Legal Commentary

Thanks to the labor strife and a host of other issues, my sense is that there have been a number of last-minute (i.e., post-program printing) changes to the composition of panels at this week's AALS Annual Meeting. One in particular that I wanted to flag (at least partially for selfish reasons) is Thursday's Section on Constitutional Law session on "American Constitutionalism in Global Perspective." The session is actually two different panels -- one on "American Constitutionalism in International Perspective," and one on "American Constitutionalism in Comparative Perspective." The panels are devoted to the ongoing debate over just how much international/comparative law should affect American constitutionalism and constitutional interpretation, and I suspect both sets of discussions will be lively, to say the least.

The "International" panel includes Mike Ramsey from the University of San Diego, Michael Van Alstine from the University of Maryland, Carlos Vasquez from Georgetown, and yours truly, and is being moderated by Mark Graber from the University of Maryland. The "Comparative" panel includes Penelope Andrews from Valparaiso, Heinz Klug from Wisconsin, Vicki Jackson from Georgetown, Kim Lane Scheppele from Princeton, and Miguel Schor from Suffolk, and is being moderated by Garrett Epps from the University of Baltimore. 

The session is scheduled to run from 2:00 to 5:00 on Thursday, in the Embarcadero Room on the third floor of the Parc 55. And I promise to say lots of nice things about Article I's Define and Punish Clause... (and then take them all back during the Prawfs/Co-Op Happy Hour later that night.)