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Constitutional Law Lecture Series
Past Events
The Constitutional Law Center has hosted numerous lectures and symposia, bringing the nation's top experts to campus to speak on a variety of topics.
Constitutional Law Lecture Series
2023 Constitution Day
" 'Scandalized?': Rethinking Presidential Scandals in the Modern Era"
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Speaker: Timothy Naftali, Faculty Scholar at Columbia's Institute for Global Politics, Columbia University
Standard Live event CLE Activity Number: 398125
Live Webcast event CLE Activity Number: 398126
Audio+Video on Demand CLE Activity Number: 398127
2022 Constitution Day
"Saving the Constitution"
September 15, 2022
Speaker: Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Standard Live event CLE Activity Number: 384663
Live Webcast event CLE Activity Number: 384034 or 384662
Audio on Demand CLE Activity Number: 384661
Constitutional Law Center Distinguished Lecture Series
"Redistricting and Gerrymandering: What's the Fuss?"
Friday, April 15, 2022
Speaker: Henry L. Chambers, Jr., Austin E. Owen Research Scholar & Professor of Law, University of Richmond School of Law
Iowa Activity ID: 377611 (1 hour)
2021 Constitution Day
"Covering the Courts: What Role Does the Supreme Court Press Play in Protecting the Constitution?"
September 17, 2021
Speaker: Dahlia Lithwick, U.S Supreme Court correspondent, Slate magazine
Live Webcast CLE Activity Number: 368651
Constitutional Law Center Distinguished Lecture Series
"Rethinking Rights to Protect Democracy in the Digital Age: Reflections on Incitement and Inequality"
March 25, 2021
Speaker: Erika George, Quinney College of Law, The University of Utah
Watch the lecture.
Distinguished Lecture Series Program - Erika George 3/25/2021
Live event CLE Activity Number: 361047
On-Demand event CLE Activity Number 363044
2020 Constitution Day
"The Counter-Playbook: Resisting the Populist Assault on Separation of Powers"
Speaker Stephen Gardbaum, Stephen Yeazell Endowed Chair in Law, UCLA School of Law
September 17, 2020
Watch the lecture.
2020 Constitution Day program
Constitutional Law Center Distinguished Lecture Series
"Unamendable: Lessons from Failed Constitutional Amendments"
Julie C. Suk, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Thursday, March 9, 2023
An interdisciplinary and comparative legal scholar researching equality at the intersection of law, history, sociology, and politics in the United States and globally.
Bio here.
Standard Live event CLE Activity Number: 391098
Live Webcast event CLE Activity Number: 391099
Audio on Demand CLE Activity Number: 391100
"The Unwritten Constitutions of the United States"
February 13, 2020
Speaker: Mark Graber, University System of Maryland Regents Professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
"The Fate of the Imperial Presidency"
April 25, 2019
Speaker: Deborah Pearlstein, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Watch the lecture.
"The Constitutional Power of Impeachment: Congress's Ultimate 'Trump' "
Nov. 1, 2018
Speaker: Professor Michael Paulsen, The University of St. Thomas School of Law
2018 Constitution Day Lecture
"Our Polarized Constitution: Judicial Review in the Cycles of Constitutional Time"
Sept. 20, 2018
Speaker: Professor Jack Balkin, Yale Law School
Constitutional Law Center Distinguished Lecture Series
"The Development of Constitutional Conservatism"
March 29, 2018
Speaker: Professor Ken Kersch, Boston College
Watch the lecture.
Note: Audio heard best with headphones or external speakers.
Constitutional Law Center Distinguished Lecture Series
"Free Speech in Public Schools: From Black Armbands to BONG HiTS FOR JESUS"
Oct. 26, 2017
Speaker: Professor Justin Driver, University of Chicago Law School
2017 Constitution Day Lecture
"Free Speech on Campus"
Sept. 14, 2017
Speaker: Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California-Berkeley School of Law
Constitutional Law Center Distinguished Lecture Series
"On the 150th Anniversary of the Reconstruction Amendments: The Two Thirteenth Amendments"
March 2, 2017
Speaker: Professor Kurt Lash, University of Illinois Law School
Constitutional Law Center Distinguished Lecture Series
"Same-Sex Marriage and Backlash: Constitutionalism Through the Lens of Consensus and Conflict"
Oct. 27, 2016
Speaker: Professor Reva Siegel, Yale Law School
2016 Constitution Day Lecture
"Guns, Speech, and Sex: The Rise of Constitutional Extremism"
Sept. 15, 2016
Speaker: Professor Mary Anne Franks, University of Miami School of Law
Constitutional Law Lecture
"Scrutinizing Polygamy after Hobby Lobby and Obergefell"
Feb. 4, 2016
Speaker: Maura Strassberg, professor of law, Drake Law School
2015 Constitution Day Lecture
"Policing in the 21st Century"
Sept. 17, 2015
Speaker: Tracey L. Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law, Yale University
2014 Constitution Day Lecture
"Re-Articulating the Harm of Discrimination: An Examination of Brown v. Board of Education at 60"
Sept. 15, 2014
Speaker: Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Charles M. and Marion J. Kierscht Professor of Law, University of Iowa School of Law
Constitutional Law Lecture
"Three Centuries of Latinos in the U.S.: The Cyclical Dynamics of Nation-Building, Citizenship, and Legal Personhood"
Oct. 3, 2013
Speaker: Laura E Gómez, vice dean and professor of law, UCLA School of Law
2013 Constitution Day Lecture
"The Fundamental Transformation in the Law and Practice of Modern Warfare"
Sept. 16, 2013
Speaker: Richard H. Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University School of Law
Constitutional Law Lecture
"Amending the U.S. Constitution: The Surprising Reasons Why it Should Remain Difficult"
April 18, 2013
Speaker: Aziz Huq, professor, University of Chicago Law School
Constitutional Law Lecture
"The Constitution and Child Protection from Religious Actors"
April 11, 2013
Speaker: Marci Hamilton, Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Constitutional Law Lecture
"Islam and Constitutionalism in Egypt's New Constitution"
Jan. 31, 2013
Speaker: Nathan J. Brown, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
2012 Constitution Day Lecture
"On Constitutional Disobedience"
Sept. 20, 2012
Speaker: Louis Michael Seidman, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Constitutional Law Lecture
"The Transformation of Judicial Restraint"
Feb. 16, 2012
Speaker: Pamela Karlan, professor, Stanford Law School
Constitutional Law Lecture
"The Executive Unbound: After the Madisonian Republic"
Oct. 20, 2011
Speaker: Eric Posner, professor, University of Chicago Law School
2011 Constitution Day Lecture
"Constitutional Rights Ten Years After 9/11: Has Everything Changed?"
Sept. 15, 2011
Speaker: David Cole, professor, Georgetown University Law Center
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture Series
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture
"Is Iowa a Liberal Democracy?"
Oct. 29, 2020
Speaker: Professor James A. Gardner, University at Buffalo School of Law, The State University of New York
Watch the lecture.
2020 Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture program
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture
"Two Tenets of Religious Liberty in the Constitutions of Iowa"
Nov. 15, 2018
Speaker: Professor Allan Vestal, Drake University Law School
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture
"Exploring the Original Meaning of Article I, Section 6 of the Iowa Constitution"
Oct. 15, 2015
Speaker: The Hon. Edward Mansfield, Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture
"Does the Iowa Constitution Provide a Remedy in Damages to Individuals Who Have Been Harmed by its Violation?"
Oct. 23, 2014
Speaker: Roxanne Conlin, Esquire
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture
"State Constitutional Law in Iowa: Past, Present and Future"
March 27, 2014
Speaker: The Hon. Brent R. Appel, Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture
"More Alike Than Different? A Comparison of the U.S. and Iowa Constitutions"
April 5, 2013
Speaker: Sanford V. Levinson, W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair, University of Texas School of Law
Judge James Grant Iowa Constitution Lecture
"A Pioneer’s Constitution: How Iowa’s Constitutional History Uniquely Shapes Our Pioneering Tradition in Recognizing Civil Rights and Civil Liberties"
March 8, 2012
Speaker: The Hon. Mark S. Cady, Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court
Read Justice Cady's Drake Law Review article.
Constitutional Law Symposium
2023 Constitutional Law Symposium
Saturday, April 15, 2023
9 a.m. -1 p.m., Room 213, Cartwright Hall
"The Scales of Justice Tilt Right: Abortion, Affirmative Action, and the Administrative State"
Speakers: Teresa Stanton Collett, Professor of Law; Director, Prolife Center, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minneapolis); Mark S. Kende, James Madison Chair Professor in Constitutional Law; Director, Drake Constitutional Law Center, Drake Law School; Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University; Vinay Harpalani, Professor of Law; Lee & Leon Karelitz Chair in Evidence & Procedure, University of New Mexico School of Law; Ilan Wurman, Associate Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University; Nicholas Parrillo, William K. Townsend Professor of Law and Professor of History, Yale Law School.
Principal sponsorship of the Constitutional Law Symposium provided by the Nathan S. McCay, LW’80, Endowment. Additional support provided by the law firm of Hastings, Gartin & Boettger, LLP, Ames.
Watch the lecture.
Standard Live event CLE Activity Number: 392035*
Live Webcast event CLE Activity Number: 392036*
Audio on Demand CLE Activity Number: 392037*
*All are approved for two and one quarter (2.25) hours CLE.
2022 Constitutional Law Symposium
"The Constitution and Democratic Erosion"
April 9, 2022
Speakers: Edward B. Foley, Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law; Director, Election Law at Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law; Andrea Katz, Associate Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law; David Landau, Mason Ladd Professor and Associate Dean for International Programs, Florida State University School of Law; James R. Stoner, Jr., Hermann Moyse, Jr., Professor of Political Science and Director of the Eric Voegelin Institute, Louisiana State University; and Jeffrey Tulis, Professor of Government and Professor of Law, The University of Texas at Austin.
This symposium was dedicated to the memory of Congressman Neal Smith, LW'50, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 101. Congressman Smith's efforts provided foundational support for the Center and he continued to be a loyal supporter his entire life.
Iowa CLE Activity ID: 376316 (2.5 hours)
2021 Constitutional Law Symposium
"Reexamining Pragmatism in Constitutional Interpretation"
April 17, 2021
Speakers: Brian Butler, Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina (Asheville); Daniel Farber, Sho Sato Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, University of California, Berkeley; Mark Kende, Director of the Constitutional Law Center; James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law; Professor of Law, Drake University Law School; Linda C. McClain, Robert Kent Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law; and Robert Tsai, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law.
Live event CLE Activity Number: 362463*
On-Demand event CLE Activity Number: 363043*
*Both are approved for three (3) hours CLE.
Fall 2019 Constitutional Law Symposium and Constitution Day
"Democracy and Dysfunction"
September 21, 2019
Speakers: Jack Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment, Yale Law School; Sanford Levinson, W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law and Professor of Government, University of Texas School of Law; Francis H. Buckley, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University; Mark S. Kende, Director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center; James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law and Professor of Law, Drake University Law School; Leah Litman, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; David Pozen, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School; Miguel Schor, Associate Director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center and Professor of Law, Drake University Law School; and Franita Tolson, Professor of Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Spring 2019 Constitutional Law Symposium
"Is it Time to Amend the Constitution?"
April 13, 2019
Speakers: Richard Albert, William Stamps Farish Professor of Law, University of Texas School of Law; Richard S. Kay, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law Emeritus and Oliver Ellsworth Research Professor, University of Connecticut School of Law; Sanford Levinson, W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law and Professor of Government, University of Texas School of Law and Lisa L. Miller, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University.
2018 Constitutional Law Symposium
"Is Constitutional Democracy Endangered in the U.S. and Abroad?"
April 14, 2018
Speakers: Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar, and Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago Law School; Elizabeth Foley, Professor of Law, Florida International University College of Law; John Reitz, Edward Carmody Professor of Law and Director of Graduate Programs and Visiting Scholars, University of Iowa College of Law; and David Stebenne, Professor of History and Law, Ohio State University
Watch the symposium.
2017 Constitutional Law Symposium
"President Obama's Constitutional Law Legacy"
April 8, 2017
Speakers: Taunya Lovell Banks, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law; Eric Berger, Nebraska College of Law; John Eastman, Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law; Ambassador Stephen Rapp, The Hague Institute for Global Justice and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for Prevention of Genocide; Ilya Somin, George Mason University
2016 Constitutional Law Symposium
"War Powers and the Constitution: 15 Years After 9/11"
April 9, 2016
Speakers: Stephen Griffin, Tulane Law School; Saikrishna Prakash, University of Virginia School of Law; Stephen Vladeck, American University Washington College of Law; and Mariah Zeisberg, University of Michigan
2015 Constitutional Law Symposium
"Eyes and Ears Everywhere? Privacy in an Age of Government and Technological Intrusion"
April 11, 2015
Speakers: Geoffrey R. Stone, University of Chicago Law School; Laura Donohue, Georgetown; Gabriel Schoenfeld, Hudson Institute; and Nadine Strossen, New York Law School
2014 Constitutional Law Symposium
"The U.S. Supreme Court’s Obamacare Decision and Its Significance for the 50th Anniversary of LBJ’s Great Society"
April 12, 2014
Speakers: Robert Dallek, Stanford University Program; Neil S. Siegel, Duke University Law School; Jonathan H. Adler, Case Western Reserve University School of Law; Mark Tushnet, Harvard Law School; William E. Forbath, University of Texas School of Law; and Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Harvard Law School
2013 Constitutional Law Symposium
"The U.S. Constitution and Political Dysfunction: Is There a Connection?"
April 6, 2013
Speakers: Sanford V. Levinson, University of Texas School of Law; Norman Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Richard Hasen, University of California, Irvine; John McGinnis, Northwestern University School of Law; Lori Ringhand, University of Georgia School of Law; and Brenna Findley, legal counsel to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad
2012 Constitutional Law Symposium
"Constitutionalism and the Poor"
April 14, 2012
Speakers: Peter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center; John Powell, University of California, Berkeley; Frank Michelman, Harvard Law School; Julie Nice, University of San Francisco School of Law; Ilya Shapiro, Cato Institute; and The Hon. Mark S. Cady, chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court
2011 Constitutional Law Symposium
"Debating the Living Constitution"
April 2, 2011
Speakers: David Strauss, University of Chicago Law School; Keith Whittington, Princeton University; Rebecca Brown, University of Southern California School of Law; and Wil Waluchow, McMaster University
2010 Constitutional Law Symposium
"The Same-Sex Marriage Divide"
April 10, 2010
Speakers: Douglas Allen, Simon Fraser University; Andrew Koppelman, Northwestern Law School; Mark Strasser, Capital University Law School; Lynn Wardle, BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School; Lee Badgett, University of Massachusetts; and Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
2009 Constitutional Law Symposium
"Global Perspectives on Religion, the State, and Constitutionalism"
April 4, 2009
Speakers: Abdullah An'Nain, Emory Law School; Rick Garnett, Notre Dame Law School; Frank Ravitch, Michigan State College of Law; Laura Jenkins, University of Cincinnati; Tom Farr, Georgetown School of Foreign Science; and Jeremy Gunn, director of the ACLU Religion and Law Project in D.C.
2008 Constitutional Law Symposium
"The Forgotten Constitutional Amendments"
April 5, 2008
Speakers: Randy Barnett, Georgetown Law School; Daniel Farber, University of California, Berkeley; Kurt Lash, Loyola Law School Los Angeles; Michael Kent Curtis, Wake Forest Law School; Rebecca Zietlow, University of Toledo Law School; and David Bogen, University of Maryland Law School
2007 Constitutional Law Symposium
"The 'Undemocratic' American Constitution"
April 7, 2007
Speakers: Sanford V. Levinson, University of Texas School of Law; Heather Gerken, Yale Law School; Neal Devins, William and Mary School of Law; Donald Horowitz, Duke Law School; and Saikrishna B. Prakash, University of San Diego Law School
2006 Constitutional Law Symposium
"The Role of Courts in Social Change"
April 8, 2006
Speakers: Mark Tushnet, Georgetown University Law Center; Jane Schacter, Stanford Law School; John Eastman, Chapman University School of Law and director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Claremont Institute; Gerald Torres, University of Texas Law School; and Gerald Rosenberg, University of Chicago
Other Events
Reception in Celebration of the 19th Amendment Centennial
"100 Years after the 19th Amendment: Their Legacy, and Our Future"
January 23, 2020
Speakers: Kristin Corey, Office of the Status of Women, Iowa Department of Human Rights; Roxanne Barton Conlin, LW '66, Partner, Roxanne Conlin & Associates, P.C.
International Bar Association Rule of Law Town Hall
November 21, 2019
Speakers: Carol Hunter, Executive Editor of the Des Moines Register; Mark S. Kende, Director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center, James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law and Professor of Law, Drake University Law School; Hon. James "Jim" Leach, Former Republican Member of Congress, Iowa; Hon. Edward Mansfield, Justice, Iowa Supreme Court; Homer Moyer (moderator), Past Chair, IBA Rule of Law Forum
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