May 8, 2019

11:30 am - 2:30 pm, Eastern Time

The Supreme Corp.: Have Corporate and Right-Wing Interests Captured the Court?

Center for American Progress, Washington, D.C.

In the era of Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed justices have delivered landmark victories for corporate and right-wing interests in dozens of cases, like Citizens United v. FEC, Shelby County v. Holder, and Janus v. AFSCME. Have the conservative justices on the Court been effectively “captured” by these corporate and right-wing interests? If so, what role has the nominations process played and what can be done to reverse this trend and ensure the Court serves only the interest of impartiality, objectivity, and the rule of law? 

Join ACS for a discussion of Supreme Court capture, featuring keynote remarks by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, author of the recently published ACS Issue Brief A Right-Wing Rout: What the “Roberts Five” Decisions Tell Us About the Integrity of Today’s Supreme Court

Live stream feed available here.

Agenda

11:30am to 12:30pm: A Broken Process? A Broken Court?

An examination of how corporate and right-wing special interests broke the confirmation process and captured the courts, and what we can do to stop it.

  • Sam Berger, Vice President of Democracy and Government Reform, Center for American Progress (Moderator)
  • Anna Chu, Vice President for Strategy and Policy, National Women’s Law Center
  • Caroline Fredrickson, President, American Constitution Society
  • Kristine Lucius, Executive Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs, Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights
  • Robert Raben, President and Founder, The Raben Group

12:30 to 1:00pm: Keynote by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

1:00 to 2:30pm: Reckoning with a Captured Court

A look at the 73 cases decided by the “Roberts Five” conservative bloc of the Court and where they appear to be headed.

  • Mark Joseph Stern, Slate (Moderator)
  • Sharon Block, Executive Director of the Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
  • Kent Greenfield, Professor and Dean's Distinguished Scholar, Boston College Law School
  • Deepak Gupta, Principal, Gupta Wessler PLLC
  • Rena Steinzor, Edward M. Robertson Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
  • Ezra Rosenberg, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

2.5 hours of California and Pennsylvania CLE credit has been approved for this event.

Virginia CLE Credit for this event is pending. Participants seeking Virginia CLE credit will be contacted directly by ACS in the weeks following the program.

If you’re seeking CLE credit in another jurisdiction, please consult the state’s CLE rules and regulations.

**Lunch will be provided