FedSoc Forums

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act (the Act). Purportedly intended to help the U.S. economy recover from the COVID virus and the steps taken to prevent its spread, it calls for the Federal Treasury to provide approximately $350 billion in aid to state governments. The Act imposes on states that accept the aid a four-year prohibition against lowering taxes. By April 2, sixteen states – including Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arizona - filed suit to challenge the prohibition, claiming that the Constitution does not permit Congress to dictate how states handle their budgets.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio permanently enjoined application of the Act’s tax-cut prohibition to Ohio, concluding that it exceeded Congress’ authority. Other courts have dismissed the suits as premature or dismissed them for lack of standing.
The authority of Congress to dictate terms to the states is a perennial issue. It has been addressed before in numerous contexts, and the outcome of the current conflict could have far reaching implications.
Brett Nolan, Deputy Solicitor General of Kentucky and Professor Steven Schwinn of the University of Illinois Chicago Law School join for a webinar discussion moderated by Hon. Eileen J. O’Connor.
Featuring:

Brett Nolan, Deputy Solicitor General of Kentucky
Steven Schwinn, Professor of Law, University of Illinois Chicago Law School
Moderator: Hon. Eileen J. O'Connor, Law Office of Eileen J. O'Connor PLLC

In July, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Harbor Healthcare System v. United States, addressing the application of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) and motions to return documents improperly seized by the government in the context of a criminal False Claims Act matter. The Fifth Circuit took a more restrictive approach to seizing and segregating privileged material than we have traditionally seen, and raises interesting questions about the attorney-client privilege, search warrants, and the use of government “taint teams.”
Featuring:

William McClintock, Associate, King & Spalding

Fifty years ago, on August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon put the economic and financial world into a new era. Through his decision to "close the gold window," he fundamentally changed the international monetary system into the system of today, where the whole world runs on pure fiat currencies. "The dollar was the last ship moored to gold, with all the other currencies on board, and the U.S. cut the anchor and sailed off." Nobody knew how it would turn out. Fifty years later, we are completely used to this post-Bretton Woods monetary world with endemic inflation and floating exchange rates, and take it for granted. Nobody thinks it is even possible to go back to the old world: We are all Nixonians now. How shall we judge the momentous Nixon decision in its context and since? A fundamental question with pluses and minuses remains. Is the international monetary system now permanently open to more money printing and more monetization of government debt, making faith in central banks misplaced, and expectation of an ideal monetary policy foolish?
Featuring:

Alex J. Pollock, Distinguished Senior Fellow, R. Street Institute, Author of Fifty Years Without Gold
Moderator: Hon. Wayne A. Abernathy, Chairman, Federalist Society Financial Services & E-Commerce Practice Group

Join Mr. Peter Kirsanow and Mr. Vivek Ramaswamy in the latest installment of our Talks with Authors series to discuss Ramaswamy's newly published book: Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam. A description of the book originally published here and republished below follows:
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A young entrepreneur makes the case that politics has no place in business, and sets out a new vision for the future of American capitalism. There’s a new invisible force at work in our economic and cultural lives. It affects every advertisement we see and every product we buy, from our morning coffee to a new pair of shoes. “Stakeholder capitalism” makes rosy promises of a better, more diverse, environmentally-friendly world, but in reality this ideology championed by America’s business and political leaders robs us of our money, our voice, and our identity. Vivek Ramaswamy is a traitor to his class. He’s founded multibillion-dollar enterprises, led a biotech company as CEO, he became a hedge fund partner in his 20s, trained as a scientist at Harvard and a lawyer at Yale, and grew up the child of immigrants in a small town in Ohio. Now he takes us behind the scenes into corporate boardrooms and five-star conferences, into Ivy League classrooms and secretive nonprofits, to reveal the defining scam of our century. The modern woke-industrial complex divides us as a people. By mixing morality with consumerism, America’s elites prey on our innermost insecurities about who we really are. They sell us cheap social causes and skin-deep identities to satisfy our hunger for a cause and our search for meaning, at a moment when we as Americans lack both. This book not only rips back the curtain on the new corporatist agenda, it offers a better way forward. America’s elites may want to sort us into demographic boxes, but we don’t have to stay there. Woke, Inc. begins as a critique of stakeholder capitalism and ends with an exploration of what it means to be an American in 2021—a journey that begins with cynicism and ends with hope.
Featuring:

Vivek Ramaswamy, Author, Woke Inc.: Inside Corproate America's Social Justice Scam
Interviewer: Peter Kirsanow, Partner, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP

This webinar is the first in a two-part series covering employee and employer religious rights and related labor issues. What are employees' rights to express or practice their religion at work? Can they be exempt from dress codes or grooming requirements? Can they take prayer breaks or a day off to observe the Sabbath? Can they avoid having to participate in holiday parties, abortion procedures (as medical providers), using LGBTQ pronouns, or other actions that may contradict their religious beliefs? This discussion will provide an overview of employees' rights under Title VII and other laws to religious expression, accommodation, and nondiscrimination in the workplace.
Featuring:

Rachel Morrison, Policy Analyst, Ethics & Public Policy Center; former Attorney Advisor, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Moderator: Evelyn Hildebrand, Assistant Director, Practice Groups, The Federalist Society

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

On September 1, 2021, the Texas Heartbeat bill went into effect, banning abortions as soon as cardiac activity is present in an unborn child—around six weeks gestation. The bill also allows private citizens to sue and enforce the new law. Opponents of the bill appealed to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay and the Court denied relief, allowing the Texas law to go into effect. Joining us to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision and its implications is Ethics and Public Policy Distinguished Senior Fellow Ed Whelan. Read additional comment from Mr. Whelan on National Review.
Featuring:

Edward Whelan, Distinguished Senior Fellow and Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

Finance ministers from leading industrial states have been trying, this summer, to work out an agreement on a minimum rate for corporate taxes. Does it matter that this agreement won’t be adopted by the constitutional procedure for making treaties? Will it still matter, by itself, to U.S. tax law and tax enforcement? Should we expect other nations to abide by an agreement of this kind? Discussion with:

-- Michael Ramsey, San Diego Law School (author of “Evading the Treaty Power?” FIU L.Rev 2016)

-- Joshua Wu, former Deputy Assistant AG, Tax Division

-- Stephen Krasner, Professor of International Relations, Stanford University (author of Power, The State and Sovereignty).

-- Moderator: Jeremy Rabkin, Scalia Law School.

In July 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that California's recent school closures violated parental rights to direct the education of children, and reversed the lower court's decision upholding California's regulations as they relate to private education. Robert Dunn, who argued the case at the Ninth Circuit for plaintiffs, joins us to discuss the litigation, this ruling, and its implications.
Featuring:

Robert Dunn, Partner, Eimer Stahl LLP
Moderator: Hon. Jennifer Perkins, Division One, Arizona Court of Appeals

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

Professor George La Noue joined us to discuss his recently published article, “The Race Card in ARPA’s Food Supply Deck,” published by the Federalist Society Review on July 12, 2021. In his article, Professor La Noue discused the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which appropriated $1.9 trillion, $28.6 billion of which would be administered by the Small Business Administration. Since passage, numerous lawsuits have been filed against the SBA on Fifth Amendment grounds alleging unconstitutional sex-based and race-based discrimination. Other suits have been filed against the United States Department of Agriculture for an allegedly unconstitutional loan forgiveness scheme on the same Fifth Amendment grounds. Read Professor La Noue’s analysis of the arguments and country-wide pending litigation is here.

Featuring:


Professor George La Noue, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Moderator: Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, Founder and Chairman, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law



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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

In a January 26, 2021 White House Memorandum, President Biden directed the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to reexamine actions taken during the Trump presidency, and ordering the Secretary to ensure the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which bans discrimination, was being properly administered. On that initiative, Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge moved to reinstate two Obama-era Fair Housing rules rejecting former Secretary Ben Carson’s previous directives.
Secretary Fudge rescinded Secretary Carson’s interpretation of the disparate impact rule, rescinded the Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice Rule, and reinstated the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule.
Featuring:

Howard Husock, Senior Fellow, Domestic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Bryan Greene, Vice President, Policy Advocacy, National Association of Realtors
Daniel Huff, former General Deputy Assistant Secretary, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Moderator: Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, Founder and Chairman, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.