Listen to a special interview between Jason Harris & Professor Michael McConnell as they discuss "Are Churches Essential?"---Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and confirmed by a Democratic Senate by unanimous consent. McConnell has previously held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional history, First Amendment, and interpretive theory. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and separation of powers. McConnell has argued fifteen cases in the United States Supreme Court, most recently a 8-1 victory in a Takings Clause case on behalf of California raisin farmers. He is Senior Of Counsel to the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati and has recently been appointed Co-Chair of the Facebook Oversight Board.---This interview was posted on May 21, 2020. To view additional lectures, please visit centralchurchnyc.org.