The Forum 2022-23

The Forum, sponsored by Latham & Watkins, presents discussions on current events, legal and public policy issues, and intellectual ideas. The programs feature experts from within and outside the Law School, and time is generally allowed for questions from the audience.

Fall 2022 Schedule

 

Wednesday, September 14, 1:10–2:25 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge

The US Supreme Court handed down a series of highly consequential rulings in its recently concluded term. In addition to eliminating federal constitutional protections for abortion, the Court sharply curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to fight climate change, expanded Second Amendment protection for gun owners, and broadened religious rights under the First Amendment. The six conservative justices repeatedly banded together to outvote their liberal colleagues. What does this presage for the upcoming term? What major cases are already on the docket? And has the Court become politicized in a way that threatens its legitimacy—or is that question itself a product of today’s highly polarized political environment? At this Forum, a panel of experts will examine these and other questions.

Panelists

  • , Supreme Court Correspondent, the Wall Street Journal
  • , Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law
  • , Partner and Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Moderator

  • , Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, Law; Co-host, Strict Scrutiny podcast

 

Wednesday, October 12, 1:10–2:25 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge

The US Department of Justice’s unprecedented investigation continues into the documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, raising many intertwined domestic law and national security concerns. What’s the likely trajectory of the criminal investigation? How might the Mar-a-Lago proceedings be sequenced with the separate and ongoing investigations and prosecutions around the events of January 6? How do the interests of the intelligence community figure into whether and how to bring criminal charges in such cases? How should we assess the performance of the Justice Department and intelligence community to date? What is essential to understand—and what are common misconceptions about—the Espionage Act, the rules governing (de)classification, executive privilege, and the Presidential Records Act? At this Forum, experts with backgrounds in law, journalism, intelligence, and senior government service will explore the state of play in the case and analyze the bigger picture.

This event is co-hosted by the .

Speakers

  • , Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence, School of Law; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Reiss Center on Law and Security
  • , National Investigative Reporter, The Washington Post
  • , Executive Director, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown University Law Center
  • , Professor of Practice, School of Law; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Reiss Center on Law and Security

Moderator

  • , Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law, School of Law; Faculty Co-Director, Reiss Center on Law and Security

 

Wednesday, November 2, 1:10–2:25 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge

A Conversation Between

  • , Host, All In with Chris Hayes, MSNBC
  • , Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, School of Law

This event is co-hosted by the Birnbaum Women's Leadership Network.

 

Spring 2023 Schedule

 

Wednesday, February 1, 1:10–2:25 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge

In 1972, the US Supreme Court held in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty, if applied arbitrarily or discriminatorily, violates the Eighth Amendment. However, the Furman court stopped short of finding the death penalty inherently unconstitutional. Instead, it gave states the opportunity to modify their capital schemes to comport with the constitution, and four years later, in Gregg v. Georgia, it upheld most of these laws and reinstated the death penalty. Since peaking in 1999, executions have fallen precipitously, as has public support for the death penalty. Today, fifty years after Furman, more than half of US states have either abolished the death penalty or have governor-imposed moratoria. This raises the question: Is the death penalty, as administered today, any less arbitrary and discriminatory than it was when Furman was decided? At this Forum, experts with backgrounds in capital defense will unpack this question, analyzing the US Department of Justice’s shifting position on capital punishment over the last four years, the challenging landscape created by recent Supreme Court death penalty and habeas corpus jurisprudence, and other contemporary issues in death penalty litigation and policy.

This event is co-hosted by the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law.

Speakers

  • ’08, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Criminal Justice, Brooklyn Law School
  • Aren Adjoian, Supervisory Assistant Federal Defender in the for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Adjunct Professor of Law, Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law

Moderator

  • , Assistant Professor of Clinical Law and Co-Faculty Director, Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, School of Law

 

Wednesday, February 22, 1:10–2:25 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge

Socially responsible investing—widely known as ESG, for the environmental, social, and governance factors used as investment criteria—is facing a backlash. Even as the level of money flowing into ESG funds remains robust, critics have emerged from the ranks of Wall Street Journal opinion writers, asset managers, and conservative politicians. They say the approach departs from the duty to maximize financial returns, amounts to “woke capitalism,” and blame it for driving up energy prices through disinvestment in fossil fuels. Republican state treasurers and comptrollers are pulling money from BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, whose CEO, Laurence Fink, is a prominent ESG proponent. What should we make of the criticisms leveled against ESG? How should investment firms and regulators respond? What does the law have to say about it? At this Forum, panelists—including a representative from BlackRock—will discuss these issues and more.

This event is co-hosted by Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance.

Participants

  • , Senior Managing Director and Head of External Affairs, BlackRock; Director, Division of Investment Management, US Securities and Exchange Commission (2017-2021)
  • ’96, Partner and Global Co-Chair, ESG Practice, Latham & Watkins
  • Allison Herren Lee, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance, School of Law; Commissioner, US Securities and Exchange Commission (2019-2022)
  • , Professor of Accounting and Auditing, Columbia Business School

Moderator

  • , Pierrepont Family Professor of Law and Co-Director, Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance, School of Law; Commissioner, US Securities and Exchange Commission (2017-2020)

 

Wednesday, March 1, 1:10–2:25 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge

The United States has a duty to welcome asylum seekers under federal and international law. Over the course of the last six years, however, a combination of controversial federal policies and border-state politics has obstructed many asylum seekers from pursuing their claims. Those who have been permitted to apply for asylum have found themselves in a highly politicized environment, bussed en masse by states like Texas and Florida to northern cities without notice or coordination. The arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers in New York City in recent months has posed a series of challenges and opportunities for the city. In this Forum, our panelists will explore how the city and its residents have responded to the arrival of asylum seekers and reimagine what it might take to welcome and support city residents—both newly-arrived and long-term—with dignity and respect.

Panelists

  • , Member, New York City Council (District 39); Chair, Committee on Immigration
  • , Immigration Enforcement Reporter, Documented
  • , Founder, Refuge America; Author, Asylum: A Memoir and Manifesto

Moderator

  • ’05, Professor of Clinical Law and Co-Director, Immigrant Rights Clinic, School of Law

Co-hosted by the Immigrant Rights Clinic.

 

Wednesday, April 5, 1:10–2:25 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge

The release of generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion have raised numerous concerns—from copyright infringement to defamation to the unlawful disclosure of personal information. Several lawsuits have already been filed against their makers, with more likely to come. On the input side, artists, photographers, graphic artists, journalists, and software coders have accused tech companies of violating rights in their creative works by using those works to train these systems without permission. On the output side, others have expressed apprehension that, much like social media platforms, these tools will produce a flood of harmful content without any accountability for the companies that make them. So how will the law handle generative AI? At this Forum, experts with backgrounds in law, art, copyright, the First Amendment, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act will explore these issues, especially in light of three cases currently pending before the Supreme Court, and a Texas content moderation law that has been stayed pending the Court’s certiorari decision.

Panelists

  • , Emily Kempin Professor of Law, School of Law
  • , Deputy Director, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project; Adjunct Professor, School of Law
  • , Theater Director; MacArthur Fellow; Student, School of Law (Class of 2024)
  • , Latham & Watkins
  • , Partner, Morrison & Foerster; Outside counsel to OpenAI and artist Kristina Kashtanova

Moderator

  • , Professor of Clinical Law and Director, Technology Law and Policy Clinic, School of Law

 

A Former President Indicted: The Special Counsel and the Road Ahead

Wednesday, June 14, 3:00–4:15 p.m.

Virtual Event

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a grand jury in Miami. Since the country learned last August of an FBI search of the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago for documents marked as classified, details have steadily emerged about the volume of documents there, who had access to them, and alleged efforts to conceal them. Now the investigation has culminated in an unprecedented step: the first federal indictment of a former president. The special counsel’s prosecution moves forward against a backdrop of other criminal and civil proceedings against the former president, including around his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, even as he is a presidential candidate for the 2024 election.

Panelists

  • , Reporter covering US Department of Justice, New York Times
  • , Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law, School of Law; Author, (2023)
  • , Executive Director, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Co-host, podcast; Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, US Department of Justice (2016–17)
  • , Professor of Practice and Distinguished Senior Fellow, Reiss Center on Law and Security, School of Law; Co-host, podcast; Prosecutor, Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller (2017–19)

Moderator

  • , Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director, Reiss Center on Law and Security, School of Law; Founding Co-Editor-in-Chief, Just Security