The Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy is a vibrant center for scholarship and events, supporting the functioning of constitutional democracies in the United States and abroad.
About the Center
Established in 2000 through a gift from Dr. Stephen Floersheimer, the Center supports research by scholars and policymakers, hosts speakers and conferences, issues publications and provides financial support for visiting scholars as well as student projects. Topics of particular concern include civil liberties in an age of terrorism, the structures of democratic government and the relationship between church and state.
The Center's current Co-Directors are Professors Michael Pollack and Wilfred Codrington. Hui Yang is its Program Administrator.
Every summer, the Center provides research grants for faculty working on projects related to the Center's mission. Recent recipients include Alexander A. Reinert, Michael E. Herz, and David Rudenstine.
Cardozo's constitutional law faculty members, including Michael E. Herz, provide commentary on landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases in the Cardozo Benchmarks video series.
Getting to Know: Center for Constitutional Democracy
Hear Co-Directors Wilfred Codrington III and Michael Pollack provide an overview of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy.
Upcoming Events
Justice, Human Rights, and the New Charisma of Anti-democratic Ideologies
- Apr 02
Democracies are under pressure worldwide – externally by authoritarian states and internally by political forces that spread anti-democratic ideologies even if masked by avowed concern for the people. While reasons are intensely debated, this talk critically revisits explanations for the charisma of post-democratic ideologies by (1) investigating normative foundations of the exacting and fragile project of democracy and its relation to human rights and (2) discussing human rights theory in times of widespread human rights skepticism and its meaning for crises of democracy. How can we defend the project of democracy in theory and practice?
Special Guest Speaker: Prof. Dr. Matthias Mahlmann
Chair of Philosophy and Theory of Law, Legal Sociology and International Public Law, University of ZurichThe event is not open to the public.
Law, Literature, and History: A Fateful Rendezvous with the Shoah.
- Apr 29
Please mark your calendar for our next all-day event on April 29, 2025, to celebrate Prof. Richard Weisberg and the release of his new book, Law, Literature, and History: A Fateful Rendezvous with the Shoah. More information to come.
Featured Events
A Government of the People: Popular Engagement in U.S. Constitutional Democracy
Recent Events
The Bro-Economy and the Bro-Democracy
Spring 2025
The Future of "History and Tradition": The First Amendment Implications of Bruen
Spring 2024
The Supreme Court and New Frontiers in Religious Liberty
Spring 2023
Student Fellows
The center designates Floersheimer Student Fellows each year. The fellows, who receive a modest stipend, perform legal research, help execute events, and provide other support for the center’s projects.
The center also provides financial support for student activities that are consistent with the center’s overall mission. Cardozo students seeking financial support for an organization or for an individual internship or other project should contact the program's co-directors.
Louise Williams (23') at her summer externship, which was made possible with the Floersheimer Center fund.
Visitors and Distinguished Fellows
The center invites a small number of Distinguished Fellows to be in residence for two to four weeks during the academic year. Fellows are provided an office, secretarial assistance, travel and living expenses and an honorarium. While at Cardozo, they contribute in such ways as teaching a mini-course, giving a faculty workshop or public lecture, guest teaching another professor’s course, or providing an article to a Cardozo journal. In addition, the center occasionally sponsors a semester-long visit by a prominent constitutional scholar.