Members of the legal academy, leaders of progressive organizations, and law practitioners and policymakers from across America will come together for "The Constitution in 2020," a conference at Yale Law School providing an opportunity for participants to articulate progressive constitutional values for the 21st century.
The three-day conference, taking place Friday-Sunday, April 810, is sponsored by the American Constitution Society (ACS) and its Yale Law School chapter, the Open Society Institute, the Center for American Progress and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School.
The conference is a component of the ACS's recently announced initiative "The Constitution in the 21st Century," a multi-year project to formulate and advance a progressive constitutional vision that is considered intellectually sound, practically relevant and faithful to America's constitutional values and heritage.
"We are bringing together scholars, practicing lawyers, judges and policymakers to structure a progressive vision for our society in the year 2020 and beyond," says Reva Siegel, the Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law and faculty chair for the conference. "Our purpose is to imagine what a better world could look like and think practically about how to make it a reality."
In the late 1980s, the Department of Justice issued a series of reports, one of which was titled "The Constitution in 2000," that set forth a constitutional vision for the future. "The Constitution in 2020 conference is the first step in a long-range effort to shape an affirmative progressive vision and reclaim the Constitution," added Siegel.
"Law students around the country are particularly energized about this project, because it will be the responsibility of our generation of progressives to implement our vision for the future," says Seth Grossman, one of the student co-chairs.
Conference participants include Guido Calabresi, former dean of the Yale Law School who is now a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit; retired U.S. Circuit Court judge Patricia Wald; former Solicitors General Drew Days (also a Law School professor) and Seth Waxman; former Stanford Law School dean Kathleen Sullivan; John Podesta, president and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress and former chief of staff to President Clinton; and leading constitutional scholars, including Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman and Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago Law School.
Panels and breakout groups will discuss such issues as the challenges of terrorism and globalization, defining constitutional protections for individuals and groups, new threats to the democratic process, and social and economic inequality.
The ACS is one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations. Founded in 2001, it is composed of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, policymakers, activists and other concerned individuals who are working to ensure that the fundamental principles of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality and access to justice are central in American law.
"This conference provides an extraordinary opportunity to engage and energize members of the moderate and progressive legal community as we begin a concerted effort to reclaim the Constitution and ensure that our laws and public policy reflect our nation's founding values," said Lisa Brown, executive director of the ACS and one of the conference participants.
Pre-registration is required for all attendees at www.law.yale.edu/acs/conference/registration/. The event is free for students and for members of the Yale community. There is a $15 registration fee for other attendees. The full conference schedule is available at www.law.yale.edu/acs/conference/schedule/. A discussion weblog on the conference has already begun at http://constitutionin2020.blogspot.com/.
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