Federalist Society Event Audio

Sometimes federalism is invoked because we believe the best way to preserve freedom is to devolve to the local level. With the federal government’s reach extending into more facets of daily life like education policy, labor & employment policies, and healthcare, calls for state and local governments to stand against Washington are increasing. Yet at times, local government can serve as an even greater restraint on individual rights. From regulations governing entrepreneurship and the sharing economy, the minimum wage, asset forfeiture, and policing, state and local government at times may intrude on individual freedom even more than the federal government. State initiatives on “right to try” (now law in 24 states) and marijuana regulation also lead to federalism questions, putting conservatives and libertarians at odds. How do we strike the proper federalism balance? How should principles of federalism inform the federal government’s response to state initiatives? -- This panel was part of the 2016 Annual Western Chapters Conference at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA on January 30, 2016. -- Featuring: Mr. Adam Freedman, Author, A Less Perfect Union and The Naked Constitution; Ms. Christina Sandefur, Executive Vice President, The Goldwater Institute; and Prof. Adam Winkler, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law. Moderator: Hon. Sandra Segal Ikuta, U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit. Introduction: Mr. Stephen M. Duvernay, Benbrook Law Group.

James Madison wrote that our system of federalism provides “a double security…to the rights of the people.” In other words, the 50 states serve as shields for individual rights that the federal government fails to protect. States can harness these tools to protect important rights. The intro will set the stage for the day’s theme, building on the Founders’ concept of federalism, tying it to Reagan’s ascendancy and the framework of the Reagan Revolution, and touching on the concepts of states’ powers. -- This address was part of the 2016 Annual Western Chapters Conference at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA on January 30, 2016. -- Featuring: Hon. Scott Pruitt, Attorney General, Oklahoma. Introduction: Mr. Eugene B. Meyer, President, The Federalist Society.

Mark Behrens, co-chair of the Washington, DC-based Public Policy Group of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., will discuss Nevada’s poor ranking in a recent U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform survey of the fairness of state legal climates. He will also discuss the comments on Nevada courts included in the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual Judicial Hellholes report, along with a recent point of light from the Nevada Supreme Court. Mr. Behrens will discuss Nevada’s efforts for judicial reform together with strategies Nevada lawyers may use to promote a fair and restrained judiciary. -- Assemblyman Erv Nelson is a partner at the Las Vegas firm of Cram Valdez Brigman & Nelson and Vice-Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Nevada State Assembly. In his role as a legislator, he was deeply involved in efforts to enact Judicial Reform legislation in Nevada. Mr. Nelson will discuss Nevada’s efforts to affect Judicial Reform, including legislation that may be proposed in the future. -- The Las Vegas Lawyers Chapter hosted this event on January 28, 2016. -- Speakers: Mr. Mark Behrens, Co-chair, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP and Hon. Erven T. Nelson, Nevada Assemblyman. Introduction: Mr. Matthew Saltzman, Shareholder, Kolesar & Leatham.

This panel will discuss whether we have Federal overreach in this environmental law area, such as current interpretations of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Power Plan, etc., and what the appropriate roles for the Federal Government and Florida are in the context of environmental law. -- This panel was part of the 2016 Annual Florida Chapters Conference at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL on January 22-23, 2016. -- Featuring: Mr. Avi Garbow, General Counsel, United States Environmental Protection Agency; Mr. Matthew Z. Leopold, Of Counsel, Carlton Fields Jorden Burt PA and former General Counsel, Florida Department of Environmental Protection; Prof. Erin Ryan, Professor, Florida State University College of Law; and Mr. Patrick Strawbridge, Partner, Consovoy McCarthy Park PLLC. Moderator: Hon. Edward L. Artau, Florida 15th Judicial Circuit. Introduction: Mr. Gregory Munson, Shareholder, Gunster.

This panel was part of the 2016 Annual Florida Chapters Conference at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL on January 22-23, 2016. -- Featuring: Mr. Mark Wilson, President and CEO, Florida Chamber of Commerce. Interviewer: Mr. Jesse Panuccio, Former Executive Director, Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Tim Cerio, General Counsel to Governor Rick Scott of Florida, delivered this address at the 2016 Annual Florida Chapters Conference on Saturday, January 23, 2016, at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL. He was introduced by Judge Ed Scales of the Florida Third District Court of Appeal.

This panel will move beyond the Obamacare discussion and address what the current problems in health care and whether there are proven and scalable solutions to these problems. The panel will also discuss what the legal barriers to those solutions are and what the appropriate Federal/Florida role in Healthcare is. -- This panel was part of the 2016 Annual Florida Chapters Conference at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL on January 22-23, 2016. -- Featuring: Mr. John Goodman, Senior Fellow, Independent Institute; Mr. Avik Roy, Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute; and Dr. Antonia C. Novello, MD, MPH, Dr.PH, VADM (Ret.), 14th Surgeon General of the United States. Moderator: Ms. Christa Calamas, Staff Director, Florida House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee. Introduction: Mr. Daniel Woodring, Principal Attorney, Woodring Law Firm.

This panel will address the religious rights of persons and corporate entities in the context of the same sex marriage rulings, threats to not-for-profit status, cake baking, and other current areas of uncertainty. The panel will also discuss appropriate Federal/Florida roles and possible distinctions between protection under the law and civil disobedience in the context of religious liberty. -- This panel was part of the 2016 Annual Florida Chapters Conference at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL on January 22-23, 2016. -- Featuring: Prof. Carl H. Esbeck, R.B. Price Professor Emeritus of Law/Isabelle Wade & Paul C. Lyda Emeritus of Law, University of Missouri School of Law; Prof. William P. Marshall, William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law; and Prof. Michael P. Moreland, Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow and Concurrent Professor of Law at University of Notre Dame. Moderator: Hon. Timothy Osterhaus, Florida First District Court of Appeal. Introduction: Dr. Nathan Adams, Holland & Knight LLP.

This panel was part of the 2016 Annual Florida Chapters Conference at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL on January 22-23, 2016. -- Featuring: Hon. Charles T. Canady, Florida Supreme Court and Hon. William H. Pryor, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. Moderator: Dean R. Alexander Acosta, Dean, Florida International University College of Law. Introduction: Mr. Morgan Streetman, Founder and Principal, Streetman Law.

In recent years there has been a debate across the ideological spectrum about the reach and role of criminal law and punishment in the United States. This panel will explore the growth of criminal laws, the role of prosecutorial discretion, recent dialogue and actions around incarceration, and the appropriate federal/Florida roles in these arenas. -- This panel was part of the 2016 Annual Florida Chapters Conference at Disney's Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL on January 22-23, 2016. -- Featuring: Prof. Ellen Podgor, Gary R. Trombley Family White-Collar Crime Research Professor and Professor of Law, Stetson Law School; Mr. William N. Shepherd, Partner, Holland & Knight LLP; Prof. John Stinneford, Professor of Law and Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center at Levin College of Law, University of Florida; and Mr. Kenneth W. Sukhia, Owner, Sukhia Law Group PLC and former U.S. Attorney. Moderator: Hon. Stephanie Ray, Florida First District Court of Appeal. Introduction: Mr. Daniel Woodring, Principal Attorney, Woodring Law Firm.

Since before the Revolution, American legal and political traditions have supported many forms of multiculturalism, through institutions such as freedom of association, religious liberty, parental rights, freedom of speech, private property, federalism, often open immigration policy, and the like. And those traditions have likewise imposed constraints on such multiculturalism. What can those traditions tell us about today’s multiculturalism debates? -- This panel took place during the 18th Annual Faculty Conference at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York, NY on January 9, 2016. -- Featuring: Prof. Mary Anne Case, University of Chicago Law School; Prof. John C. Eastman, Chapman University School of Law; Prof. Richard W. Garnett, University of Notre Dame Law School; and Ms. Heather Mac Donald, Manhattan Institute. Moderator: Prof. Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Georgetown University Law Center.

This panel will consider to what extent the disproportionate increase in income among the very wealthy is due not to market forces but to rent seeking and government policies that are the product of rent seeking. It will also discuss possible solutions. -- This panel took place during the 18th Annual Faculty Conference at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York, NY on January 8, 2016. -- Featuring: Prof. David Snyder, American University Washington College of Law; Prof. Ilya Somin, George Mason School of Law; and Prof. James Stern, William & Mary Law School. Moderator: Prof. Jonathan H. Adler, Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

This panel was part of the 18th Annual Federalist Society Faculty Conference held on January 8, 2016 at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel New York, NY. -- Featuring: Prof. Tara Leigh Grove, William & Mary Law School: “When Can a State Sue the United States?”; Prof. Jeremy Kidd, Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law: “Neither Savior Nor Bogeyman: What Lies Behind the Door of Third-Party Litigation Finance?”; Prof. Randy Kozel, University of Notre Dame Law School & Prof. Jeffrey Pojanowski, University of Notre Dame Law School: “Discretionary Dockets”; Prof. Ozan Varol, Lewis & Clark Law School: "Structural Rights"; and Mr. Ilan Wurman, Winston & Strawn: "Constitutional Administration". Commenters: Prof. James Lindgren, Northwestern University School of Law and Prof. Thomas Lee, Fordham University School of Law. Moderator: Prof. Saikrishna Prakash, University of Virginia School of Law.

The FCC derives its legal authority almost entirely from statutes that predate the Internet--primarily from the 1934 Communications Act, which was designed for the regulation of a national telephone monopolist, and the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which was designed to incrementally deregulate the communications industry as the vestiges of that national monopoly gave way to competition. Over the past 20 years, the Internet has become the foundation of the communications industry, playing a role similar to that of the monopoly-provided telecommunications services that the FCC has traditionally regulated. There is unquestionably more competition today than there was in 1934, but perhaps not as much as was hoped in 1996. The FCC’s Open Internet Order, in which the FCC brought Internet Service Providers within the regulatory framework initially created in 1934, presents a compelling example of an agency struggling to find a new role in a changed industry – struggling to imbue old statutes with broad grants of power to govern what the FCC, but perhaps not Congress, believes are issues properly within its ambit. In doing so, the Order thrusts the FCC into current debates about the scope of the administrative state, the potential revival of the major questions doctrine, and the potential demise of Chevron. Framed by these issues, this debate will consider whether the FCC’s Open Internet Order fits within the agency’s statutory authority. -- This debate took place during the 18th Annual Faculty Conference at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York, NY on January 8, 2016. -- Featuring: Prof. Adam Candeub, Michigan State University School of Law; Prof. Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, Nebraska College of Law; Mr. Geoffrey Manne, International Center for Law and Economics; and Prof. James Speta, Northwestern University School of Law. Moderator: Prof. Daniel Lyons, Boston College Law School.

When Chevron was first decided it was generally welcomed on the right side of the political spectrum as a principled method constraining judicial discretion and permitting the executive to exert policy control over the administrative state. But as the administrative state continues to grow, some now see Chevron as removing an important check on government power and an abdication of the judiciary’s authority to say what the law is. Some members of the Supreme Court are now open to reconsidering judicial deference to agency action, at least in certain areas, such as determining their own jurisdictions and interpreting their own regulations. The panel will consider the extent to which the new skepticism toward Chevron in particular and judicial deference to agencies in general is justified. -- This panel took place during the 18th Annual Faculty Conference at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York, NY on January 8, 2016. -- Welcome: Dean Blake D. Morant, President, Association of American Law Schools & Dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School and Dean Kellye Y. Testy, President Elect, Association of American Law Schools & Toni Rembe Dean & Professor of Law, University of Washington School of Law. Introduction: Hon. Lee Liberman Otis, Senior Vice President & Faculty Division Director, The Federalist Society -- Panel: The New Chevron Skeptics -- Featuring: Prof. Michael Herz, Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; Prof. Jeffrey Pojanowski, University of Notre Dame Law School; Prof. Peter Strauss, Columbia Law School; and Prof. Christopher Walker, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Moderator: Prof. John McGinnis, Northwestern University School of Law.