Constitution Day

President George W. Bush signed a bill on December 8, 2004 (public law 108-447) which designates every September 17 as Constitution Day. All institutions of higher education that receive federal funding are required to prepare a program to inform students about the U.S. Constitution.

Attend our Constitution Day Event

The American Democracy Forum, housed in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Political Science, will hold a faculty panel discussion on constitutional issues in U.S. elections. The discussion, which is open to the public, will take place Monday, Sept. 17 from 6:30–8 p.m. in the Wisconsin Idea Room of the Education Building, 1000 Bascom Mall. Read more about this event.

Presented here is a video interview of UW-Madison Professor of Political Science Donald Downs, an expert in American politics and constitutional law. The interviewer is Ilia Sasich, a graduate student in political science and economics.

View the video or read the audio transcript.

Video still depicting Professor Donald Downs being interviewed by graduate student Ilia Sasich.

In order to view this video, you will need Windows Media Player which can be downloaded for free at the Windows Media Download Center for Windows and Macintosh.