The Fourteenth Amendment at 150: “America’s Second Founding”

On September 21st 2018, the Institute for Justice and the Liberty and Law Center at Antonin Scalia Law School co-hosted a Symposium to bring together legal scholars, historians, and litigators to discuss and debate the 14th Amendment’s history, meaning, and future.

Ratified 150 years ago, the 14th Amendment has been called America’s “Second Founding.” The Bill of Rights provides crucial liberty protections against the federal government, but it is the 14thAmendment that provides federal protection against state and local governments taking freedoms away.

 

September 21, 2018 | 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Antonin Scalia Law School | Arlington, Virginia

6.5 CLE Credit Hours are available for this event.

AGENDA

8:30-9:00am Breakfast & Registration

9:00-9:10am Welcome

9:10-9:40am “The Story of the Fourteenth Amendment”

Professor Kurt Lash (University of Richmond) sets the stage for the day’s discussions by describing the dramatic challenges facing the nation at the end of the Civil War.

9:40-9:50am Break

9:50-11:00am The “Fight for Fourteen”: Exploring the issues, challenges, and personalities central to the congressional and ratification fights to adopt the 14th Amendment.

Moderator:
Hon. Justice Patrick Wyrick (Oklahoma Supreme Court)

Panelists:
Aderson B. Francois (Georgetown Law Center)
Martha Jones (Johns Hopkins University)
Gerard N. Magliocca (Indiana University McKinney School of Law)
Timothy Sandefur (Goldwater Institute)

11:00-11:10am Break

11:10-12:20pm Perspectives on “Privileges or Immunities”: Discussing the Privileges or Immunities Clause’s origins, purposes, meaning, and contemporary legal disputes.

Moderator:
Hon. Judge Don R. Willett (Fifth Circuit)

Panelists:
Josh Blackman (South Texas College of Law Houston)
Robert J. Cottrol (George Washington University Law School)
Anthony Sanders (Institute for Justice)
Ilya Shapiro (Cato Institute)
Rebecca E. Zietlow (University of Toledo College of Law)

12:20-1:00pm Lunch

1:00-2:10 Deliberating “Due Process”: Re-visiting debates over the history and meaning of the Due Process Clause, and contemporary applications of the Clause to modern disputes.

Moderator:
Hon. Judge Elizabeth L. Branch (Eleventh Circuit)

Panelists:
Evan D. Bernick (Georgetown Law Center)
David Bernstein (Antonin Scalia Law School)
Katie Eyer (Rutgers Law)
Christopher Green (University of Mississippi School of Law)

2:10-2:20pm Break

2:20-3:40pm Slaughter-House Cases Re-argument: A second chance for the first Supreme Court case to decide the meaning of a clause of the 14th Amendment. Counsel will re-argue the case in light of modern scholarship and debates on the case and on the Privileges or Immunities Clause.

Judges:
Hon. Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg (D.C. Circuit)
Hon. Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich (Tenth Circuit)
Hon. Dale Wainwright (Greenberg Traurig, former Justice, Texas Supreme Court)

Counsel:
Hon. Elbert Lin (Hunton Andrews Kurth; former Solicitor General of West Virginia)
Hon. Dominic Draye (Solicitor General of Arizona, S.G.)

3:40-3:50pm Break

3:50-5:00pm “14@175” – Contemporary & Emerging 14th Amendment Issues: Looking ahead to the next 25 years of 14th Amendment litigation. What are the emerging litigation issues? How might Justice Kennedy’s departure affect how the Supreme Court interprets the Amendment?

Moderator:
Hon. Judge David R. Stras (Eighth Circuit)

Panelists:
Dana Berliner (Institute for Justice)
Brianne J. Gorod (Constitutional Accountability Center)
John Malcolm (Heritage Foundation)
Samuel Spital (Legal Defense Fund, N.A.A.C.P.)

5:00pm Closing

Organizers:

Antonin Scalia Law School’s Liberty and Law Center

Institute for Justice’s Center for Judicial Engagement

For more information please contact JoAnn Koob at jkoob@gmu.edu.