FedSoc Events
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order. It is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be. This podcast feed contains audio files of Federalist Society panel discussions, debates, addresses, and other events related to law and public policy. Additional audio and video can be found at https://fedsoc.org/commentary.
Episodes
March 18, 2024 • 72 mins
Zionism: An Indigenous People’s Fight for its Ancient Homeland
Judge Altman led us on a journey from 1208 BC (when the Merneptah Stele, the first extra-biblical mention of the People of Israel, was composed) to Israel's current war with Hamas. Along the way, Judge Altman showed that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel, that Jews have lived in (and often ruled) the land of Israel for thousands of years, and that the State...
Judge Altman led us on a journey from 1208 BC (when the Merneptah Stele, the first extra-biblical mention of the People of Israel, was composed) to Israel's current war with Hamas. Along the way, Judge Altman showed that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel, that Jews have lived in (and often ruled) the land of Israel for thousands of years, and that the State...
Mark as Played
March 18, 2024 • 82 mins
Perspectives on the Role of the Nation’s Chief Legal Officer
A Conversation with Three U.S. Attorneys General
Featuring:
Hon. John Ashcroft, Former U.S Attorney General (2001-2005)
Hon. William P. Barr, Former U.S Attorney General (1991-1993 and 2019-2020)
Hon. Jeff Sessions, Former U.S Attorney General (2017-2018)
Moderator: Beth Williams, Board Member, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board; former Assistant Attorney G...
A Conversation with Three U.S. Attorneys General
Featuring:
Hon. John Ashcroft, Former U.S Attorney General (2001-2005)
Hon. William P. Barr, Former U.S Attorney General (1991-1993 and 2019-2020)
Hon. Jeff Sessions, Former U.S Attorney General (2017-2018)
Moderator: Beth Williams, Board Member, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board; former Assistant Attorney G...
Mark as Played
March 18, 2024 • 75 mins
Lawmakers and courts have been reforming Florida’s tort and insurance laws for decades. From expansion of insurance bad faith and contraction of comparative fault in the 1990’s, to restrictions on medical malpractice suits in the 2000’s, to changes in tort and insurance litigation in the 2020’s, the legal landscape shifted dramatically. This panel will examine the latest reforms in the context of recent hi...
Mark as Played
The panel will discuss how these decisions are transforming the admissions process in higher education and the impact on the legal profession. Included in the discussion will be the response from academia, the permissible limits of the use of race in admissions after these decisions, and what impact this is expected to have on corporate America and the legal profession.
Featuring:
Prof. Tracey Maclin, Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich C...
Featuring:
Prof. Tracey Maclin, Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich C...
Mark as Played
March 18, 2024 • 58 mins
The state and federal bench has transformed in recent years, with more textualist/originalist judges appointed or elected. These changes are influencing how advocates should prepare to make winning arguments. A panel of jurists and leading litigators will offer their best advice to young advocates in making successful oral arguments and incorporating originalism and textualism into their briefs. They will offer their perspectives o...
Mark as Played
March 18, 2024 • 81 mins
The citizen-initiative process allows the People of Florida to propose amendments to the state constitution, subject to Supreme Court review. But what is the appropriate scope of judicial review of such ballot initiatives? Does the single-subject rule enable outcome-driven judicial decision-making? This panel will discuss these questions and others in the context of the Adult Personal Use of Marijuana and the Amendment to Limit Gov...
Mark as Played
March 18, 2024 • 90 mins
It has been said that American-style split sovereignty provides the people a “double security” for their liberties. And a distinct security too: where the Framers’ primary restraint on the avarice of the United States was the enumeration of its powers, each state is omnipotent and yet typically bound by a thicker conception of the proper ends of government. But these separate sovereigns interact in unique and some...
Mark as Played
February 28, 2024 • 80 mins
Traditionally, education has been seen as instilling the common shared civic values that Americans have held for since the nation’s founding. As the educational establishment has become increasingly more progressive, many states have begun to offer alternatives to traditional public-school education, particularly in the wake of the Covid pandemic when many schools were shut down. This has included laws that allow for educati...
Mark as Played
February 28, 2024 • 87 mins
From the 1960s onward, election lawyers on the political left focused on securing and expanding voting access. Lawyers on the political right focused on ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the voting process. Now, most academic literature suggests that there's fairly little disenfranchisement and fairly little voter fraud. Despite this evidence, the voting process has become increasingly controversial in recent years, with inc...
Mark as Played
February 28, 2024 • 89 mins
All levels of the judiciary have faced increased attacks on their independence in recent years. Even trial court judges have faced increased scrutiny, particularly those in single-judge districts and those who have granted nationwide injunctions. “Reform” proposals such as adding justices, term limits, ethics codes, abolishing blue slips, and limiting the Court’s jurisdiction have been proposed by critics to limit...
Mark as Played
February 6, 2024 • 59 mins
Join the DC Young Lawyers Chapter and the George Mason Student Chapter for an evening conversation and reception.
Featuring:
Prof. Jennifer Mascott, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Executive Director, C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Thomas McCarthy, Partner, Consovoy McCarthy PLLC; Adjunct Professor, George Mason University Scalia Law
Prof. Todd Zywi...
Featuring:
Prof. Jennifer Mascott, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Executive Director, C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Thomas McCarthy, Partner, Consovoy McCarthy PLLC; Adjunct Professor, George Mason University Scalia Law
Prof. Todd Zywi...
Mark as Played
December 12, 2023 • 54 mins
On Wednesday, November 29, the Harvard Student Chapter held a conversation, produced in partnership with the Harvard Alumni for Free Speech, featuring Prof. Randall Kennedy and Prof. Nadine Strossen to commemorate the 164th anniversary of Frederick Douglass's "Plea for Free Speech in Boston."
Featuring:
Prof. Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Prof. Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor...
Featuring:
Prof. Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Prof. Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor...
Mark as Played
November 20, 2023 • 71 mins
Collegiality and the presumption that opposing counsel work together in good faith are bedrocks of the American legal profession, as well as unpopular ideas and clients being able to obtain competent representation and equal access to justice under the law. In recent years, there has been an increase in disruptive activity in law schools. We have seen law students declare ideas "too harmful" for open debate and try to “cancel...
Mark as Played
November 20, 2023 • 77 mins
Litigation and legislation involving complex issues regarding gender identity are at the forefront of public interest. States and other authorities face questions about legality, morality, or advisability of treatment for minors. Courts are being asked to adjudicate who can participate in sex-segregated sporting competitions. Advocates on all sides of these complex gender identity issues portray their position as a matter of fai...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2023 • 93 mins
Featuring:
Prof. J. Joel Alicea, Co-Director, Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Assistant Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Prof. Randy E. Barnett, Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Founding Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Prof. Richard H. Fallon, Story Professor of Law, Harvard La...
Prof. J. Joel Alicea, Co-Director, Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Assistant Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Prof. Randy E. Barnett, Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Founding Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Prof. Richard H. Fallon, Story Professor of Law, Harvard La...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2023 • 80 mins
The 2023 National Lawyers Convention will take place November 9-11, 2023 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. The topic of the conference is "Originalism on the Ground." The final day of the conference will feature the fifteenth annual Rosenkranz Debate.
RESOLVED: States Can Constitutionally Regulate the Content Moderation Policies of Facebook and Twitter
Featuring:
Prof. Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and...
RESOLVED: States Can Constitutionally Regulate the Content Moderation Policies of Facebook and Twitter
Featuring:
Prof. Richard Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2023 • 94 mins
In patent and copyright law, injunctions are now a subject of significant policy debate. Innovators say they are unable to stop predatory infringement. Creators state they are unable to stop large-scale piracy websites. If so, this undermines the rewards promised by the intellectual property system and devalues the commercial assets that drive the global innovation economy in new technologies and creative works. Others state that i...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2023 • 86 mins
Is the National Labor Relations Board doing more than any other federal agency to impose broad restrictions on non-coercive speech, based exclusively on whether the speaker is an employer? Under other statutes, speech prohibitions require evidence of actual threats, unlawful retaliation or potential injury to health and safety, and the National Labor Relations Act expressly protects the right to express “views,”...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2023 • 88 mins
Oral argument was held in U.S. v. Rahimi on November 7, 2023. The case asks whether 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(8), which prohibits possession of firearms by persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders violates the Second Amendment on its face. What does the Court's jurisprudence foretell about the decision? Is there an obvious originalist answer?
Featuring:
Prof. William G. Merkel, Associate Professor, Charleston School o...
Featuring:
Prof. William G. Merkel, Associate Professor, Charleston School o...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2023 • 102 mins
Featuring:
Prof. John C. Harrison, James Madison Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Hon. Randolph Moss, United States District Court, District of Columbia
Hon. Andrew S. Oldham, Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Prof. Jed H. Shugerman, Boston University School of Law
Moderator: Hon. Gregory G. Katsas, Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Prof. John C. Harrison, James Madison Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Hon. Randolph Moss, United States District Court, District of Columbia
Hon. Andrew S. Oldham, Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Prof. Jed H. Shugerman, Boston University School of Law
Moderator: Hon. Gregory G. Katsas, Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
A straightforward look at the day's top news in 20 minutes. Powered by ABC News. Hosted by Brad Mielke.