Opportunities in Public Service: State AG Honors Programs & Fellowships

 

On April 4, 2022, the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center and the American Constitution Society held a discussion about honors programs and fellowship opportunities in the offices of state attorneys general. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein provided opening remarks, which was followed by a panel discussion with former and current honors program attorneys and State AGO staff.

Opening Remarks:

Attorney General Josh Stein, North Carolina Attorney General

Panel Discussion: 

Jessica Leeah, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Professional Development & Public Service Section, Alaska Department of Law

Travis Royer, Honors Fellow, Office of the Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General’s Office

Jasleen Singh, Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice; former Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice

Dan Sutton, Deputy Chief of Policy, Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office

Andy Su, Legal Fellow, Environmental Defense Fund, Moderator

Ukraine: Democracy’s Moment of Truth

Last week Russia launched a premeditated and unprovoked invasion into Ukraine. The resulting crisis has quickly come to embody the global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. In the battle for democracy the United States and its allies are relying on a sweeping sanctions regime designed to leave Russia isolated and economically restricted. In the absence of military intervention, what tools do the United States and her allies have in the fight against global democratic retreat? How do international sanctions work? And what are the legal, political, and moral repercussions of labeling Vladimir Putin's actions as "war crimes"?

Opening Remarks:
Russ Feingold, ACS President

Featured Speakers:
Debra Perlin, Director of Policy and Program, American Constitution Society, Moderator
Oona Hathaway, Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law and Counselor to the Dean, Yale Law School
Adam Smith, Partner, Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP

Supreme Court Nomination: What's Next?

Join ACS for a discussion on the historic nomination of the first Black woman to the United States Supreme Court, including how the confirmation process will unfold, what this groundbreaking nomination may mean for the Court, and insight into Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and her time on the bench.

Featured Speakers:
Rachel Barkow, Vice Dean and Charles Seligson Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Danielle Holley-Walker, Professor of Law and Dean, Howard University School of Law
Jeremy Paris, Principal, The Raben Group

Ending State-Sanctioned Killings: Prosecutors and the Death Penalty

When the Supreme Court revived the death penalty in 1976, it did so on the promise that only the so-called “worst of the worst” would be executed. Yet nearly 50 years and countless reform efforts later, the death penalty is often used against the most marginalized and vulnerable. With 23 states prohibiting capital punishment altogether, decades of Supreme Court precedent limiting its use, and capital prosecutions declining significantly in death penalty states, criminal justice leaders and communities across the country are asking whether the death penalty can ever be sufficiently reformed or repaired.

In response, reform-minded state and local elected prosecutors across the country are redoubling their efforts to curtail and ultimately eliminate our nation’s failed death penalty system, demonstrating that public safety is not contingent on the justice system’s ability to kill. These efforts are supported by new polling from the Justice Research Group, which shows that when people learn who is subjected to our harshest punishment, overwhelming bipartisan majorities of voters oppose the use of the death penalty.

Join the American Constitution Society and Fair and Just Prosecution for a discussion with current and former prosecutors about the growing bipartisan opposition to the death penalty in prosecutor offices and communities across the country.

Featured Speakers:

Elizabeth Bruenig, staff writer, The Atlantic, Moderator

Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, Commonwealth's Attorney, Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, Virginia

Robert Dunham, Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center

Miriam Krinsky, Executive Director, Fair and Just Prosecution

Dan Satterberg, Prosecuting Attorney, King County, Washington

This program is being co-hosted with Fair and Just Prosecution.

ACS UDC and ACS Howard: A Conversation with ACS President Russ Feingold

 

Join the ACS UDC and ACS Howard chapters for a discussion with Russ Feingold, President of the American Constitution Society (ACS). Learn more about Russ, his career, and ACS's work. During the conversation, we'll also discuss the filibuster, voting rights, judicial nominations, and court reform.

Featuring:

Russ Feingold, ACS President

Domonique Hamilton, ACS Howard President

Shawn Deadwiler, UDC ACS President

Safeguarding Democracy: Lessons Learned from 1/6

 

In the year since the Capitol building was stormed by an angry mob intent on overturning the results of the 2020 election, congressional leaders and Department of Justice prosecutors have been working to hold those who orchestrated the Jan. 6 insurrection accountable. But advocates and lawmakers across the ideological spectrum agree that we must do more to reform our democratic institutions to guard against future threats. This panel will explore strategies that advocates, lawmakers, and law professors can take to safeguard democracy. How can we minimize the misinformation that fuels these threats? What can we learn from other countries who have lived through attacks on democracy? Are there legislative and institutional changes, including those contained in the Electoral Count Act and the Protect Our Democracy Act, that we should consider? And are there things that law schools and the broader legal community can do to build civil society resiliency and prevent another January 6th?

Featured Speakers:

Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program, Moderator

Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law, Yale Law School

Hari Osofsky, Dean, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

Donald Sherman, Vice President and Chief Counsel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)

This program is being co-hosted with the Society for American Law Teachers (SALT).