Federalist Society Event Audio

The Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group hosted this panel on "Prisoner Releases and the Role of the Courts" on Friday, November 11, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. The panel featured Dr. Richard A. Berk of the University of Pennsylvania; Hon. Deborah J. Daniels of Krieg DeVault LLP; Hon. Sarah V. Hart of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office; Mr. Donald Specter of the Prison Law Office; Attorney General Luther Strange of Alabama; and Judge Edith Brown Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The Litigation Practice Group hosted this panel on "Attorneys Fees in Class Actions" on Thursday, November 10, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. The panel featured Prof. Lester Brickman of Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; Prof. Brian T. Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt University Law School; Mr. Theodore H. Frank of the Center for Class Action Fairness; Dean Alan B. Morrison of The George Washington University Law School; Mr. Jeffrey S. Jacobson of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; and Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as the moderator.

The Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group hosted this panel on "Meet the New Boss: Continuity in Presidential War Powers" on Thursday, November 10, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. The panel featured Prof. Martin S. Flaherty of the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School; Mr. Andrew C. McCarthy of the National Review Institute; Prof. Michael D. Ramsey of the University of San Diego School of Law; Prof. John C. Yoo of the University of California Berkeley School of Law; and Dr. John C. Eastman of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at Chapman University School of Law as the moderator.

The Labor & Employment Law Practice Group hosted this panel on "Organized Labor and the Obama Administration" on Thursday, November 10, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. The panel featured Hon. John N. Raudabaugh of Nixon Peabody LLP and former Member of the National Labor Relations Board; Mr. William Samuel of the Department of Government Affairs at the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations; Hon. Eugene Scalia of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and former Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor; and JudgeWilliam H. Pryor Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit as the moderator.

The Intellectual Property Practice Group hosted this panel on "IP and Parallel Importation -- Should the U.S., Through IP Laws and Other Means, Protect Businesses from "Gray Goods" Imported Without Manufacturers’ Authorization?" on Thursday, November 10, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. This panel featured Prof. F. Scott Kieff of The George Washington University Law School and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; Prof. David S. Olson of Boston College Law School; Mr. David Salmons of Bingham McCutchen LLP; Mr. Sherwin Siy of Public Knowledge; and Judge Randall R. Rader of the U. S. Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit as the moderator.

The Professional Responsibility & Legal Education Practice Group hosted this panel on "Law School Accreditation" on Thursday, November 10, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. This panel featured Prof. Thomas D. Morgan of The George Washington University Law School; Mr. Clark Neily of the Institute for Justice; Prof. Ann Shalleck, Director of the Women and the Law Program at American University Washington College of Law; Dean David N. Yellen of Loyola University Chicago School of Law; and JusticeDavid R. Stras of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The Corporations, Securities & Antitrust Practice Group hosted this panel on "Deficit Reduction and the Role of the Federal Government in Regulating Business" on Thursday, November 10, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. This panel featured Prof. Richard A. Epstein of New York University School of Law; Dr. Martin A. Regalia of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Ms. Heather L. Slavkin of the AFL-CIO's Office of Investment; and JudgeDavid B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as the moderator.

The Civil Rights Practice Group hosted this panel on "Federal Initiatives on K-12 School Bullying Prevention" on Thursday, November 10, 2011, during the 2011 National Lawyers Convention. The panel featured Mr. Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute; CommissionerTodd Gaziano of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and The Heritage Foundation; Ms. Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women's Law Center; Prof. Eugene Volokh of UCLA School of Law; Prof. William R. Yeomans of American University Washington College of Law; and Mr. Stuart Taylor Jr., Contributing Editor of National Journal and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, as the moderator.

On November 12, 2011, Mr. Richard Brookhiser, Senior Editor of National Review, delivered an address at the Federalist Society's 2011 National Lawyers Convention. Mr. Brookhiser spoke about his new book James Madison. He was introduced by Mr. Eugene B. Meyer, President of The Federalist Society.

In the years since the New Deal and the Great Society, a huge number of federal statutes have been enacted into law and have become permanent fixtures of American life. Repealing these statutes is politically impossible because one needs a majority of the House of Representatives, sixty votes in the Senate, and the President’s signature to repeal a law. The cumbersome mechanisms of bicameralism, the Senate filibuster, and the President’s veto, which were meant to ensure limited government, now serve the wholly different purpose of entrenching big government by making federal laws immortal. This panel will consider whether Congress should pass a general federal sunset law that would require that most federal statutes sunset after ten or twenty years unless they are re-enacted by the two Houses of Congress together with the President. Arguably, such a law would return us to the Framers’ vision where small government was entrenched instead of big government being entrenched. Many states have adopted sunset laws, and maybe now it is time for the federal government to follow their good example. Thomas Jefferson once proposed that even the Constitution itself should sunset every 20 years – an idea that James Madison wisely rejected. But even if the Constitution ought not to sunset and even if a few landmark laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ought not to sunset, surely most federal laws ought to be periodically in need of being reenacted. This panel will examine that question.This panel was featured as Showcase Panel IV at the 2011 National Lawyers Convention on November 12, 2011. Featuring: Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; Prof. William N. Eskridge Jr., of Yale Law School; Mr. Philip K. Howard of Common Good Coalition; Prof. Thomas W. Merrill of Columbia Law School; and Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as the moderator.

The Constitution does not mention congressional committees anywhere in the text, and Congress’ power to create such committees flows out of the power of each House to enact by majority vote the rules that will govern its own proceedings. From the beginning of our history, Congress has used this power to create formidable legislative committees that deal with levels of taxation, spending, and borrowing by the federal government. Today, it is clear that those committees have taxed, spent, and borrowed way too much, often with the goal of benefitting the home states of committee members at the expense of the nation as a whole. Among the six committees that have taxed, spent, and borrowed too much are the two Appropriations Committees, the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Budget Committees. This panel will discuss the idea that future Congresses should provide, by a majority vote of each House at the start of a session of Congress, that appointment of members to the six committees listed above should be by random lottery rather than being based on seniority or the desire of a member to serve on a committee. Membership on these six committees should, as well, be limited to no more than six years. We do not let lower court federal judges pick which cases they get to hear but instead assign cases to them by random lottery. For similar reasons some suggest we ought not to let members of Congress pick which committee a member serves on, but we ought to leave that up to a random lottery as well. They say no-one, whether it be Robert Byrd or Ted Stevens, ought to sit on a taxing, spending, or borrowing committee for longer than six years. Others counter that the loss of expertise and experience in these areas is far too great a cost. Finally, this panel will address the question of entitlement reform and votes on the floor of Congress. The text of the Constitution makes it clear that the Framers expected that Congress would vote for most appropriations on an annualized basis. The Constitution even makes it clear that military appropriations can be for no more than two years. Yet today, and really since the New Deal, we have become accustomed to entitlement programs whereby citizens become "entitled" to a sum of money every year, and Congress is essentially forced to foot the bill. What can we do to reform entitlement programs? How should the raising of the debt ceiling be handled? This panel was featured as Showcase Panel III at the 2011 National Lawyers Convention on November 12, 2011. Featuring: Prof. Steven G. Calabresi of Northwestern University School of Law; Prof. William N. Eskridge Jr., of Yale Law School; Mr. William Kristol of The Weekly Standard; Prof. Jide O. Nzelibe of Northwestern University School of Law; and JudgeEdith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Fifth Circuit as the moderator. Introduction by Mr. Dean A. Reuter, Vice President & Director of Practice Groups at The Federalist Society.

This year, two books are being published defending classical liberalism: one by Richard Epstein and another by John Tomasi. How persuasive is the case for classical liberalism? How does classical liberalism differ from conservatism, libertarianism, or fusionism? Is there an inherent flaw in classical liberalism that explains why it degenerated into welfare state socialism? If so, how can classical liberal theory be inoculated from degenerating in this fashion again? This panel was featured as Showcase Panel II at the 2011 National Lawyers Convention on November 11, 2011. Featuring: Prof. Richard A. Epstein of New York University School of Law; Prof. Andrew M. Koppelman of Northwestern University School of Law; Hon. Michael W. McConnell of Stanford Law School and former Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; Prof. John O. McGinnis of Northwestern University School of Law; Prof. Paul A. Rahe Hillsdale College; Prof. Douglas B. Rasmussen of St. John’s University; Prof. John Tomasi of Brown University; and JudgeSandra Segal Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit as the moderator. Introduction by Mr. Leonard A. Leo, Executive Vice President of The Federalist Society.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was aimed at correcting a number of problems relating to the market woes of the last few years. Among other things, it specifically sought to address issues pertaining to the idea that some entities were too big and intertwined with the economy to be allowed to fail. Our panel will discuss the legal (and potential constitutional) issues coming out of Dodd-Frank. In passing the act, has Congress overstepped its bounds? Will Dodd-Frank succeed in identifying the entities that are "too big to fail", and will it be effective in regulating them in a way that will prevent their failure? Featuring: Mr. Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research; Mr. H. Rodgin Cohen of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Mr. Paul Singer of Elliott Management Corporation; Hon. Peter J. Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute; and JudgeDiane S. Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit as the moderator.

United States Senator Mike Lee of Utah addressed registrants of the Federalist Society's 2011 National Lawyers Convention on Friday, November 11, 2011. He was introduced by Leonard A. Leo, Executive Vice President of The Federalist Society.

The Fourth Annual Rosenkranz Debate was held on November 12, 2011, during The Federalist Society's 2011 National Lawyers Convention. The debate, titled "RESOLVED: Congress Acted Within Its Authority in Enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act", featured Prof. Laurence H. Tribe of Harvard Law School and Hon. Paul D. Clement of Bancroft PLLC and former U.S. Solicitor General with Prof. Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz of the Georgetown Law Center as the moderator. Introduction by Mr. Eugene B. Meyer, President of the Federalist Society.