The Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy is pleased to announce its ninth annual undergraduate essay competition. Each year, students are invited to submit essays on a timely question related to foundational freedoms and responsibilities in liberal democracies.
For 2026, we invited responses to the question:
Tariffs: Are they a usurpation of Congress’s exclusive “power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports and excises,” or a legitimate and unfettered foreign policy tool of the executive branch?
2025 Topic
“Should there be limits on the presidential pardon power?”
Winners: Jim Jia, Hunter Vierck, Ronan Piontek
2024 Topic
“Should citizens be required to pass the US citizenship test before they can vote?”
Winners: Mallory Firari, Benjamin Rothove, Felicity Klingele
2023 Topic
“Is it time to abolish lifetime tenure for US Supreme Court justices? If so, what should replace lifetime tenure? If not, why not?”
Winners: Bryce Mitchell, Matt Wadhwa, Kylie Ruprecht
2022 Topic
“Should the federal government be allowed to mandate vaccines?”
Winners: Renxi Li, Aaron Dorf, Zachary Orlowsky, Taryn Hanson
2021 Topic
“Should the United States make military or national service compulsory?”
Winners: Maxwell Ruzika, Dana Craig, Jonah Edelman, Ellen Stojak, Nicholas Carl
2020 Topic
“Should patriotism be taught at UW Madison?”
Winners: Jacob Bernstein, Nils Peterson, Lucas Olsen, Cleo Rank, Tony Mattioli
2019 Topic
“Should social media platforms be permitted to censor controversial speech?”
Winners: Anitha Quintin, Lucas Olsen, Matthew Kass
2018 Topic
“Should the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—which states that ‘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and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside’—be repealed or modified to restrict more precisely the definition of who may claim citizenship?”
Winners: Dana Coggio, Ben Johnson, August Schultz
2017 Topic
“Should the U.S. Electoral College be abolished, reformed, or left to the states to determine?”
Winners: Ean Quick, Garrett McLaughlin, Joshua Gutzmann
2016 Topic
“Are the goals of fostering freedom of speech on campus and of fostering a welcoming environment for all students incompatible?”
Winners: Joshua Gutzmann, Rebekah Cullum, Zawadi Carroll