App breaks down the U.S. constitution: Rosen talks about judicial history, the Roberts Court, and modern politics.

Here's an app that every lawyer should have on his or her smartphone.

Jeffrey Rosen, keynote speaker at the Supreme Court Historical Society's annual dinner on January 19 and president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, talked about the Constitution-education app, developed by the center, during his address. He also touched on the history of the U.S. Supreme Court, how he thinks Chief Justice John Robert's hopes for the court have been frustrated, and one of his heroes, former Justice Lewis Brandeis.

The center was created by Congress during the country's Bicentennial and is charged with providing nonpartisan education about the Constitution to the public, said Rosen, who is also a journalist and law professor of The George Washington University Law School.

To develop this app, Rosen said the center went to the conservative Federalist Society and the liberal American Constitution Society and asked each to provide a scholar on each of the 80 clauses of the federal Constitution.

"You'll find the two leading intellectuals [on a clause] writing 1,000 words on what they agree and separate statements on what they disagree," Rosen said. "Multiply that by 80 clauses of the Constitution.

"It's just a civic dream to see respectful agreement and disagreement," especially in these politically divisive times.

The center's website (http:// constitutioncenter.org) with that information and the app have received nine million hits since it went up last year, which Rosen said is a tremendous benefit for the country.

"The Constitution is not just for lawyers. It is for all citizens," he said. "We have an obligation to educate citizens about this beautiful document so they can defend it."

Polarization

In what seems like an increasingly polarized country, that's an important goal, Rosen said, adding, "We're more polarized now than we were during the Civil War. This is not new. After the election of 1800, the outgoing government reduced the size of the Supreme Court to deny [incoming President Thomas] Jefferson the chance to make appointments."

Not that that might have made much of a difference, because the judiciary is considered the weakest branch of government and the first two chief justices of the Supreme Court had resigned "because they didn't think it was worth their time."

That view was transformed by Chief Justice John Marshall, and Rosen said Marshall's actions are significant because he believes they serve as a model for current Chief...