Leadership Lab Student Questions and Additional Readings

Home The Roger Mudd Center for Ethics Leadership Lab Leadership Lab Student Questions and Additional Readings
Mudd Center

Leadership Lab: Power and Accountability in Today’s Political Landscape

Thursday, November 13, 2025, 5:10 pm, Stackhouse Theater

Questions Suggested by Students

  1. Are there moments in our history that provide examples of moral and ethical courage in times of grave crisis?
  2. What is the rule of law, and how does it protect our democratic institutions?
  3. What have the past five years taught you about the strength—or fragility—of our democratic institutions?
  4. Polls show an erosion of confidence in our system of justice, especially as administered by the Supreme Court. What are the causes? And what can done to reverse this decline of confidence?
  5. For Republicans who do not support President’s Trump’s policies and values, what can they do? Related to this is the question of what might be some effective first steps to dial down the bitter polarization of our politics?

Recommended Reading List

  • President for Life (Judge Luttig, The Atlantic, 10/28/25)

  • The “Saturday Night Massacre”: How our Constitution trumped a reckless President in October 1973 (National Constitution Center, 10/20/15)

  • Gonzales Hospital Episode Detailed (5/16/07 Washington Post article recounting showdown between President George W. Bush and senior DOJ and FBI officials over legality of post-9/11 domestic surveillance program) 

  • What if We’re the Bad Guys Here? (David Brooks, New York Times, 8/2/23)

  • Voters to Elites: Do You See Me Now? (David Brooks, New York Times, 11/6/24)

  • Republicans —Ditch MAGA and Return to the Basics (John Danforth and Lena Shaw, Wall Street Journal, 10/15/25)

  • Lost, Not Stolen (July 2022 White Paper by Judge Luttig and seven other distinguished conservatives)