On Monday, April 6, the day before the Spring 2020 Wisconsin elections were to take place, SCOTUS released its decision in Republican National Committee v. Democratic National Committee. Following a ruling from Judge William Conley of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin that extended the timeline for the state to receive and process mail-in ballots in light of COVID-19, a ruling affirmed by the Seventh Circuit, the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling, along ideologic lines, overturned the district and circuit court to conclude that the judiciary branch could not intervene.
This eleventh-hour intervention by SCOTUS meant that voters who had previously expected to receive, complete, and send in their ballots in the week following the official election date, as they were allowed to do under the District Court’s ruling, now had to either vote in-person or forgo their most fundamental democratic right. This sudden change in election policy, matched with wide-spread poll closure and the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in incredibly long lines outside of some of the state’s most populous polling location.
In this panel, sponsored by the ACS University of Idaho College of Law Student Chapter, the ACS Madison Lawyer Chapter, and the ACS At-Large Chapter, our expert speakers engaged in a discussion on the implications of RNC v. DNC for the WI elections and what the case might indicate about SCOTUS’ role in the upcoming presidential elections.
Featuring:
Atiba Ellis, Professor of Law and ACS Faculty Advisor, Marquette University Law School
Jeff Mandell, Partner, Stafford Rosenbaum LLP; President, ACS Madison Lawyer Chapter
Franita Tolson, Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, USC Gould School of Law; Member, ACS National Board of Directors & Board of Academic Advisors
Moderated By:
Benjamin Cover, Associate Professor of Law, University of Idaho College of Law
While many of the significant legal questions concerning Wisconsin’s Spring 2020 elections were ultimately resolved by conservative majorities on both the Wisconsin and United States Supreme Courts, the litigation surrounding election administration in Wisconsin began weeks before April 7, 2020—and some of it continues.
Join the Wisconsin chapters of the American Constitution Society for a discussion with several Wisconsin election experts, including a number of attorneys who worked on the initial election litigation, as we discuss what the rulings mean for other upcoming elections in Wisconsin and beyond.
Featuring:
Doug Poland, Member, Rathje Woodward LLC; Plaintiffs’ Counsel in Lewis v. Knudson and Gear v. Knudson; Member, ACS Madison Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors
Stacie Rosenzweig, Partner, Halling & Cayo, S.C.; Plaintiffs’ Counsel in Edwards v. Vos
Sopen Shah, Associate, Perkins Coie LLP; Plaintiffs’ Counsel in Democratic National Committee v. Bostelmann; Member, ACS Madison Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors
Moderated By:
Atiba Ellis, Professor of Law and ACS Faculty Advisor, Marquette University Law School
A representative for the WI State Legislature’s legal team was invited to speak on this panel and declined.
On Friday, April 17, the ACS At-Large Chapter and the ACS Washington, DC Lawyer Chapter co-hosted an expert panel discussion on the nuances and intersections of religious freedom, immigration, national security, and the U.S. Supreme Court. You can find CLE documentation for this event here.
Featuring:
Douglas Laycock, Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law & Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia School of Law
Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar, Clinical Professor of Law, and Director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, Penn State Law
Moderated by:
Iman Boukadoum, Member, ACS At-Large Chapter
As part of our 2020 Student Convention Virtual Event Series, ACS held a panel discussion on April 9 with current mayors focusing on innovations in local government. Recent legal and political developments demonstrate the powerful role that cities and local governments play in our society. Whether as innovators of progressive public policy, leaders for social change, or bulwarks of resistance, cities shape the law and politics in unique ways. Topics discussed included: how they have responded to COVID-19, protection of immigrant communities, housing stability, and their motivation for serving in local government.
Featuring:
Hon. Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Mayor of Jackson, MS
Hon. Sumbul Siddiqui, Mayor of Cambridge, MA
Moderated By:
Jonathan Miller, Legal Director, Public Rights Project; Lecturer in Law, Harvard Law School
On March 30, the ACS At-Large Chapter celebrated Women’s History Month by having a discussion with Professor Kathryn M. Stanchi on her book Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court.
In Feminist Judgments, Stanchi and her fellow editors looked at 25 key U.S. Supreme Court opinions using a feminist lens and answered the timely question “what would United States Supreme Court opinions look like if key decisions on gender issues were written from a feminist perspective?”
Featuring:
Kathryn M. Stanchi, E.L. Cord Professor of Law, UNLV School of Law
