasive constitutional argument.”
President of the Davidson College Democrats Kailliou Macon-Goudeau ‘25 appreciated Amar’s unique perspective as a liberal originalist.
“I think it was very good to hear from a constitutional scholar [about] his different opinions and perspectives,” Macon-Goudeau said. “I am very excited to read his book and hope Davidson continues to invite a diverse array of legal scholars to not only speak on legal processes, but also offer their perspective on current-day issues to give us a holistic vision of America and where we are as a country.”
Amar ended his lecture by calling on the audience to read more and have a more expansive view of their history
“There are many good things and bad things that happened in American history. But you cannot just focus on one side. You have to know and understand both, so that you understand what works and what doesn’t work, and then we can truly start to make a better change,” Amar concluded.