The Alturas Learning Library
Essays, columns, and recorded talks from Dr. David Adler and the Alturas Institute on the Constitution and American democracy.
Featured collection
Conversations with Exceptional Women, Sun Valley 2026
Aug 27–28, 2026 · 12 recorded sessions with remarkable women from across the nation.
Explore the recordings
From Suicide Pact to Faustian Bargain to the Art of the Deal: Bowing to Presidential Power
The evolution in America of rationales for the cascading growth of presidential power, which began in earnest in the post-war world and followed a trajectory through the expression of the Imperial Presidency before reaching new heights in President Donald Trump's authoritarian pretensions, has long found foundation in the misappropriation and misuse of Justice Robert H. Jackson's famous aphorism, "the Constitution is not a suicide pact."
Trump's Slush Fund Reflects Concentration of Power in the Executive, Collapse of Constitutional Guardrails
One of the grave consequences for American Constitutionalism of the untrammeled concentration of power in the hands of President Donald Trump--the putative goal of Project 2025--is his total control over the Department of Justice.
The State of War in Iran Demonstrates Need for Freedom of the Press
Since the beginning of the Iran War, the Trump Administration has been clear in its view that news organizations have an obligation to report developments as they are characterized by governmental officials.
James Madison: The President May Pervert His Administration into a Scheme of Peculation and Oppression
James Madison's prescient warning about a president who might engineer a scheme of deep-seated and pervasive corruption, grounded in self-dealing to enrich himself and strengthen his ties to law-breaking loyalists through arbitrary acts that violate the Constitution and republican principles, reverberates across the nation at this juncture in our history as Americans learn more details about President Donald Trump's underhanded operations.
Justice Thomas' Speech: Political Attacks, Unanswered Judicial Questions
Justice Clarence Thomas's controversial speech at the University of Texas, which began as a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, inexplicably meandered across disconnected political postulates, reflected significant historical errors and left unanswered fundamental questions about the judicial ascertainment and enforcement of natural rights.
Readers Ask About Restraining Presidential Warmaking: Replying to Thoughtful Questions
Few exercises of governmental power trigger more questions about constitutionality and legality, not to mention considerations of wisdom and judgment, than warmaking, particularly unilateral presidential warmaking.
The Birthright Citizenship Case and the Text of the 14th Amendment
The text of Section One of the 14th Amendment declares: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
Does a President's War of Choice Obligate Treaty Partners to Join the Cause? Light from History
When a nation attacks another country and wages offensive warfare—a war of choice—are treaty partners in a defense alliance obligated to support the aggressor nation in the conduct of the war?
The High Price We Pay When the President Violates the War Clause
The framers' wisdom in vesting constitutional control over the war power—its "commencement, continuation and conclusion"—in Congress, as James Madison said, not in the hands of the president, has struck Americans squarely in the face in light of President Donald Trump's fly-by-the- seat of his pants conduct of his war in Iran, one characterized by tactics without strategy and occasional public pronouncements that, like the mercurial summertime weather, can change from minute to minute.
Otis, Paine, and Adams: Surging Momentum Toward July 4, 1776
Americans' deep interest in our nation's history, super-charged by the fast-approaching 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, has brought renewed focus on the early controversies, personalities and events that launched the American Revolution.
Trump Unilaterally Slips the Dogs of War: What Lies Ahead?
President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to plunge the United States into war against Iran is a war of his own making, not a war of necessity, but a war of choice.
Women's Rights Taking a Beating Under Donald Trump
Under President Donald Trump, women's rights have been taking a beating.
Donald Trump's Call to Terminate the Constitution
As the entire world knows by now, former President Donald Trump, the presumptive leader of the Republican Party, has called for the "termination" of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election.
Law and History Reject Unlimited Legislative Power
For the generation that framed and adopted the Constitution, legislative despotism was not merely theoretical, but real.
The Court Wrongly Strips Women of a Fundamental Right
On June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented power grab, eviscerated a fundamental, constitutional right.
What happens without freedom of the press? A look at life behind the new Iron Curtain
Vladimir Putin's infliction of a second Iron Curtain on the Russian people demonstrates anew the critical importance of freedom of the press in maintaining governmental accountability.
Supreme Court's Institutional Integrity at Risk
Chief Justice John Roberts, an ardent believer in the premise that the Supreme Court has a solemn responsibility to defend its institutional integrity, lamented the Court's decision to let stand a Texas statute, S.B.
January 6 Investigation Critical to Future of American Democracy
The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol is on the front line of the defense of American Democracy.
Senate Must Pass Voting Rights Legislation
Time is quickly running out for the Senate to pass key legislation necessary to protect voting rights and our democracy. GOP obstruction has stalled passage of two landmark measures—the John R.
Origins of Judicial Review and Marbury v. Madison
Skeptics of the federal judiciary's authority to declare laws unconstitutional have expressed doubts and concerns ever since the Supreme Court, in Marbury v.
What Were They Thinking? Marbury v. Madison: The Greatest of Landmark Decisions
The first landmark ruling delivered by the U.S. Supreme Court was Marbury v.
Equal Protection: Remembering Rosa Parks This Dec. 1
America is forever indebted to Rosa Parks for the courage she exhibited on December 1, 1955, when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white man, a violation of the city's segregation laws.
Article V: Amendments to Create a "More Perfect Union"
Article V of the Constitution—the Amendatory Clause—provides the constitutionally prescribed means for changing the Constitution to keep it adequate to the needs of the American people.
Future of American Constitutional Democracy at Stake in Impeachment Hearings
The impeachment inquiry into President Donald J. Trump will affect the future of his presidency and could affect "the future of the Presidency," Rep. Adam Schiff, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee justly stated.
Is the Constitution Mere Parchment?
The very issue of the fragility of the Constitution, reflected in James Madison's grim warning that mere "parchment barriers" will not protect the citizenry from governmental aggrandizement of power and indifference to its boundaries, is before the American people in the impeachment inquiry into the presidency of Donald J.
Trump's Actions Easily Justify Impeachment Inquiry
The facts are indisputable and more than sufficient to justify the House of Representative's impeachment inquiry.
Trump's View of Presidential Power Shreds the Constitution
Donald Trump's radical assertion that Article II of the Constitution gives him "the right to do whatever I want as president," is an affront to the fundamental purposes of the Constitution and a declaration wholly ignorant of what every student learns in history, government and civics classes.
Holding Government Accountable: Things We Can Do
[The Alturas Institute's emphasis on civic education derives, in part, from the fact that too few Americans adequately understand the Constitution and the roles and responsibilities of citizenship.
Trump's Defiance of Congressional Subpoenas Threatens Rule of Law
President Trump's defiance of congressional subpoenas— "to fight them all"—represents a profound and unprecedented threat to constitutional government and the rule of law.
Author, professor finds magic putting ink to paper
Emily Ruskovich may have been a shy student in school, but she, like many other writers, learned early on that she could find her voice through pen and paper.
BSU program director finds power in words
Ever since she was young, Elizabeth Gutting knew she wanted to be a writer.
Author of ‘Educated’ says finding her voice was ‘gradual’ process
Ask Tara Westover where she went to college, and you'll probably assume she'd been preparing for it since kindergarten.
Public speaker, blogger seeks to improve the world for her daughter and others
Shortly after returning from maternity leave to her job at the firm, Jeanette Schneider , author, speaker, financial client advisor and blogger, was attempting to bridge the gap between work and caring for her newborn child when she experienced gender-based discrimination at the hands of a colleague.
Clinical Social Worker, Author Uses Her Voice to Help Others Find Theirs
Carole Geithner has always been fascinated by the ways in which people communicate - or don’t.
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Reflects on a Life of Activism
Instances of injustice fill Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jody Williams with a sense of righteous indignation, a feeling that has caused her to take action countless times in the name of peace throughout her busy life and career.
Fighting to Make the Declaration of Independence a Reality
Since the announcement of the Declaration of Independence when, in the words of John Adams, "the bells rung all day and almost all night," Americans have proudly celebrated what, in truth, were revolutionary premises for the establishment, exercise and control of governmental powers.
Occidental professor talks #MeToo, social justice and the power of finding one’s voice
Caroline Heldman has not been able to remain silent in the face of social injustices inflicted on either herself or the rest of the world.
Improving Civil Dialogue in the November Election
The end of the primary season in Idaho affords an opportunity for candidates and voters to catch their breath before we plunge into the general election campaigns.
Starbucks Offends and then Takes Right Steps
Starbucks, which has enjoyed a nationwide reputation as a leader on social issues, has acted swiftly to correct the missteps of an employee in Philadelphia that plunged the Seattle-based coffee giant into the abyss of racism and ignited another round of national discussion about racial bias Starbucks CEO, Kevin Johnson, flew to The City of Brotherly Love to personally apologize to two black men—Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson-- who were unjustly arrested in Philadelphia two weeks ago on charges of "trespassing," while they waited for a business partner.
Court Ruling Progress in Fight Against Financial Exploitation of Women
Working women in Idaho, within hours of the celebration of Equal Pay Day in 2018, received a much deserved and much-needed boost this week when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that employers may not use a woman's salary history to rationalize paying her less than a man performing the same job.