The Privatization of America

This panel explored the question of whether rights are violated by the shift of inherently governmental functions to the private sector. Our prison systems are contracted out; some of our education schemes include vouchers and for-profit charter schools; our regulators are hiring private consultants to help enforce compliance and catch fraud; our federal Medicare systems rely on the insurance industry to determine medical necessity; and our courts are now telling litigants that judicial process is being privatized through arbitration. Are there constitutional or legal lines that are being crossed? How should progressives respond?

Speakers:

Kimberly Brown, Associate Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law
Reuben A. Guttman, Director, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A.; Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow, Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, Emory University School of Law
Jon D. Michaels, Anne Urowsky Visiting Professor of Law, Yale Law School; Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Miriam Seifter, Visiting Researcher and Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Paul R. Verkuil, Chairman, Administrative Conference of the United States