Tag: 2016 ACS National Convention

ACS at 15: Looking Back at 15 Years of Progress

Ngozi Nezianya (moderator) , J.D./M.B.A. Candidate, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management 
Ronald Klain, General Counsel, Revolution LLC 
Hon. Peter Rubin, Massachusetts Appeals Court 
Dawn Smalls, Partner, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP
Hon. Pamela Harris, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

We the People? Law and Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion

Throughout U.S. history, social movements have achieved great legal victories that have enhanced social inclusion and expanded the meaning of “we the people.” Whether it be the civil rights movement and its heir, Black Lives Matter, or the push for LGBT equality that resulted in last year’s Obergefell decision, the interplay between social action and legal progress can be powerful. At the same time, the current campaign season has highlighted a disturbing phenomenon: the facility with which racial, religious and other minorities are demonized in our political discourse over what should be substantive policy issues. This is certainly not new. The Chinese Exclusion Act, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the Supreme Court’s legitimization of both, remind us of the potential exclusionary power our politics can have on the legal landscape. How does, or how should, social action shape constitutional meaning?

Speakers

Julie Fernandes (moderator), Advocacy Director for Voting Rights and Democracy, Open Society Foundations
Baher Azmy, Legal Director, Center for Constitutional Rights

Ian Haney López, John H. Boalt Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Pamela Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School 
Kenneth Mack, Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Ilya Somin, Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law

The Constitution’s Obligations

Most of the time we think the Constitution imposes few obligations on the government to affirmatively advance public-regarding or progressive goals. The Constitution, on this theory, is really just protecting our “negative liberties” from the government. But perhaps there are places where the Constitution requires something of the government—or requires the government to protect people from private actors. This panel featured members of ACS's Board of Academic Advisors discussing the affirmative obligations that the Constitution imposes on government and how that understanding should influence constitutional decision making and interpretation. Topics included the duties Congress and the President have to implement immigration law consistent with the Equal Protection Clause, the government’s obligation to prevent oligarchy through campaign nance laws, and the constitutional roots of a right to education, in addition to race, labor rights, and economic inequality.

Speakers

Ganesh Sitaraman, Assistant Professor of Law, Vanderbilt Law School; Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress (moderator)
Kate Andrias, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
Elise Boddie, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Joseph Fishkin, Professor of Law, University of Texas School of Law

Data Privacy and Law Enforcement Access at Home and Abroad

The battle over access to user data heated up this year with law enforcement seeking to require device manufacturers to “unlock” encrypted devices and to access data stored abroad under the control of American companies. Meanwhile, the U.S. and the U.K. have begun negotiations to allow the British government access to British user data based on U.K. legal standards, even though controlled by American companies and stored on U.S. soil. This panel addressed the critical questions being raised regarding the extraterritorial reach of domestic law, the applicability of substantive and procedural safeguards that protect privacy in these scenarios, and how to achieve the right balance between privacy and law enforcement needs in an increasingly interconnected and digitized world.

Speakers

Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter, The Washington Post (moderator)
Chris Calabrese, Vice President for Policy, Center for Democracy & Technology
Jennifer Daskal, Assistant Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Joseph DeMarco, Partner, DeVore & DeMarco LLP
Neal Katyal, Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Partner, Hogan Lovells LL

Race, Speech and Inclusion on Campus

The past year saw students protest on campuses across the U.S., asserting that universities have not done enough to respond to racial bias on campus and to create inclusive academic communities. Some critics dismiss their demands and point to the rise of “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” as political correctness run amok. What can and should universities do to address these complaints? And how might these issues affect or be affected by the Supreme Court’s consideration of affirmative action this Term in Fisher v. University of Texas?
 
Speakers
 
Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate Magazine (moderator) 
Payton Head, Former Student Body President, University of Missouri
Wendy Kaminer, Author, Lawyer and Commentator 
Theodore Shaw, Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights, University of North Carolina School of Law 
Geoffrey Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School