Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. Constitution, the cornerstone of the American federal system of government, will be under close scrutiny at Harvard on Thursday (Sept. 17) as a collection of scholars examines both its merits and shortcomings. A live webcast of the event will be available beginning at 1 p.m.

On Wednesday, September 9, the High Court heard reargument in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Harvard Law School Professor Mark Tushnet, a constitutional law scholar and a leading expert on the First Amendment, answers some questions and offers an assessment of what’s at stake in the case.

The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to confirm Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein ’78 as administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget.

On Wednesday, September 9, former HLS Dean Elena Kagan ’86 argued her first case as the solicitor general of the United States, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The case involves the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, a campaign finance reform statute passed by Congress in 2002 that was intended to limit election-related communications, especially so-called “attack ads.”

The Congressional Oversight Panel, led by Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren, held a hearing with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday. 

The following op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ’84, “Why financial pay shouldn’t be left to the market,”  is the most recent of his monthly columns in the international newspaper association entitled “Project Syndicate.”

Harvard University President Drew Faust officially introduced Martha Minow to the Harvard Law School community as the new dean at a reception in Minow’s honor on September 2.

The following op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’81 S.J.D. ’84, “Bonus guarantees can fuel risky moves,” appeared in the August 27, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal. He is the director of the Program on Corporate Governance at HLS.

HLS Professor Alan Dershowitz wrote “Baseball errs with lax penalty on pitchers who take aim at hitters,” an op-ed that appeared in the Aug. 19, 2009, edition of The Boston Globe.

The following op-ed by HLS Professor Hal Scott “The Fed’s independence is at risk” appeared in the Aug. 20, 2009, edition of The Financial Times. Scott co-wrote the op-ed with Glenn Hubbard, dean and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and John Thornton, chairman of the Brookings Institution. Hubbard and Thornton co-chair and Scott directs the Committee on Capital Market Regulation.

At an FCC broadband workshop entitled “International Lessons” held on August 18, Harvard Law School Professor and Faculty Co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society Yochai Benkler ’94 advised the FCC to look to other countries in formulating a national broadband strategy. (Watch a webcast of the workshop.)

Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ’84 submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission calling for the adoption of a rule that would facilitate shareholder director nominations. The letter was signed by a bi-partisan group of 80 professors of law, business, economics, and finance, representing 47 universities around the U.S.

The following op-ed by Lecturer on Law Ganesh Sitaraman ’08, “The land of 10,000 wars,” appeared in the August 17, 2009, edition of the New York Times.

President Barack Obama ’91 has nominated Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow, along with John Levi '72 LL.M. '73 and Gloria Valencia-Weber '86, to the board of the Legal Services Corporation, a bi-partisan, government-sponsored organization that provides civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. The nominations require approval by the Senate.

The following op-ed by HLS Professor Lani Guinier and Columbia Law Professor Susan Sturm, “America’s Best Colleges: Merit by the Numbers” appeared in the August 5, 2009, edition of Forbes. Guinier and Sturm are the co-authors of “Who’s Qualified: A New Democracy Forum on the Future of Affirmative Action” (Beacon Press, 2001).

The following op-ed by Harvard law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’81 S.J.D. ’84, “Regulate financial pay to reduce risk-taking,” appeared in the August 3, 2009, edition of the Financial Times. It builds on his June 11 testimony before the financial services committee of the US Congress and his white paper, co-authored with Holger Spamann, on Regulating Bankers’ Pay

The following book review co-authored by Harvard Law School Professor Adrian Vermeule ’93 and University of Chicago Law School Professor Eric Posner ’91, entitled “Outcomes, outcomes,” will appear in the forthcoming August 12, 2009, edition of The New Republic. In the article, Vermeule and Posner discuss the book, “The Constitution in 2020.”

On July 29, HLS Professor John C. Coates testified during a hearing of the Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.  In the hearing titled “Protecting Shareholders and Enhancing Public Confidence by Improving Corporate Governance,” Coates offered his recommendations for corporate governance reform.

Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M. ’80 S.J.D. ’84, director of HLS’s Program on Corporate Governance wrote “Let the Good Times Roll Again?” for his July column for Project Syndicate, an international association of 425 newspapers in 150 countries. His recent article draws on his testimony before the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and his white papers “Equity Compensation for Long-Term Performance” and “Regulating Bankers’ Pay.”

The following op-ed “Race and Reality in a Front-Porch Encounter” by HLS Professor Lani Guinier appeared in the July 30, 2009 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.