The Constitution, The Courts, and Conservatism
Explore the debates within conservative legal thought on the courts and the Constitution.
The Supreme Court’s 2017-18 term could be the most consequential term in decades, as justices consider major cases involving religious liberty, immigration, cell phone privacy, voting rights, and gerrymandering. In this weekend seminar, students will consider two key cases from this momentous term, with a view toward understanding how politics and law interact, the different approaches to constitutional judgment and rhetoric, and the impact of the Court’s decisions on American lives.
This seminar will be taught by Adam White, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and executive director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
Images: “Supreme Court” by Matt Wade | Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 | “Affordable Care Act arguments, Day 2” by angela n., | Flickr, CC BY 2
This weekend seminar will take place in Washington, DC. It is a full-time commitment for Friday–Sunday, with required sessions in the morning, afternoon, and some evenings.
Faculty
Adam J. White
Adam J. White is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and an Assistant Professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he also directs the Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
Adam J. White
Adam J. White is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and an Assistant Professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he also directs the Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He writes widely on the administrative state, the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and regulatory policy, with special focus on energy policy and financial regulation.
He is a Contributing Editor with National Affairs, The New Atlantis, and City Journal, and a contributor to the Yale Journal on Regulation‘s blog, “Notice and Comment.” He was recently appointed to the Administrative Conference of the United States, a federal advisory board focused on improving federal agencies’ practices. He also serves on the leadership council of the American Bar Association’s Administrative Law Section; on the executive committee of the Federalist Society’s Administrative Law Practice Group; and on the board of directors of LandCAN, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting conservation on working lands.
Prior to joining AEI, he was a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. In addition to his research and writing, he practiced law with Boyden Gray & Associates, writing briefs on constitutional and regulatory issues in the Supreme Court and various other federal courts. (He continues to be “of counsel” to the firm in three pending cases involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Communications Commission.) Previously, he was a Senior Associate with Baker Botts, working on various constitutional and regulatory matters, including energy infrastructure regulation.
He received his J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School, and his B.B.A. (economics) from the University of Iowa College of Business. He clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Download the Full Syllabus
Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session
Friday
Opening Dinner & Introduction
Saturday
Session I: Privacy & Modern Technology | Carpenter v. US
Group Lunch & Guest Speaker | Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare
Benjamin Wittes
Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books and is co-chair of the Hoover Institution’s Working Group on National Security, Technology, and Law.
Session II: State Power, Interstate Markets, & Modern Commerce | South Dakota v. Wayfair
Group Dinner & Discussion
Sunday
Session III: Open Discussion on the Cases
Group Lunch & Guest Speaker | Michael S. Greve, GMU
Michael S. Greve
Michael S. Greve joined the faculty of the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University after having served as John G. Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to joining AEI, Greve was founder and co-director of the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm specializing in constitutional litigation. Greve has provided congressional and state legislative testimony, has lobbied and consulted in federal agency proceedings, and has provided litigation services and management in over 30 cases, including matters before the U.S. Supreme Court.
