SEPARATION OF POWERS: OLD DOCTRINE, NEW CONTEXTS
With Kannon Shanmugam (1993) and Jeffrey Rosen (1986).
Friday, June 25, 2021 @ 1 - 2PM ET
ABOUT
This event features a discussion between Kannon Shanmugam (1993), Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group of Paul, Weiss and one of the nation’s top appellate lawyers, and Jeffrey Rosen (1986), the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center and a professor at the George Washington University Law School. The conversation will provide insight into contemporary challenges surrounding the separation of powers doctrine, analyzing these issues through both a practical and academic lens. It will address questions such as: Does increased political polarization render separation of powers a less effective check on government overreach? Do interparty divisions leave Congress less capable of reigning in the Executive when necessary? And how does recent Supreme Court jurisprudence address current separation of powers questions? The discussion will be hosted by the New England Regional Events Coordinator, Nancy Fairbank (2017).
SPEAKERS
Kannon Shanmugam (1993) is a partner at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He is chair of the firm’s Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice and managing partner of the Washington office. Kannon is widely recognized as one of the nation’s top appellate litigators. He has argued 31 cases before the Supreme Court, including 13 case in the last five years, and has successfully obtained review in five cases so far this year. Kannon was lead counsel in the successful constitutional challenge to the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, described by the Wall Street Journal as the “constitutional case of the year.” He has also argued dozens of appeals in courts across the country, including all 13 U.S. courts of appeals and numerous state courts. Prior to private practice, Kannon served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and to Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, he received an A.B. summa cum laude in classics from Harvard; an M. Litt. in classics from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was executive editor of the law review and argued for the winning side in the mootcourt competition.
Jeffrey Rosen (1986) is President & CEO of the National Constitution Center. He is also a Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School and a Contributing Editor of The Atlantic. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College, Oxford University, and Yale Law School. He is the author of seven books including biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft. His most recent book is Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law. His essays and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, on National Public Radio, in the New Republic, where he was the legal affairs editor, and in The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer.
MODERATOR
Nancy Fairbank (2017) is a rising 3L at Harvard Law School. At HLS, Nancy conducts cyber & tech policy research for Professor Jonathan Zittrain and has served as a Teaching Fellow for Professors Michael Sandel, John Palfrey, and Erin Kelly. Prior to law school, Nancy graduated with distinction from Oxford (MSc in Global Governance) and the University of Birmingham (MSc in International Development) as a Marshall Scholar; she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Dallas as a McDermott Scholar. Nancy is the founder of Dear Future Colleague, a new non-profit that supports underrepresented students applying to graduate school and competitive scholarships.
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