HLS Rappaport Forum: Who Cares About Tradition? Constitutionalism After Dobbs and Bruen

In October Term 2021, the Supreme Court repeatedly considered, relied on, and distinguished traditions going back to the Middle Ages and extending well beyond the time of the ratification of relevant constitutional amendments. How does this use of tradition relate to familiar approaches like originalism or living constitutionalism? Is the Court’s use of tradition appropriate? If so, how? This Rappaport Forum will explore these and other questions, including what the Court’s turn to the past as a source of constitutional meaning on high profile questions like abortion and guns means for the Court’s jurisprudence and the future of the Constitution.

Moderator:

Daphna Renan, the Peter B. Munroe and Mary J. Munroe Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Panelists:

• William Baude, Professor of Law & Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute, University of Chicago Law School
• Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
• Kathleen Sullivan, partner at Quinn Emanuel and former dean, Stanford Law School

Register for the Rappaport Forum.