Nov10Tue
Alturas Presents
Constitutional Conversations
Election Analysis: What's Next for American Democracy?
7 pm – 8:30 pm MTTrinity United Methodist Church, Idaho Falls
$10 at the door · Students and teachers free
The Alturas Institute
Defending democracy by advancing the Constitution, civic education, equal protection of the law and women's rights.
New this January
“Toward a More Perfect Union” — Civics 101 with Dr. David Adler
Seven live evenings on Zoom with constitutional scholar Dr. David Adler. Each session is a 45-minute talk followed by 45 minutes of open Q&A, from the Declaration of Independence to the 14th Amendment. Seats are limited.
- 7 weekly live sessions on Zoom
- 45 minutes of Q&A every week
- Free with a Learning Library membership
Read Dr. Adler free
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ArticlePresidential Power
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.
April 29, 2026
ArticlePresidential Power
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.
April 13, 2026
ArticleEqual Protection & Women's Rights
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."
April 13, 2026
Live talks
Dave's Dates
November 2026
Nov12Thu
Guest appearance
Let's Talk About It: A Discussion of Thomas Paine's Common Sense
6 pm – 8 pm MTThe Armoral Tuttle Public Library, New Plymouth
Hosted by The Armoral Tuttle Public Library
Nov16Mon
Alturas Presents
Constitutional Conversations
Reviewing the 2026 Midterms—Implications for American Politics and Our Constitutional Democracy
10 am – 12 pm MTThe Yanke Building, Boise
Open to the public, $10 admission at the door.
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Tell us your city and we'll let you know when Dr. Adler speaks near you.
Read & watch
The Alturas Learning Library
ArticlePresidential Power
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.
June 15, 2026 Members
ArticlePresidential Power
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.
June 15, 2026 Members
ArticlePresidential Power
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."
June 15, 2026 Members
Featured collection
Conversations with Exceptional Women, Sun Valley 2026
Aug 27–28, 2026 · 12 sessions
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