FedSoc Forums

The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated strains on all parts of our justice system from police officers on the frontlines to federal prisons. With the passage of the First Step Act signed by President Donald Trump in December 2018, the federal government moved in the direction of dozens of states that have sought to reduce the size, scope, and cost of their systems while still protecting public safety. Amid the current crisis, calls have grown to take additional steps at the federal, state, and local levels, as many advocates worry about the impact of COVID-19. For example, U.S. Attorney General William Barr has ordered the release of hundreds of elderly and infirm individuals based on geriatric release provisions in the First Step Act and the most recent $2 trillion economic relief bill. As further actions are considered at all levels of government, join this call as we assess the impact of the First Step Act and what next steps are possible based on public safety and public health considerations.

Featuring:
-- Marc Levin, Chief of Policy & Innovation, Right on Crime, Texas Public Policy Foundation
-- Rafael A. Mangual, Fellow and Deputy Director of Legal Policy Contributing Editor, City Journal, The Manhattan Institute
-- Arthur Rizer, Director, Criminal Justice & Civil Liberties; Resident Senior Fellow, R Street Institute

Join us as Uttam Dhillon, the Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, discusses the response to COVID-19, as well as the pressing issues of the opioid epidemic in America, the dangerous threat from fentanyl, and the proliferation of methamphetamine. He will also review the threat from Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), the reduction of violent crime associated with drugs, and drug abuse prevention.

Featuring:
-- Uttam Dhillon, Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration

Shut-down orders issued by state governors amid the COVID-19 pandemic and federal responses to the pandemic such as the CARES Act raise a range of issues related to religious freedom. Join us for this teleforum that will discuss the constitutional and statutory issues raised by these measures, including religious exemptions and participation by religious institutions in federally funded relief programs.

Featuring:
-- Kim Colby, Director of the Center of Law and Religious Freedom, Christian Legal Society
-- Prof. Michael P. Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

The Heritage Foundation’s newly released 2020 Index of Economic Freedom confirms yet again the economic and social benefits of policies that preserve and promote economic freedom. Economic freedom has grown over the last year in most of the world (although there was a slight decline in the United States), but will no doubt be hurt by emergency health measures that include social distancing, job suspensions, and mobility restrictions. These measures may be unavoidable in the current crisis. Is there a way to prevent governments, in the name of crisis response, from adding to the problem by undertaking spending or regulatory measures that might do lasting harm to our economic prospects in the future? Please join us as we discuss this question and key findings from the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom.

Featuring
--Ambassador Terry Miller, Director, Center for International Trade and Economics and Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation
-- Nicolas Loris, Deputy Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
-- Moderator: Bryan Riley, Director, Free Trade Initiative, National Taxpayers Union

On March 18, the Senate passed and the President signed into law the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act.” Among other things, this new law, set to take effect no later than April 2, 2020, creates a new paid sick leave mandate for all employers with fewer than 500 employees and expands the application of the Family Medical Leave Act to cover all employers in certain circumstances related to the coronavirus. Karen Harned and James Paretti will walk participants through key provisions of this new law.

Featuring:
-- Karen Harned, Executive Director, National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center
-- James A. Paretti, Shareholder, Littler Mendelson P.C.

Of Federalism, Copyright, and Blackbeard’s Revenge: The recent Supreme Court ruling in Allen v. Cooper is the latest development in a decades-long series of Congressional enactments and Supreme Court rulings over whether and how Congress can abrogate the sovereign immunity of States from intellectual property infringement suits. This all-star panel will discuss the Court’s most recent decision in the context of the evolution of the Court’s sovereign immunity jurisprudence, the policy concerns of Congress and intellectual property owners, and where we might go from here.
Featuring:
Prof. Steven Tepp, Professorial Lecturer in Law, George Washington Law, and President and Founder of Sentinal Worldwide
Prof. John T. Cross, Grosscurth Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Technology Transfer, University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law
Prof. Ralph Oman, Pravel, Hewitt, Kimball and Kreiger Professorial Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Patent Law
Prof. Ernest A. Young, Alston & Bird Professor, Duke Law School

Until recently, the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department typically issued regulations involving the tax law with scant compliance with the familiar procedural requirements of administrative law for primarily three reasons. First, because tax law was considered “exceptional;” second, the agencies believed that their rules and regulations were exempt from the requirements of the APA and related statutes; and third, the “Anti-Injunction Act,” 26 U.S.C. § 7421(a), was thought to drastically limit judicial jurisdiction over taxpayer challenges to the validity of tax regulatory actions. Over the past decade, tax agency practices have been under attack and taxpayers have been pursuing their challenges to the procedural validity of tax regulations in the courts, notwithstanding the consistent opposition of the Government. Our speakers have been at the center of those challenges and will discuss several very recent cases highlighting the changing environment for APA challenges to tax regulations.

Featuring:
-- Kristin Hickman is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and the Harlan Albert Rogers Professor in Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, who has published several of the seminal law review articles on this topic.
-- Stuart Bassin is a veteran litigator of tax cases and serves as the taxpayers’ counsel in one of the most prominent pending cases in this area. He was previously a trial attorney with the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
-- Moderator: Robert Carney is a Senior Counsel at Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, in Washington, D.C., specializing in tax controversy and tax litigation. He also was previously a trial attorney with the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

First appearing in a 1949 dissent authored by Justice Robert H. Jackson, the phrase “the Constitution is not a suicide pact” is being cited today by critics of perceived government overreach. Local, state, and federal authorities have directed citizens to self-isolate to prevent the spread of COVID-19, causing the biggest economic shutdown in modern history. Part of the effort to “flatten the curve”, these initially voluntary quarantines are quickly becoming legal mandates in certain states (and nations across the world). In California and New York, people violating stay-home orders for non-essential activities have been ticketed and cited with misdemeanors. Is there a point at which these restrictions on travel and assembly violate the rights inherent in America’s constitutional order? Many legal scholars agree the chief executive has quasi-wartime powers during national pandemics, but is there a limiting principle or expiration date? Join Professors Richard Epstein and Anthony Kreis as they discuss the viral menace and civil liberties in this Teleforum.
Featuring:
Prof. Richard A. Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law
Prof. Anthony Kreis, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology

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