Areas of Interest
Legal History
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Should the Supreme Court care about tradition?
November 18, 2022
At Harvard Law’s Rappaport Forum, panelists debated the Supreme Court's reliance on history and tradition in recent decisions in Dobbs and Bruen.
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‘Effectiveness in government is not something one can just assume’
November 18, 2022
In a Library book talk, Professor Vicki Jackson and panelists discuss constitutionalism, and rights to effective government
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Why has the Supreme Court come under increased scrutiny?
November 16, 2022
In the third of a yearlong lecture series examining “The Supreme Court in a Constitutional Democracy," panelists debate reforming the Court.
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Was Antonin Scalia originally an originalist?
October 26, 2022
In remarks made as part of the biennial Vaughan Academic Program, Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule argued that the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia began his judicial career as a champion of the administrative state.
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The myths and reality of common and civil law
October 5, 2022
What are the real differences between common and civil law systems? Probably not the ones lawyers typically think about, said Harvard Law School Professor Holger Spamann S.J.D. ’09 in a lecture commemorating his appointment as Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law.
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What are the limits of presidential power?
September 27, 2022
A panel of experts say that a seminal Supreme Court decision on the powers of the president may raise more questions than it answers.
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In the first of a Harvard Law School series on the Supreme Court and its role in American democracy, panelists debated the impact of politics on the Roberts Court.
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The Civil Rights Queen and Her Court
July 16, 2022
Tomiko Brown-Nagin’s book recounts the remarkable — and too little-known — life and achievements of civil rights lawyer and judge Constance Baker Motley
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Nikolas Bowie ’14, a scholar of constitutional law, local government law, and legal history, was named a professor of law at Harvard Law School.
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Anna Lvovsky, a scholar on American legal history and criminal procedure, named professor of law
June 9, 2022
Anna Lvovsky ’13 has been promoted to professor of law at Harvard Law School. A scholar of criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, and evidence, she joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 2017.
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Watergate-era reforms 50 years later
June 8, 2022
Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith says laws and norms established after President Nixon's resignation 'had a great run,' but the Trump presidency proved that new reforms are needed.
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The Petrie-Flom Center hosted ‘Roe in limbo: A town hall on the leaked Dobbs opinion.’
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Supreme Court preview: Kennedy v. Bremerton School District
April 20, 2022
The Supreme Court stands poised to decide whether a high school coach’s penchant for prayers with players poses First Amendment problems.
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Training future women presidents of Africa
April 13, 2022
With the Women Heads of State Initiative virtual summit, Teresa Clarke J.D. ’87/M.B.A. ’88 and Professor Ruth Okediji LL.M. ’91 S.J.D. ’96 brought together four female African heads of state to explore opportunities for the continent’s future advancement.
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Cases in Brief: Powell v. Alabama with Dehlia Umunna
April 5, 2022
In the first of the series, “Cases in Brief,” Harvard Law Professor Dehlia Umunna discusses the infamous “Scottsboro Boys” case, Powell v. Alabama (1932), in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time that defendants in capital cases have the right to adequate legal counsel.
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“This is a unique moment, particularly to be a Black law student,” Harvard Law School Professor David B. Wilkins ’80, told an audience of students during a talk titled Black Lawyers Matter — Race, Obligation, and Professionalism from the Civil Rights Movement to BLM and Black Corporate Power.
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President Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson ’96 for Supreme Court
February 25, 2022
Ketanji Brown Jackson ’96 was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Biden. If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.
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Who we are
February 23, 2022
Jeffery Robinson ’81 has made challenging false narratives about racism his life’s work.
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When Nixon went to China
February 17, 2022
On the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's visit, China experts William Alford and Mark Wu discuss whether the president may be getting too much credit for his history-making journey.
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Constance Baker Motley
February 15, 2022
Georgetown Law Professor Sheryll Cashin ’89 once asked her mentor, Thurgood Marshall, why he had passed over Constance Baker Motley to succeed him when he…
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Breyer retires
January 28, 2022
Harvard Law Today offers a look back at Justice Stephen Breyer's career and his legacy, and his lifelong connection to Harvard Law School.
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Pragmatic Justice
January 27, 2022
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer ’64, who focused on the consequences of his judicial decisions, has announced that he will step down after more than a quarter century on the Court.
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On the Court, Breyer had a ‘deeply thoughtful, learned, humane, and pragmatic approach’
January 27, 2022
In the wake of the news that Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer ’64 will retire at the end of the current term, Harvard Law School faculty members offer their thoughts on his tenure, legacy, and how the nation’s highest court could change after his departure.
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Justice Stephen Breyer — a passionate pragmatist
January 27, 2022
Richard Lazarus ’79, a Supreme Court advocate and the Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law, reflects on Justice Breyer's "striking pragmatism" — and passion — during his 28 years on the Court.
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Weighing President Biden’s first year: Executive power
January 18, 2022
Former White House Counsel Neil Eggleston says President Biden has “restored dignity and public purpose to the White House” but that his agenda faces strong opposition from some state attorneys general.
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Rescuing MLK and his Children’s Crusade
January 14, 2022
In “Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality,” Harvard Law Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin traces the tactics of the groundbreaking lawyer amid pivotal protests.
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Weighing President Biden’s first year: The federal courts
January 13, 2022
Harvard Law School expert Mark Tushnet says the Biden administration has succeeded in appointing federal judges and also “opened space” for discussion of Supreme Court reform.
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In Memoriam: Lani Guinier 1950 – 2022
January 7, 2022
Lani Guinier, the first African-American woman to be tenured at Harvard Law School and an influential scholar who devoted her life to justice, equality, empowerment, and democracy, died Jan. 7.
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Debating the future of Roe
December 3, 2021
At the recent Rappaport Forum, panelists discussed abortion rights and whether the Supreme Court should honor precedent — or jettison Roe v. Wade.
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Protecting the media to protect democracy
November 16, 2021
At a Harvard Law School Library Book Talk, Martha Minow, along with Vicki Jackson and Nikolas Bowie, discussed why the press is in danger — and how to save it.
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In a potentially precedent-setting case, Veterans Clinic students work to help LGBTQ widower secure VA benefits
November 8, 2021
Members of the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School are representing a same-sex widower in his appeal before the VA and in federal court in a potentially precedent-setting case.
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Does the Constitution allow a billionaire tax?
October 28, 2021
Would a tax on billionaires be constitutional? How would it work in practice? And would it work at all? Harvard Law School Professor Thomas J. Brennan says the answers are complicated.
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‘Protect expression, protect speech, protect thinking’
October 20, 2021
During a recent discussion about his new collection of essays, “Say it Loud! On Race, Law, History, and Culture,” Randall Kennedy shared background on a few of his favorite pieces, defended free thought, and spoke about his view on the future of race relations in America.
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‘A huge crisis that we’ve never experienced before’
October 7, 2021
Harvard Law Today recently spoke with Harvard Law School Professor Howell E. Jackson about what could happen if the United States defaulted on its debts for the first time in history.
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Pay no attention to the justices behind the curtain
September 23, 2021
Charles Fried, Richard Lazarus ’79, Tejinder Singh ’08, and Carol Steiker ’86 discuss the Supreme Court’s increasingly important emergency powers known as its “shadow docket.”
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‘We have to spend more time on the inequalities that are embedded in the law itself’
September 21, 2021
September 2021 saw the publication of the inaugural issue of The American Journal of Law and Equality, a project developed by Professors Martha Minow, Randall Kennedy, and Cass Sunstein, in collaboration with MIT Press.
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Faculty on the move
September 1, 2021
With the start of the academic year, a look at nine faculty who have joined Harvard Law School, been promoted, or taken on new roles in 2021.
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As part of ongoing analysis, the 36-member Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, 16 of whom are Harvard Law School faculty or alumni, recently solicited testimony from scholars across the political spectrum to weigh in on Court reform.
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Harvard Law Professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos recently spoke with Harvard Law Today about the Supreme Court's recent decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, options for advocates moving forward, and the future of the Voting Rights Act.
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‘We’re on a collision course with sanity’
June 22, 2021
Harvard University Professor and former Harvard Law School dean Martha Minow argues for a new Fairness Doctrine and other reforms in a National Constitution Center panel on free speech and media.
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A Sense of Place
June 11, 2021
In the newly published “On Juneteenth,” Gordon-Reed presents a 360-degree view of the history leading up to the holiday and beyond, weaving in her perspective as a Black woman with Texas roots that run deep.
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Justice for all
June 9, 2021
A Harvard Law School clinic works to overturn a federal policy in D.C. that advocates say leads to racial injustice and contributes to mass incarceration.
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Plessy v. Ferguson at 125
May 19, 2021
One hundred and twenty five years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Harvard Law Professor Kenneth Mack ’91 says there are still lessons to be gleaned from the case.
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Harvard Law School’s 2021 Last Lecture Series
May 5, 2021
The Last Lecture Series at Harvard Law School, sponsored annually by the 3L and LL.M. class marshals, is an HLS tradition in which selected faculty members impart insight, advice, and final words of wisdom to the graduating class.
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Evaluating President Biden’s first 100 days: The courts
April 28, 2021
Professor Emeritus Mark Tushnet weighs in on the new administration's agenda for the court system, including the Supreme Court, its accomplishments so far, and the challenges that lie ahead.