In a 5-4 decision issued on January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court held in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that limitations on corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections violate the First Amendment. The Court struck down a section of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act that banned corporations and unions from broadcasting "electioneering communications" within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. In so doing, the Court overruled its 1990 decision in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and generated substantial controversy-President Obama mentioned the decision in his State of the Union address and both the House and Senate have held hearings on the topic. Many questions linger in the wake of the decision. Does the decision represent a victory for the First Amendment or an opening for corruption of elections? What are the merits of mechanisms being considered by Congress as ways of dealing with the decision? In practical terms, what does the decision mean for corporations and unions? What does the overruling of Austin suggest about the Roberts Court and its relationship to precedent? These questions and others were discussed by a panel of experts in campaign finance law.

The panel discussion featured:

• Moderator, William P. Marshall, Visiting Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School; William Rand Kenan, Jr.
  Distinguished Professor of Law, UNC Chapel Hill School of Law
• Jan W. Baran, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP
• Laurence E. Gold, Of Counsel, Lichtman, Trister & Ross, PLLC; Associate General Counsel, AFL-CIO
• James S. Portnoy, Chief Counsel, Corporate & Government Affairs at Kraft Foods
• Joseph E. Sandler, Member, Sandler, Reiff & Young P.C.
• Monica Youn, Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice, NYU School of Law.

On Thursday, January 21, 2010, ACS hosted a half-day symposium on Access to Justice in Federal Courts at New York University School of Law.  The symposium focused on recent decisions, including Ashcroft v. Iqbal, Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, and various class action decisions, that have curtailed access to federal courts and limited the types of claims and relief that plaintiffs can pursue.  The event featured:

• A keynote address by Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
• Two lively panel discussions moderated by Professor Arthur R. Miller of New York University School of Law:

Panel 1 - The Iqbal and Twombly Cases:

• Moderator, Arthur R. Miller, University Professor, New York University School of Law;
• Steven E. Fineman, Managing Partner, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP;
• Brad N. Friedman, Partner, Milberg LLP;
• Faith E. Gay, Partner, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP;
• Barbara J. Hart, Shareholder, Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart, P.C.;
• Richard T. Joffe, Of Counsel, Labaton Sucharow LLP;
• Andrew J. Pincus, Partner, Mayer Brown;
• Alexander A. Reinert, Assistant Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; Counsel to Javaid Iqbal before the U.S. Supreme Court;
• Teresa Wynn Roseborough, Chief Litigation Counsel, MetLife, Inc.;
• Vincent Warren, Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights.

Panel 2 - Class Action Restrictions and Other Limitations:

• Moderator, Arthur R. Miller, University Professor, New York University School of Law;
• John H. Beisner, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP;
• Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Partner, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP;
• Jay W. Eisenhofer, Managing Partner, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A.;
• Theodore H. Frank, President and Founder, Center for Class Action Fairness;
• Myriam Gilles, Professor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law;
• Robert J. Giuffra, Jr., Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP;
• Salvatore J. Graziano, Partner, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP;
• Adam T. Klein, Partner, Outten & Golden LLP;
• Joe R. Whatley, Jr., Partner, Whatley Drake & Kallas.

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) hosted an event exploring challenges to privacy in a growing digital age. The event featured a keynote address by Christopher N. Olsen, the Assistant Director in the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, which was followed by a diverse panel of experts who discussed the myriad issues surrounding the availability of information in cyberspace, including privacy concerns such as potential government dissemination of financial and health
records.

On September 9, 2009, the Indianapolis Lawyer Chapter of ACS hosted an event featuring a panel discussion between current and former state supreme court chief justices. The event, conducted at Indiana University, Indianapolis School of Law, featured Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer of Ohio, Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard of Indiana and former Chief Justice and current Associate Judge Laura Denvir Stith of Missouri. The panel was moderated by Professor Cynthia A. Baker of the IU - Indy Law School. The justices discussed various topics, including managing trial court dockets, state bar exams and state court responses to crises, such as drugs and foreclosure.

On Thursday, September 24, 2009 ACS hosted its annual preview of the Supreme Court’s new term, which opens October 5, 2009. A diverse panel of constitutional law experts and litigators highlighted some the Court’s most pressing cases and issues, including the scope of habeas corpus review, limits of police questioning after a right of counsel has been invoked, the ability to challenge the constitutionality of a religious display on public property, and whether the First Amendment limits government regulation of videos depicting animal cruelty. The panelists also discussed unfolding trends on the high court and Justice Sotomayor’s potential to shape those trends.