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Online Seminar

Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution


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Categories:
Legal Analysis & Reasoning |  Substantive Law Updates
Faculty:
Laurence Tribe
Duration:
1 Hour 51 Minutes
Format:
Audio and Video
License:
Never expires.


Description

Laurence Tribe has taught two generations of America’s most noteworthy constitutional lawyers. Some went on to become judges and justices, one to become Chief Justice, and one President of the United States. Tribe has argued dozens of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the first argument in Bush v. Gore. His knowledge of the Court and the machinations that go into its rulings is unparalleled.

From Citizens United to its momentous rulings regarding Obamacare and gay marriage, this Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has proven itself willing, even eager to affect American life. Yet the Court remains a mysterious institution, and the motivations of the nine men and women who serve for life are often obscure. In this rare live appearance, Laurence Tribe speaks, and answers your questions, about the surprising extent to which the Roberts Court is revising the meaning of our Constitution.

Political gridlock, cultural change, and technological progress mean that this Court’s decisions on key topics—

  • free speech,
  • privacy,
  • voting rights,
  • gun rights,
  • health care, and
  • presidential power

—could be uniquely durable. Acutely aware of their opportunity, the justices are rewriting critical aspects of constitutional law and redrawing the ground rules of American government. Tribe digs deeply into the Court’s recent rulings, stepping beyond tired debates over judicial “activism” to draw out hidden meanings and silent battles. The undercurrents he reveals suggest a strikingly different vision for the future of our country, one that is sure to be hotly debated.

You will be in on that debate. Your professional and personal life will be directly impacted by how it is resolved. And you will be a more effective and knowledgeable participant in legal battles and political discussions by taking part in this conversation. In this illuminating talk, Tribe travels well beyond the interesting. What he has to say is vitally important.

*** This program was originally presented in October 2014. This webcast replay does not reflect any subsequent judicial developments.*** 

Handouts

Faculty

Laurence Tribe Related Seminars and Products

Professor


Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard, has taught at its Law School since 1968. The title “University Professor” is Harvard’s highest academic honor, awarded to fewer than 70 professors in all of Harvard University’s history.

Born in China to Russian Jewish parents, Tribe entered Harvard in 1958 at 16; graduated summa cum laude in Mathematics (1962) and magna cum laude in Law (1966); clerked for the California and U.S. Supreme Courts (1966-68); received tenure at 30; was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at 38 and to the American Philosophical Society in 2010.  He helped write the constitutions of South Africa, the Czech Republic, and the Marshall Islands; and has received ten honorary degrees, including a degree honoris causa from the Government of Mexico in 2011 never previously awarded to an American and a Doctor of Letters degree in 2013 from Columbia University.

Tribe has prevailed in three-fifths of the many appellate cases he has argued (including 35 in the U.S. Supreme Court); was appointed by President Obama and Attorney General Holder to serve as the first Senior Counselor for Access to Justice; and has written 115 books and articles, including his treatise, American Constitutional Law, cited more than any other legal text since 1950.  Former Solicitor General Erwin Griswold wrote: “[N]o book, and no lawyer not on the [Supreme] Court, has ever had a greater influence on the development of American constitutional law,” and the Northwestern Law Review opined that no-one else “in American history has… simultaneously achieved Tribe’s preeminence… as a practitioner and… scholar of constitutional law.”

 


Credit

The Professional Education Group provides content to bar associations, law firms and other legal groups. We do not seek credit for our programs in any jurisdiction. If you wish to obtain credit for this online program, please refer to your state’s rules for Individual Application for Course Accreditation. Upon completion of the course, you will have the opportunity to download a Certificate of Completion, which may help you in obtaining that credit.