The Constitution on Today’s Hottest Debates: From Campus Free Speech to Homeless Encampments

What does the Constitution actually say about the issues dominating today’s headlines?

In this second episode with Ilan Wurman, constitutional law professor at the University of Minnesota and author of The Constitution of 1789, host Steve Ispas runs through some of America’s most contested debates and asks Wurman to apply the framers’ original intent to each one.

The conversation covers free speech on college campuses and the limits of student visa protections, the constitutional case for and against sanctuary cities, the legal framework behind ICE raids and mandatory detention, the extraction of regime leader Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela, the Iran military operations, whether the president can fire a Federal Reserve board member, the truth and complexity behind the Constitution’s relationship with slavery and the 1619 Project, and the legal battle Wurman is personally fighting to clear homeless encampments in Berkeley and Phoenix using public nuisance laws.

Wide-ranging, fast-moving, and grounded in constitutional scholarship, this episode brings the founding document directly into the middle of 2026’s biggest national debates.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.