Video & Audio

As President Donald Trump prepares to leave office, can he give himself a presidential pardon? An expert panel focuses on the constitutional basis of the pardon power, its history and limits, the relationship between pardoning and impeachment, and the legal and political implications of an attempt by the president to self-pardon. The panelists are UVA Law professor John C. Harrison; Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt; Stanford University professor Bernadette Meyler; and UVA Law professor Micah Schwartzman, director of the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

Two panels of scholars discuss issues raised by UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson’s edited book, “A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy.” Led by the moderators, UVA President James E. Ryan ’92 and Harvard Law’s Martha Minow, the panels feature Kristine L. Bowman, Peggy Cooper Davis, Jason P. Nance, Eloise Pasachoff, Derek W. Black, Carmel Martin, Rachel F. Moran, Robinson and Joshua Weishart.

UVA Law professors Margaret Foster Riley, Lois Shepherd and Micah Schwartzman ’05 discuss mandatory vaccination policies at a Health Law Association event.

Why did colonists wear Native American costumes at the Boston Tea Party? Professor Farah Peterson investigates the history of mob protests for economic rights on the path to America’s unwritten constitution.

The Supreme Court took on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in 1964, in part, to protect the civil rights movement. But did justices go too far in making libel hard to prove? UVA Law professor Frederick Schauer explains new concerns.

Professor Frederick Schauer discusses the state of student free speech rights 50 years after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines . His speech was part of the Virginia Law Review symposium “Speech Inside the Schoolhouse Gates: 50 Years After Tinker v. Des Moines ,” supported by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

University of Miami School of Law professor Mary Anne Franks, Susan Kruth of FIRE, UVA Law student Anna Cecile Pepper ’21 and LaTarndra Strong of the Hate-Free Schools Coalition discuss the balance between protecting speech and protecting the learning environment. UVA Law professor Richard Schragger moderated the panel, which was part of the Virginia Law Review symposium “Speech Inside the Schoolhouse Gates: 50 Years After Tinker v. Des Moines,” supported by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

UVA Law student Manal Cheema ’20, University of North Carolina School of Law professor Mary-Rose Papandrea, Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law professor Emily Gold Waldman and William & Mary Law School professor Timothy Zick discuss the status of student rights 50 years after the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines . UVA Law professor Kimberly Robinson moderated the panel, which was part of the Virginia Law Review symposium “Speech Inside the Schoolhouse Gates: 50 Years After Tinker v. Des Moines ,” supported by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

Mary Beth Tinker, a plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines , discussed the importance of free speech for youths to combat injustices such as inequality and poverty. UVA Law professor Micah Schwartzman ’05 introduced Tinker. The keynote was part of the symposium “Speech Inside the Schoolhouse Gates: 50 Years After Tinker v. Des Moines .”

UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson discusses her chapter in the recent book, “A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy,” which she edited for NYU Press. Robinson says Congress could work with states and localities in an incremental fashion to close opportunity gaps. Robinson is the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor of Law and a senior research fellow at the Learning Policy Institute.

UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson foresees new fights at the Supreme Court as litigants seek fairness in public school funding across the nation. Her new book, “A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy,” is published by NYU Press. Robinson is the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor of Law and a senior research fellow at the Learning Policy Institute.

The Supreme Court said the Constitution didn’t guarantee a right to education in the 1973 case San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, but litigation aiming for equity continues, as UVA Law professor Kimberly Robinson explains.

Professors Ashley Deeks and John Harrison discuss impeachment and national security. Their discussion centered around the implications for those powers for the presidency, especially with respect to matters of national security. Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05 introduces the discussion. This event is the third of a planned three-part series on impeachment hosted by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

Professors Deborah Hellman and Michael Gilbert discuss how agreed-upon meanings of terms like “corruption” and “bribery” will have an impact on how impeachment proceedings could play out. Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05 introduces the discussion. This event is the second of a planned three-part series on impeachment hosted by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

Professors Frederick Schauer and Saikrishna Prakash discuss impeachment, including what the impeachment clauses and powers delegated to Congress are, what the implications of these powers are for the presidency and what offenses fall within the scope of impeachment. Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05 introduces the discussion. This event is the first of a planned three-part series on impeachment hosted by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

As World War II made clear, the United States needed to step up on civil liberties and civil rights to take on the Soviet Union, UVA Law professor G. Edward White explains.

UVA Law professors Ashley S. Deeks, George S. Geis, Dayna Bowen Matthew ’87, Saikrishna Prakash and Micah J. Schwartzman ’05 provide an overview of their latest work. Vice Dean Leslie Kendrick ’06 moderates the panel. This event was part of a “Back to School Night” for returning UVA Law alumni during UVA’s Honor the Future capital campaign kickoff.

A panel of scholars discuss UVA Law professor G. Edward White’s final volume in his “Law in American History” series. The panel included professors Jack Landman Goldsmith, Harvard Law School; Laura Kalman, University of California, Santa Barbara; and Victoria Nourse, Georgetown University Law Center. UVA Law professor Charles Barzun served as moderator, and Dean Risa Goluboff introduced the panel.

UVA Law professors Kim Forde-Mazrui and George Rutherglen discuss major developments in employment discrimination law, as the Supreme Court considers whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. The event was sponsored by the Virginia Employment and Labor Law Association, and the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.

UVA Law professors A. E. Dick Howard, Richard Schragger and Vice Dean Leslie Kendrick, along with Brian Cannon, executive director at OneVirginia2021, discuss the last term’s most influential and important Supreme Court cases, and preview what’s ahead. The event was sponsored by the Student Legal Forum.

UVA Law professors Richard Schragger and Micah Schwartzman join Cornell’s Nelson Tebbe to discuss the evolution of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on religion.

Steve Vladeck, professor at University of Texas School of Law, breaks down the legal issues arising from the increased concentration of executive power under the National Emergencies Act in recent administrations. This presentation was part of the 2019 National Security Law Institute.

Drawing on her research from her recent book “Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis,” UVA Law professor Cynthia Nicoletti gives an overview of the U.S. government's attempts to prosecute Confederate President Jefferson Davis for treason after the Civil War. Nicoletti describes how conflicting legal theories regarding the constitutionality of secession contributed to the case ultimately being dropped with no conclusion. Nicoletti was the featured speaker at a Law School Foundation Board and Council lunch. F. Blair Wimbush ’80, chair of the Law School Foundation Board of Trustees, introduced Nicoletti.

From mass hunger strikes and work stoppages behind bars, to wider reform movements, a discussion centered on the politics of punishment in the United States. The panel includes Bernard E. Harcourt of Columbia Law School; Heather Ann Thompson of the University of Michigan; and Vesla Mae Weaver of Johns Hopkins University. Christopher Berk, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Virginia, served as moderator.

Judge Carlton W. Reeves ’89, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, delivered a defense of the role federal courts play in ensuring justice and truth for marginalized groups throughout the United States. He also argued for the importance of ensuring diversity of backgrounds and perspectives on the federal bench. Reeves gave this lecture after receiving the 2019 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law.