The Constitution, The Courts, and Conservatism
Explore the debates within conservative legal thought on the courts and the Constitution.
The Supreme Court’s 2017-18 term could be the most consequential term in decades, as justices consider major cases involving religious liberty, immigration, cell phone privacy, voting rights, and gerrymandering. In this weekend seminar, students will consider two key cases from this momentous term, with a view toward understanding how politics and law interact, the different approaches to constitutional judgment and rhetoric, and the impact of the Court’s decisions on American lives.
This seminar will be taught by Adam White, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and executive director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
Images: “Supreme Court” by Matt Wade | Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 | “Affordable Care Act arguments, Day 2” by angela n., | Flickr, CC BY 2
This weekend seminar will take place in Washington, DC. It is a full-time commitment for Friday–Sunday, with required sessions in the morning, afternoon, and some evenings.
Faculty
Adam J. White
Adam J. White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American constitutionalism. Concurrently, he codirects the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
Adam J. White
Adam J. White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American constitutionalism, the Supreme Court, and the administrative state. Concurrently, he codirects the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
Mr. White previously practiced constitutional and administrative law, particularly in the regulation of energy and the environment, finance, and telecommunications. He was a research fellow for Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and an adjunct fellow for the Manhattan Institute. He started his legal career as a law clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
The author of a wide range of essays, book reviews, law review articles, and book chapters, Mr. White has appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, National Affairs, Commentary, The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the Notre Dame Law Review. He is a regular contributor to the Yale Journal on Regulation’s “Notice and Comment” blog, and for many years he was one of The Weekly Standard’s primary writers on constitutional law and the Supreme Court.
Mr. White has testified before a variety of US House and US Senate committees, including the Senate Judiciary Committee; the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law (currently known as the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law); the Senate Commerce Committee; and the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
In 2017 he was appointed to serve on the Administrative Conference of the United States. He also serves on the boards of two nonprofit organizations: Speech First and the Land Conservation Assistance Network.
He has a JD from Harvard Law School and a bachelor of business administration from the College of Business at the University of Iowa.
Download the Full Syllabus
Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session
Friday
Opening Dinner & Introduction
Saturday
Session I: Privacy & Modern Technology | Carpenter v. US
Group Lunch & Guest Speaker | Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare
Benjamin Wittes
Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books and is co-chair of the Hoover Institution’s Working Group on National Security, Technology, and Law.
Session II: State Power, Interstate Markets, & Modern Commerce | South Dakota v. Wayfair
Group Dinner & Discussion
Sunday
Session III: Open Discussion on the Cases
Group Lunch & Guest Speaker | Michael S. Greve, GMU
Michael S. Greve
Michael S. Greve joined the faculty of the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University after having served as John G. Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to joining AEI, Greve was founder and co-director of the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm specializing in constitutional litigation. Greve has provided congressional and state legislative testimony, has lobbied and consulted in federal agency proceedings, and has provided litigation services and management in over 30 cases, including matters before the U.S. Supreme Court.
