USD School of Law Video Webcasts

Originalism: Lessons From Some Things That Go Without Saying
by Robert Bennett, Nathaniel L. Nathanson Professor of Law and Former Dean of Northwestern University School of Law

The lecture explores the possibilities and limitations of what is called "originalism" in constitutional interpretation, the attempt to restrain interpretation by reference to the constitutional text and the "meanings" originally associated with that text. There is a large amount of literature on this subject, but rather little attention is paid to things that the text leaves unsaid. The lecture concentrates on three matters about which there are different sorts of "silences" in the text itself or in the interpretive stance of federal courts, the role of political parties, the meaning of a "republican form of government," and the role to be played by presidential electors. More Information

The Constitution in Peace and War
by Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese

Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese visited the University of San Diego School of Law to discuss the role of the United States Constitution in relations to the Patriot Act and the Iraq War, including the role and outcome of the Commission on Iraq. Meese served as the 75th Attorney General of the United States from February 1985 to August 1988 and as Counselor to the President from January 1981 to February 1985. As Attorney General and as Counselor, he was a key member of President Ronald Reagan's Cabinet and the National Security Council. He directed the Department of Justice and led international efforts to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime. More Information

Bernard Siegan Memorial Conference
Keynote Address
by Richard Epstein

Richard Epstein, the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, opened the 2007 Bernard Siegan Memorial Conference on Economic Liberties, Property Rights, and the Original Meaning of the Constitution.

Epstein framed the conference of six scholastic papers discussing either economic liberties or property rights by referencing two important federal cases. He cited the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision, which refused to limit the government's eminent domain power with respect to allowing private property to be handed over to a private developer, and the ongoing Goldstein v. Pataki case, in which 13 residents and business owners stand in opposition to a massive $4 billion redevelopment project in Brooklyn, NY.

Richard Epstein is a director of the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School. Since 1972, he has taught, among other courses, torts, civil procedure, land use planning, and property, real estate and finance law. Epstein is the author of more than 10 books and numerous articles on a wide range of legal and interdisciplinary subjects.

Hosted by the Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism at the University of San Diego School of Law, the Bernard Siegan Memorial Conference on Economic Liberties, Property Rights, and the Original Meaning of the Constitution brought together leading national legal scholars to discuss the intentions of the American founders with respect to economic liberties and private property rights. More Information

The Energy Policy Challenges California Will Face in Implementing California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32)

California Energy Commissioner John Geesman discusses the energy policy challenges that California will face in implementing Assembly Bill 32, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. John L. Geesman was originally appointed to the California Energy Commission in 2002 to fill an unexpired term. He was reappointed to a full five-year term by Governor Gray Davis on December 31, 2002, and confirmed by the Senate. Commissioner Geesman serves as presiding member of the Energy Commission’s renewables and facility sitting committees. He is an associate member on several other committees including the Integrated Energy Policy Report Committee. The event is presented by the USD School of Law’s Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC), an academic and research center that studies how energy policy issues affect the San Diego County region and California, and the Environmental Law Society, which strives to expose students to all facets of environmental practice and sponsors discussions on current issues in environmental law.  
More Information

EPIC Climate Change Lecture Series: Global Warming and the Courts:
Should the Judicial Branch Weigh in on Global Warming?

Ken Alex discusses the California Attorney General’s efforts to address global warming through legal action, including the opportunities and limitations posed by the approach. Alex is a supervising deputy attorney general in the environment section of the California Attorney General’s Office. From 2000 to 2006, he also worked on the energy task force, investigating price and supply issues related to California’s energy crisis. The event is presented by the USD School of Law’s Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC), an academic and research center that studies how energy policy issues affect the San Diego County region and California, and the Environmental Law Society, which strives to expose students to all facets of environmental practice and sponsors discussions on current issues in environmental law.  
More Information

Challenging Corporate Power and Building Democracy
By Ralph Nader

Honored by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Americans of the Twentieth Century, consumer advocate and presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, has devoted his life to giving ordinary people the tools they need to defend themselves against corporate negligence and government indifference. With a tireless, selfless dedication, he continues to expose and remedy the dangers that threaten a free and safe society. More Information

State Constitutionalism and Modern Governance: What’s the Big Idea?

Professor Daniel B. Rodriguez, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law, explores the underlying principles of state constitutionalism and, in doing so, wanders into the enduring debate over the nature and scope of American constitutionalism more generally. The differences between federal and state constitutional theory are real, not illusory. There are, Professor Rodriguez will argue, distinct governance objectives, mirrored by rather unusual intra-state rules and procedures which, when better understood, point toward a new theory of state constitutionalism and state constitutional law in the modern United States. More Information

Executive Authority in Times of War

The Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism welcomes John Yoo, professor at UC, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, architect of the Patriot Act and author of the so-called “torture memo,” for a debate about the War on Terror. Yoo goes head-to-head with USD School of Law Professor Mike Ramsey on issues of war power such as the authority to launch pre-emptive attacks abroad and conducting surveillance without a warrant. More Information