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The
Institute for Constitutional Studies sponsors or co-sponsors a variety
of events during the academic year. Here is a partial list of upcoming
and recent events.
Upcoming EventsApril 11, Noon GWU Law School Works in Progress Clearing the Smoke from Philip Morris v.Williams: The Past, Present, and Future of Punitive Damages Professor Thomas B. Colby (GWU Law School) Location: Faculty Conference Center, the George Washington University Law School. 2000 H St. NW, Washington, D.C. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP (icsgw@law.gwu.edu) if you would like to attend.
Summer 2008 June 8-14
Ninth Annual Residential Summer Research Seminar, June 8-14, 2008 Description: Religious thinking has influenced many of the most fundamental features of American constitutional thought. This seminar will explore some of those developments, with focused discussion of selected readings in the morning sessions and paper presentations in the afternoon. Among the topics that may be considered are: (1) Puritan and Reformed Protestant contributions to constitutionalism, republicanism, and revolution; (2) the colonial Great Awakening (Jonathan Edwards) and ideals of society; (3) William Penn and Quaker ideas of political order; (4) Anglicanism, constitutional monarchy, and Loyalist protest; (5) Presbyterian ecclesiology (e.g., John Witherspoon) and ideas of federalism and representation; (6) Baptist theology (including the rejection of infant baptism, e.g., Isaac Backus) and rising individualism and rejection of religious establishment; (7) Masonic ideas (and opposition to them) in the formation of early republican ideology; (8) varying religious appropriations of the Enlightenment; (9) the Second Great Awakening and the rise of voluntarism and civil society; (10) the religious roots of abolitionism and proslavery thought; (11) Lincoln’s theology; (12) women as leaders in church and state; and (13) the 19th-century Roman Catholic critique (e.g., Orestes Brownson) of liberalism. Participants are not limited to these topics, but may prepare and present papers ranging across the modern history of constitutional democracy, based on any significant connection between religious and constitutional thought, broadly construed. For more information follow this link. July 6-11
Second Annual Regional Workshop for College Teachers: "The Constitutional Convention" "The Constitutional Convention," our second annual interdisciplinary workshop for college instructors, will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, from July 6 to 11, and will be offered in association with Emory University and the Georgia Humanities Council. Professor Sally Hadden of Florida State University will lead the workshop, along with guest instructors. Past EventsWinter 2008 January 5, 2008 A Joint Program of the AALS Executive Committee and Institute for Constitutional Studies at the American Association of Law Schools Annual Conference: "WHO IS FEDERALISM FOR: LIBERALS, CONSERVATIVES, EVERYONE, OR POLITICAL LOSERS?" Description: Constitutional Lawyers have recently been considering the value of federalism. Some political liberals now insist on the “local option” for matters as diverse as gay marriage and anti-terrorism policy. Some political conservatives insist that the above policies must be nationalized and maintain that the president, by signing a treaty, may alter state criminal processes. Political scientists have joined the debate. Recent work questions inherited wisdom which proclaims that national politics is more inclusive than local politics. For more details, please visit the conference website. January 24, 2008 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. "What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Congress, the Courts, and the State Secrets Privilege"
Sponsored by The Constitution Project For more information please visit The Constitution Project website at http://www.constitutionproject.org/index.cfm March 18, Noon GWU Law School Works in Progress Family, the Law, and the Constitution(s) Professor Katherine Baker (Chicago-Kent College of Law) Location: Faculty Conference Center, the George Washington University Law School. 2000 H St. NW, Washington, D.C. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP (icsgw@law.gwu.edu) if you would like to attend. March 18, 4 pm Author Meets Critics The Day Freedom Died: Parnelists: Michael Les Benedict, The Ohio State University Location: Faculty Conference Center, the George Washington University Law School. 2000 H St. NW, Washington, D.C. This event is open to the public. No reservations required. Refreshments will be served. March 27, Noon GWU Law School Works in Progress Dynamic Incorporation of Foreign Law Professor Michael Dorf (Columbia Law School) Location: Faculty Conference Center, the George Washington University Law School. 2000 H St. NW, Washington, D.C. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP (icsgw@law.gwu.edu) if you would like to attend. March 28, 7pm Our Undemocratic Constitution? The Institute for Constitutional Studies and the GWU Honors Program present a panel discussion of Sanford Levinson's book, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitutuion Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) Friday, March 28, 7:00 pmThe Elliott School of International Affairs1957 E St. NW, Room 113Participants: Randy E, Barnett, Georgetown University Law Center This event is open to the public. To see the event announcement click here. March-April 2008 SPECIAL SEMINAR FOR SPRING 2008: Graduate Research Seminar: Most Americans think of the Supreme Court as the final interpreter of the U.S. Constitution, and for the past fifty years the Court has certainly claimed that role. But historians and political scientists have always argued that Court decisions reflect the surrounding historical and political context. Now many legal analysts are exploring how to incorporate this historical reality into jurisprudence. What has been the role of the people themselves in developing constitutional rules? To what degree are constitutional issues legal and to what degree political? What is the relationship between constitutional politics and constitutional law? We will read and critique works that draw conclusions about these questions based on American constitutional history. For more details click here. Fall 2007 Monday, November 1, 4 p.m. THE LIMITS OF SOVEREIGNTY: PROPERTY CONFISCATION IN THE UNION AND CONFEDERACY DURING THE CIVIL WAR
October 1-November 5 (Mondays at 6 p.m.) THE PRESIDENCY AND THE SUPREME COURT IN THE AGE OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Thursday, November 1, 2 p.m. TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS: ARMED POLITICAL POWER IN VIRGINIA, 1648-1791 Dr. Christian Vieweg presented his research on military policy in colonial and revolutionary Virginia. His work examines the ideological and empirical origins of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Friday, October 19 THE 2007 NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION Summer 2007 Friday, August 31, 2007 Whither Constitutional History: An Intergenerational and Interdisciplinary Conversation Panelists include:
Risa Goluboff, University of Virginia Kathleen Sullivan, Ohio University Jed Shugerman, Harvard Law School Leslie Goldstein, University of Delaware For more information on the conference, please visit the APSA website at http://www.apsanet.org/content_2665.cfm June 11 to 17 Summer Research Seminar: This year the Institute hosted its eighth annual interdisciplinary summer research seminar. The topic for 2007 was "Constitutionalism" and the seminar was led by Aviam Soifer (dean of the University of Hawai'i law school) and Mary Sarah Bilder (Boston College). The seminar was open to advanced graduate students and junior faculty members. Participants received free lodging at George Washington University, a travel allowance, and a modest per diem to cover food and additional expenses. Lodging was also provided from June 6 for participants who want to conduct additional research in the DC area. For more details click here. July 8 to 14 Regional Workshop for College Teachers: "New Approaches to Teaching the Constitution," an
interdisciplinary workshop on the Constitution for college instructors.
The workshop was held in Albany, New York, from July 8 to 14, and
was offered in association with the University at Albany (SUNY).
The workshop was led by Sandra F. VanBurkleo of Wayne State University, with guest instructors from several academic disciplines (including Richard Hamm of the University at Albany, Paul Finkelman of Albany Law School, and Stephen Schechter of Russell Sage College). April 2007 Thursday, April 5, noon
According to the publisher, "Magliocca reinterprets the legal landmarks of the Jacksonian era to demonstrate how the meaning of the Constitution evolves in a cyclical and predictable fashion. ... Offering intriguing parallels between Jackson and George W. Bush regarding the scope of executive power, Magliocca has produced a rich synthesis of history, political science, and law that revives our understanding of an entire era and its controversies, while providing a model of constitutional law applicable to any period." "This is a truly distinguished contribution to our constitutional understanding, combining theory and history in an exemplary fashion. If you are going to read one book about our Constitution this year, read Magliocca's."— Bruce Ackerman (Yale Law School). Location: Jacob Burns Moot Court Room (ground floor of Burns Hall), George Washington University Law School, 12:00-1:30 pm. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Monday, April 9, noon Colloquium: Professor John Fabian Witt of Columbia University will present a chapter from his forthcoming book, Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law. The chapter deals with the rise of American tort law after WWII, especially how the modern plaintiffs' bar re-invested the courts with regulatory power in the decades after the New Deal, and the significance of American constitutional framework in explaining American public policy. The chapter will be precirculated, so please let us know if you would like a copy. Location: The Faculty Conference Center at the George Washington University Law School (on the 5th floor of the Burns Law Library), at noon on Monday, April 9. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu in advance. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School works-in-progress committee.
Recent EventsWinter 2006 Spring 2006 Summer 2006 Fall 2006 Winter/Spring 2007 Thursday, January 5, 4:00-5:45 Panel: "Golden Age, Normal Judicial Politics, or Popular Constitutionalism: Constitutional Law Before the Civil War" This
panel
explores revisionist scholarship on antebellum constitutional politics.
Traditional wisdom, best articulated by Charles Warren and Robert
McCloskey, regards this era as a golden age, marked by a sharp
separation
between law and politics. The participants on this panel disagree.
American politics was saturated with constitutional concerns. The
primary motor driving American constitutional development before the
Civil War
was politics out of doors, exhibited for example in popular responses
to
the Alien and Sedition Acts and the use of militia as a form of
constitutional
protest. American constitutional law was saturated with politics. Court
appointments were made with political ends in mind, most justices had
previously been prominent politicians, and such constitutional
struggles as Cherokee
removal can only be understood at the intersection of law and politics.
Panelists: Maeva
Marcus, Director, Institute for Constitutional Studies
(moderator); Saul
Cornell, Professor of History, Ohio State University; Robert J.
Cottrol, The George Washington University Law School; Mark A.
Graber, Professor of Government, University of Maryland
and Professor of
Law, University of Maryland School of Law; Ariela J.
Gross, University of Southern California Gould School of
Law; and Gerard
Nicholas Magliocca, Jr., Indiana University School of Law,
Indianapolis. Location: Annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (Marriot Wardman Park hotel, Washington, DC); conference registration is required to attend this session. This panel is a joint program of the Institute for Constitutional Studies and the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools. February 2006 Friday, February 10, noon Colloquium: Professor Victoria Nourse of the University of Wisconsin will discuss her paper "In Evil or Reckless Hands: The Secret History of Crime, Race and Science in Skinner v. Oklahoma." The paper will be precirculated, so please let us know if you would like a copy. Location: The Faculty Conference Center at the George Washington University Law School (on the 5th floor of the Burns Law Library), at noon on Friday, February 10. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu as soon as possible. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School works-in-progress committee. Friday, March 17, noon Colloquium: Professor David Barron of the Harvard Law School will present a paper on the power of local officials to make independent interpretations of state or federal constitutional law entitled "Why (and When) Cities Have a Stake in Enforcing the Constitution." His paper focuses on the conflict between the Mayor of San Francisco and state officials in California over the question of same-sex marriage. The paper will be precirculated, so please let us know if you would like a copy. Location: The Faculty Conference Center at the George Washington University Law School (on the 5th floor of the Burns Law Library), at noon on Friday, March 17. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu as soon as possible. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School works-in-progress committee. Thursday, March 23, 4:00 p.m. Panel discussion: "The Confrontation Clause vs. Effective Domestic Violence Prosecution? A Panel Discussion of the Pending Hammon/Davis Cases in the Supreme Court" The Hammon/Davis cases (Hammon v. Indiana and Davis v. Washington), both involving domestic violence against women, have raised significant issues about the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment—and there is much historical content to be found in the briefs on both sides. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments for these cases on March 20. Panelists: Timothy O'Toole, Chief, Special Litigation Section, Public Defender Service of D.C. (O'Toole is author of the leading amicus brief supporting the defendants/appellants); Mary McCord, Deputy Chief, Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Unit, U.S. Attorney's Office (McCord assisted with the brief for the U.S. Solicitor General and is litigating two pending appeals in the District of Columbia on this issue); Joan S. Meier, Professor of Clinical Law and Director, Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project, George Washington University Law School; moderated by Stephen A. Saltzburg, Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School. Location: The George Washington University Law School, Lerner 401, at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 23. The law school is located at 20th and H Streets NW; Lerner 401 is more or less directly above the main entrance to the building on the 4th floor. Light refreshments will be served following the discussion. This event is co-sponsored by the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project, the George Washington University Law School, and the Washington Council of Lawyers. Friday, March 24, noon Colloquium: Professor Melissa Schwartzberg of the political science department at George Washington University will present a paper entitled "Against Entrenchment." A brief description is included below. Copies of her paper will be precirculated; please let us know if you would like to receive one. This event is co-sponsored by the American Political Science Association (APSA). Location: The colloquium will be held at the headquarters of the APSA, 1527 New Hampshire Ave, NW, Washington, DC. (The nearest Metro stop is Dupont Circle.) This is a brown-bag event, though drinks will be provided courtesy of the APSA. Please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu as soon as possible if you plan to attend. Here is a brief preview of the paper from Prof. Schwartzberg: "Although democrats have used immutable, or 'entrenched,' law since ancient Athens, contemporary constitutionalists should resist the adoption of unamendable laws. In this paper, I review four key types of entrenchment, from temporally limited restrictions on change to robust but implicit forms of immutability. I then briefly present the logic that governed the use of entrenchment in ancient Athens, in Cromwell's Instrument of Government, and in the American founding as a means of highlighting the strategic and instrumental purposes to which legislators have put entrenchment. Entrenchment should not be used even as a means of protecting rights or foundational commitments (e.g., to human dignity); rather than excluding the possibility of change, I suggest, entrenchment shifts the locus of amendment away from legislatures and toward courts. In conclusion, I outline the broader democratic implications of the use of entrenchment, and defend an approach to constitutionalism that embraces the capacity to learn through ongoing public deliberation." April 2006 Friday, April 14, noon Colloquium: Professor
Heather Gerken
of the Harvard Law School will present a paper entitled "Dissenting by
Deciding." Her paper examines complex questions of whether certain
kinds of official decisions — say, by juries, school boards,
or other
decision-making bodies — might be understood not just as
"action" but
as dissent from majoritarian norms. The paper will be precirculated, so
please let us know if you’d like a copy. Location: The Faculty Conference Center at the George Washington University Law School (on the 5th floor of the Burns Law Library), at noon on Friday, April 14. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu as soon as possible. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School works-in-progress committee. June 12-23 Summer seminar: "War Powers and the Constitution." Please follow this link for more information. Sunday, September 3, 8:00-9:30 am Panel: "The Constitution and the Civil War" This
panel will explore the impact that secession,
surrender, Reconstruction and the post-Civil War Amendments had on the
American constitutional order. On some readings, the
constitution of 1868 merely perfected the constitution of 1787, as
Americans realized their constitutional aspiration to end
slavery. On other readings, the constitution of 1868 was an
entirely new constitutional order, with entirely new commitments to
equality or other values. We have assembled some of the
leading thinkers in law and political science to debate these issues.
Panelists: Sanford Levinson,
University of Texas-Austin (chair); Pamela Brandwein,
University of Texas-Dallas; James
R.
Stoner, Louisiana State University; Mark E. Brandon,
Vanderbilt Law School; Daniel
Hamilton, University of Chicago-Kent School of Law, and Mark
A. Graber, University of Maryland. Location: Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (Philadelphia, PA); conference registration is required to attend this session. This panel is sponsored by the Institute for Constitutional Studies. Constitution Day
will be celebrated this year on Monday, September 18.
October 2006 Thursday, October 5, 4:00-5:15
Location: Faculty Conference Center (Burns 505), George Washington University Law School, at 4:00 pm on Thursday, October 5. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Wednesday, October 18, 4:00-5:30 Workshop: Professor Barry Friedman of the New York University Law School will present material from his forthcoming book on judicial review. A draft chapter — The Birth of Judicial Review ("this Great Constitutional Question") — will be precirculated, so please let us know in advance if you would like to attend. Location: Faculty Library (Burns 506), George Washington University Law School, at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, October 18. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. November 2006 Monday, November 6, 3:30-5:00
Location: Supreme Court of the United States (One 1st Street, NE), EAST Conference Room. Use the Maryland Avenue entrance; the East Conference Room is on the first floor. We recommend that attendees arrive early to leave sufficient time for security measures at the Court building (metal detector and I.D. check). Reservations are required, so please contact the Institute if you plan to attend. Wednesday, November 15, noon-1:30 Colloquium: Professor William J. Stuntz of the Harvard Law School will present a paper entitled "Fighting Wars and Fighting Crime." The paper will be precirculated, so please let us know if you would like a copy. Location (note change): The Jacob Burns Moot Court Room, George Washington University Law School (on the ground floor of the Burns Law Library), at noon on Wednesday, November 15. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu as soon as possible. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School works-in-progress committee. Friday,
November 17, noon-1:30 Colloquium: Professor Jack Goldsmith of the Harvard Law School will present a paper entitled "Sosa, Customary International Law, and the Continuing Relevance of Erie." The paper is available now, so please let us know if you would like a copy. Location (note change): The Great Room of the Burns Law Library at the George Washington University Law School (on the first floor, next to the main elevator), at noon on Friday, November 17. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu as soon as possible. This
colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law
School
works-in-progress
committee.
Thursday, January 25, 4:00-5:30 Workshop: Professor Anthony J. Bellia, Jr. of the University of Notre Dame will present a paper entitled "The Origins of Article III 'Arising Under' Jurisdiction." A copy of the paper will be precirculated, so please let us know in advance if you would like to attend. Here is an abstract of the paper provided by Prof. Bellia: Article III of the Constitution provides that the “judicial Power” of the United States extends to all cases “arising under” the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States. What the phrase “arising under” imports in Article III has long confounded courts and scholars. This paper examines the historical origins of Article III “arising under” jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has been mindful of historical understandings in determining the scope of various heads of Article III jurisdiction; accordingly, the analysis that this paper presents is of both historical and doctrinal interest. The paper proceeds in four stages. First, it describes jurisdictional principles of English law that provide necessary context for understanding early political and judicial arguments about the meaning of “arising under.” Second, it explains how participants in the framing of Article III and in debates over its ratification described “arising under” jurisdiction. Third, it explains the import that early American courts, invoking English jurisdictional principles, gave to Article III “arising under” jurisdiction. In particular, this paper explains, in its proper historical context, the meaning of the landmark 1824 case Osborn v. United States, in which Chief Justice John Marshall described a case as “arising under” federal law if a federal law “forms an ingredient of the original cause.” Finally, the paper identifies certain implications of this history for our understandings of Article III “arising under” jurisdiction today. Location: Faculty Library (Burns 506), George Washington University Law School, at 4:00 pm on Thursday, January 25. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Tuesday, January 30, noon Colloquium: Professor Michael I. Meyerson of the University of Baltimore School of Law (and a visiting professor of law at George Washington University) will present a paper entitled "Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World." The paper will be precirculated, so please let us know if you would like a copy. Location: The Faculty Conference Center at the George Washington University Law School (on the 5th floor of the Burns Law Library), at noon on Tuesday, January 30. The main entrance to the law school is at 20th and H Streets, NW. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu in advance. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School works-in-progress committee. February 2007
Starting February 7, ICS will offer a non-credit Graduate Seminar on "Judicial Biography," led by Professor Melvin I. Urofsky (Virginia Commonwealth University). Please follow this link for more information. March 2007
Wednesday, March 14, noon (revised date) Colloquium: Professor Martha Ertman of the University of Utah law school (and visiting professor of law at George Washington University) will present a paper on "The Story of Reynolds v. U.S.: Federal 'Hell Hounds' Punishing Mormon Treason" (a chapter from the forthcoming book, Family Law Stories). The paper will be precirculated, so please let us know if you would like a copy. Location: Student Conference Center, Lisner Hall (second floor), George Washington University Law School. Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to icsgw@law.gwu.edu in advance. This colloquium is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School works-in-progress committee. Thursday, March 29, 3:15 Author Meets Critics: Professor William M. Wiecek (Congdon Professor of Law and Professor of History at Syracuse University) will discuss his new volume in the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court,The Birth of the Modern Constitution: The United States Supreme Court, 1941-1953 (Cambridge University Press, 2006). The author will also respond to comments by Melvin Urofsky (Virginia Commonwealth University), Mark Graber (University of Maryland School of Law), and others. Location: University of Maryland School of Law, 500 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD. |
Distinguished historian William Leuchtenburg led a six-week graduate seminar on the conflict between Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Supreme Court in the 1930's. Professor Leuchtenburg led students through a variety of pertinent constitutional issues, including the expansion of the presidency under FDR, the seminal Supreme Court decisions of 1934-37, the "Court-packing" struggle, and the "Constitutional Revolution" of the 1930s.
