About this episode

Historian Jill Lepore discusses the challenges of amending the U.S. Constitution and its impact on contemporary politics.

This episode originally aired on Sept 18, 2025.  The Constitution has been amended 27 times, but the last meaningful change was over half a century ago. In historian Jill Lepore’s book We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution , she argues that the near impossibility of amendment in recent decades underlies many of today’s political crises, from polarization to battles over the courts. Lepore spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the history of constitutional revision and why the amendment process matters for the future of American democracy.

People in this episode

Host: Shumita Basu

Guest: Jill Lepore

Topics covered

• U.S. Constitution
• political crises
• amendment process
• American democracy
• historical analysis

Keywords

• Constitution
• politics
• amendment
• polarization
• courts
• democracy
• history

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution

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