LEZAH RICHARDSON—Once the weakest branch of government, the Supreme Court has now become the most powerful and least accountable. But this transition did not happen overnight. Stephen I. Vladeck, Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, explained the Court’s transformation during his guest lecture for the Constitutional Crisis Seminar, hosted by Professor A. […]
KELLY LIANG—Professor Genevieve Lakier of the University of Chicago Law School explores the Trump administration’s attacks on civil society and what that means from a First Amendment perspective. Ultimately, Lakier calls attention to a broader concern: that the government’s aggressive intrusion into civil society is undermining American liberal democracy. Defining Civil Society Traditionally, civil society […]
AVERY HALL—In his lecture, “Impoundments and Other Methods of Fiscal Control,” Professor Zachary Price analyzes the history of executive efforts to control federal spending. He situates his discussion in recent history, arguing that the Trump administration’s assertion of spending control has marked a new degree of departure from historical norms. While this tension is not […]
NINA SUAREZ—The power to hire and fire may seem straightforward, but within constitutional law, it embodies a prominent unsettled question about executive authority: how much unilateral presidential control should exist over appointments and removals of executive officers? Thomas A. Berry, director of the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and editor-in-chief of […]
TRENT ANDERSON—In 1997, David Bowie made waves in both the music and finance worlds by transforming his back catalog into a $55 million financial instrument. The first of what became known as “Bowie Bonds,” this deal allowed him to raise immediate cash by securitizing future royalties from twenty-five of his albums. Consistent with Bowie’s persona, […]
