Overview

• Federal law requires federally funded schools to present instruction on the Constitution on or around Sept. 17, with the Education Department providing classroom resources.
• At a San Francisco gathering, former California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and Berkeley Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky warned that constitutional principles are under serious threat and urged the legal community to defend them.
• Civic institutions including the National Constitution Center and Mount Vernon called for a broad "civic renaissance" ahead of the 2026 semiquincentennial to make civic learning a lifelong habit.
• Opinion coverage split on causes of strain, with some blaming an expansive administrative state and executive overreach, and others stressing the courts’ duty to enforce constitutional limits.
• Commentators tied rising polarization and recent political violence, including the killing of Charlie Kirk, to mounting threats against free speech and pressed for a return to civility and the rule of law, noting surveys showing many Americans have never read the Constitution.