Federalist Society Speaker Series at UVA Law

Professor James Phillips gives an overview of corpus linguistics, a cutting-edge interpretive tool that has started making its way into the judiciary. 

Professor Sherif Girgis of Notre Dame Law discusses his recent article titled Originalism’s Age of Ironies, which examines the difficulties originalism has encountered as it has moved from a legal theory to the governing philosophy of the Supreme Court.

Jonathan Wolfson of the Cicero Institute, and our own Professor Cale Jaffe from UVA Law, discuss potential legislative responses to Loper Bright. In Loper Bright, the Supreme Court overturned the 30-year-old Chevron doctrine, which required federal courts to give deference to the reasonable interpretations of vague statutory provisions by administrative agencies. This upheaval in administrative law creates an opportunity for legislatures—both federal and state—to provide direction for courts. After their discussion, they take questions from attendees.

Ed Whelan, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center offers his thoughts on what elections—both present and future—will mean for Supreme Court nominations. Ed will answer questions from attendees, and as always, lunch will be served!

Professor Joel Alicea of Catholic Law gives his talk, The Natural Law Moment in Constitutional Theory. After his talk, Professor Alicea answers questions from attendees. 

We welcome back Institute for Justice attorneys, as well as our very own chapter booster Professor Julia Mahoney, for a fun and wide-ranging look at the cases the Court will consider, and the cases our panelists think the Court should hear. They also answer questions from attendees.

Professor Andrew Hayashi interviews Andrew Grossman, a partner at Baker Hostetler, about Moore v. United States. Mr. Grossman argued the case before the Court last term, and he discusses both his experiences litigating the case and the implications of the decision. This event was co-sponsored by the Virginia Tax Review. 

Robert Frommer of the Institute of Justice gives us an overview of IJ’s Project on the Fourth Amendment, focusing specifically on efforts to reform the “open fields” doctrine. UVA Law’s own Professor Barb Armacost also offers her thoughts on Fourth Amendment reform. 

Originalism may be the dominant theory of constitutional interpretation at the Supreme Court, but its adherents often have differing views on how exactly it should work and what outcomes should result. Our panel discusses the various strains of the theory of originalism and its mechanics, and they will also address its major critiques. 

The rise in ESG investing is one of the most controversial financial developments of the last few years. Is it common sense or a sham? Former Commissioner of the SEC, Paul Atkins, joined the chapter for a discussion on “ESG, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Law."  This even was cos-sponsored by the Darden School of Business' Adam Smith Society.