Balkinization: Conference on <i>Living Originalism</i> featuring Scholars and Journalists, Yale Law School, April 27-28, 2012

Conference on Living Originalism featuring Scholars and Journalists, Yale Law School, April 27-28, 2012

On April 27 and 28, 2012, Yale Law School will host a conference on constitutional interpretation and change in conjunction with my new book, Living Originalism (Harvard University Press 2011).

What makes this conference distinctive is that it focuses on the role of journalism and media as conduits of American constitutional culture. It pays attention to the role of journalists and media as important players in the construction of public opinion about the Constitution. The conference includes panels of constitutional scholars and of journalists who cover and write about constitutional issues.

There will be discussions of current debates about constitutional interpretation in panels featuring some of the most prominent scholars of constitutional theory in the United States. And there will also be discussions about the role of media in covering and explaining constitutional issues, both before the courts--and, equally important--outside the courts, in the work of social movements, political parties, and civil society organizations.

Living Originalism argues that the Constitution changes over time because of continuous debates in public life about what the Constitution means. Journalists play a key role in discussing and explaining constitutional controversies before the public, including debates about constitutional interpretation. Because their work shapes and educates public opinion, journalists are an indispensable element of the long-term processes of constitutional change. The Internet and digital media, which blend traditional legal experts, journalists, commentators, and the general public, have, if anything, enhanced these features of American constitutional culture.

The all-star cast of participants includes: Bruce Ackerman (Yale), Akhil Amar (Yale), Jack Balkin (Yale), Emily Bazelon (Yale, Slate), Joan Biskupic (Reuters News), Sujit Choudhry (NYU), Justin Driver (Texas, New Republic), Garrett Epps (University of Baltimore, American Prospect), Barry Friedman (NYU), Linda Greenhouse (Yale, NY Times), Michael Greve (American Enterprise Institute), Sanford Levinson (Texas), Adam Liptak (NY Times), Dahlia Lithwick (Slate), Michael McConnell (Stanford), Robert Post (Dean, Yale Law School), Jeffrey Rosen (GW, New Republic), Reihan Salam (National Review Online, The Daily), Charlie Savage (NY Times), Kim Scheppele (Princeton), Neil Siegel (Duke), Reva Siegel (Yale), Sara Aronchick Solow (Clerk 3rd Cir.), Steven Teles (Johns Hopkins), and Matthew Yglesias (Slate)

This conference is sponsored by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund, the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities-- which will publish scholarly essays from the conference--and by Yale's Information Society Project.

The conference website is here, and you can register for the conference here.

Posted 11:05 AM by JB [link]