Video  

Democracy Deep Dive: January 6th and the Threat to American Democracy

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee issued a major report in October 2021 claiming to show “the American people just how close we came to a constitutional crisis” during the events before and after the January 6 “capitol insurrection.” This crisis was prevented only by “a number of upstanding Americans in the Department of Justice.” “Donald Trump was unable to bend the department to his will. But it was not due to a lack of effort,” the report goes on. But, the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee responded that Trump “did not weaponize DOJ for his personal or campaign purposes” in their own report. Join Harvard Kennedy School historian Alexander Keyssar and Harvard Law School law of democracy scholar Guy Uriel-Charles as they parsed the major revelations in these reports and helped us to understand how these events may foreshadow future crises in American Democracy. Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at Harvard Kennedy School, moderated.

Related Resources

Terms of Engagement – The 2026 Midterms: Trust, Turnout, and a Shifting Electoral Landscape

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – The 2026 Midterms: Trust, Turnout, and a Shifting Electoral Landscape

Andrea Hailey, who leads Vote.org, one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter engagement platforms, joins hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer on Terms of Engagement to discuss trends, turnout, and trepidation as we head into the pivotal 2026 midterm elections.

Terms of Engagement – Sinking Yachts: Can a Billionaire Backlash Save Democracy?

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – Sinking Yachts: Can a Billionaire Backlash Save Democracy?

Oxford University Professor Pepper Culpepper joins Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Steven Richer to discuss corporate excess, bipartisan popular anger, and his new book “Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy.”

Terms of Engagement – The End of the Voting Rights Act—and the Beginning of What?

Podcast

Terms of Engagement – The End of the Voting Rights Act—and the Beginning of What?

Harvard Law School Professor Guy-Uriel Charles joins Terms of Engagement hosts Archon Fung and Stephen Richer to discuss the US Supreme Court’s decision to effectively dismantle the Voting Rights Act, its political aftermath, and what voting rights advocates can do to achieving electoral fairness in its wake.