Among the numerous ways in which the presidency of Donald J. Trump is unprecedented is the extent of his business holdings. Three lawsuits are currently pending alleging that President Trump has violated the Constitution's Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses, which were intended to prevent government corruption. The plaintiffs include Members of Congress, the Attorneys General of the District of Columbia and Maryland, a non-profit organization dedicated to government ethics and transparency, and Trump business competitors.
On Wednesday July 19 ACS hosted a breakfast discussion and analysis of the litigations, including the substantive claims, the history of the Emoluments Clauses, questions about the parties’ standing, and what remedies might be available. Lawyers representing plaintiffs in all three cases participated.
Welcome:
Caroline Fredrickson, President, American Constitution Society
Featured Speaker:
District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine
Panel:
Joan Biskupic, CNN, Moderator
Trevor Burrus, Research Fellow, Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies
Brianne Gorod, Chief Counsel, Constitutional Accountability Center
Deepak Gupta, Founding Principal, Gupta Wessler PLLC
Stephanie Litos, Senior Counsel to the Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia
Gautham Rao, Assistant Professor, Department of History, American University
On June 29, ACS hosted its annual panel discussion at the National Press Club reviewing the 2016 - 2017 Supreme Court Term as it drew to a close. Leading experts discussed the Court's noteworthy decisions and analyze emerging trends. They also discussed the impact of Justice Neil Gorsuch's joining the Court.
Presentation of ACS Lawyer Chapter Awards, Constance Baker Motley Writing Competition Award, and Student Chapter Awards
The Trump Administration has signaled a national security philosophy that is in turns interventionist and isolationist. On the one hand, it has committed to reinvigorating the “War on Terror,” leading to the potential for increased military adventurism in the Middle East, extrajudicial killings, unwarranted detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects, excessive use of government surveillance and religious and ethnic profiling. On the other hand, it has downplayed Russian interference with U.S. elections, declined to criticize authoritarian regimes and sown doubt about the United States’ commitment to NATO. At times, this has placed the administration at odds with the intelligence community and Congress. Can we make sense of these seemingly opposing philosophies? What are the threats each pose to civil liberties and constitutional rights? And what are the most effective strategies for combatting those threats through both litigation and public advocacy?
In this session, the audience heard from several elected officials who used their law degrees to propel them into state and local office. The panelists, including a judge, attorney general, mayor, and state representatives, shared their experiences of taking first steps towards a run, building a support network, balancing work and running for office, staffing and managing a campaign, and fundraising. The co-founder and executive director of Run for Something provided advice on running for office. The audience came away with concrete steps to take to explore their own potential candidacies for elected office.
The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder effectively nullified a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the most effective civil rights law ever enacted. As a result, attorneys and activists play a key role working with voters to protect their rights against discriminatory voting laws.
The Voting Rights Institute, a project of ACS, the Campaign Legal Center and Georgetown University Law Center, has trained approximately 1,000 lawyers and law students nationwide. This training included an overview of voting rights legislation and case law, examples of the ways in which state and local governments are infringing upon the right to vote and information for attendees who want to identify obstacles to voting and how to fix them.
