Join us for a conversation with Akhil Reed Amar, one of the country’s leading thinkers on constitutional law. We’ll explore how equality has been a core part of our laws, history, and self-understanding, and consider how we strive toward this ideal today. We’ll also dig into the arguments and assumptions that informed the US Constitution, how it has evolved over the past 238 years, and what the future may hold for our nation’s most basic laws.

Amar teaches constitutional law at Yale University. He is the author of several books about constitutional law and history, including America’s Unwritten Constitution, The Constitution Today, and, most recently, Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920.

This conversation is part of our 2025–26 Consider This series, Beyond 250. 2026 will be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and we’re looking at what this milestone means: How do we think about and experience equality, freedom, independence, tyranny, justice, union, and other ideas central to the Declaration and to our nation’s understanding of itself? How has the Declaration shaped the country we live in today, and how might we shape its future?

Tickets

General admission tickets are $15, or $30 for a ticket and a copy of Born Equal. Tickets are available from the Alberta Rose Theatre website and box office.

To ensure that everyone who wants to attend is able to, a limited number of tickets are available for free. Use this form to request a free ticket.

Other ways to participate

Oregon Humanities will host a live watch party for this conversation at hq in La Grande, (112 Depot St.)

Can't make it in person? Tune in from anywhere! The conversation will be streamed live, for free, on our YouTube channel, and will remain available for viewing after the program.

About our guest

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. 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 fifty cases. He regularly testifies before Congress at the invitation of both parties. He was an informal consultant to The West Wing and has appeared on The Colbert Report, Morning Joe, Constitution USA with Peter Sagal, and many other programs. Along with Andy Lipka, he cohosts the podcast America’s Constitution.

Amar has written more than a hundred law review articles and several books about the Constitution, including The Bill of Rights, America’s Constitution, America’s Unwritten Constitution, and The Constitution Today. 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 you can get a copy of your own at this event!

About the venue

Mobility access: The Alberta Rose Theatre is a wheelchair-accessible venue. Anyone who uses a wheelchair or other mobility device can reserve an accessible seat at the venue by emailing house@albertarosetheatre.com in advance of the event. Accessible bathrooms are to the right of the theater entrance. 

Parking: Free parking is available in the neighborhood around the theater. Parking spaces often fill up quickly. There is one disabled person parking space less than one block away on NE 30th Ave., in front of Emmanuel Church of God in Christ United, but the space does not have a curb cut or ramp. The closest disabled person parking space with curb cuts is four blocks west, at the southwest corner of Northeast 26th Avenue and Northeast Alberta Street. A map of disabled person parking spaces is available from the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

Public transit: The TriMet Line 72 bus stops in front of the theater. Lines 70 and 17 have stops within four blocks of the venue.

Food and drink: Beverages and limited food are available for purchase and may be consumed anywhere in the theater during the event. Outside food and beverages are not permitted.

Lighting: The venue has appropriate overhead lighting before and after the conversation. During the conversation, lights are dimmed with staged lighting facing the stage. Lights in the lobby/bar remain on during the program. The auditorium does not have floor lighting in the aisles.

Sound: There will be music at a moderate volume before and after the event.

Read more about the Alberta Rose Theatre.

If you need accommodations to participate in this event, please email programs@oregonhumanities.org by January 22.

Thanks to our sponsors

This series is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Oregon Cultural Trust, and Susan Hammer Fund of Oregon Community Foundation