Chapman Hosts Harvard and Yale Professors During Busy Week of Dialogues

The School of Law recently hosted three leading scholars as part of its Chapman Dialogues Distinguished Lecture Series, which provides a forum for discussion and debate on a wide range of subjects and from diverse philosophical perspectives.

William N. Eskridge, Jr., the John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence at the Yale University Law School, spoke on “Same-Sex Marriage” to an overflow audience on Thursday, March 20th.  Professor Eskridge, one of the nation’s leading scholars on statutory interpretation and legislative process, was an early pioneer in the field of same-sex marriage and has published a field-establishing casebook, three monographs, and numerous law review articles articulating a legal and political framework for proper state treatment of sexual and gender minorities.  Professor Eskridge was introduced by one of his former students, Chapman law professor Matthew Parlow.  Professor Lawrence Rosenthal, one of several former U.S. Supreme Court clerks on the Chapman law faculty, served as the discussant for Professor Eskridge’s presentation.

Another Yale University scholar was featured one day earlier.  Akhil Amar, the Southmayd Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale, spoke on “Presidential Elections over the Centuries: Formal Amendments and Informal Adaptations.”  Professor Amar is one of the nation’s leading constitutional law scholars and author of several books, including The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles, The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction, and most recently, America’s Constitution: A Biography.  Dr. John C. Eastman, Chapman’s Dean and Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law, served as the discussant for Professor Amar’s presentation.

On Monday, March 24th, the Chapman Dialogues featured Charles Fried, the Beneficial Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, with a discussion on “Torture, Lies and Secrecy:  Presidential Power in Time of War.”  Professor Fried is the author of seven books and over thirty journal articles, including significant work in moral and political theory.  His most recent book, Modern Liberty and the Limits of Government (2006), explores how the modern welfare state has redefined our notion of individual liberty.  He has served as Solicitor General of the United States, representing the Reagan administration before the United States Supreme Court in twenty-five cases.  Dean Eastman once again provided commentary following Professor Fried’s presentation.

The Chapman Dialogues has featured leading scholars from around the country, including two former presidents of the Association of American Law Schools, Mark Tushnet (Harvard) and Gerald Torres (Texas), and leaders in constitutional law, critical race theory, and law and economics, including Dr. Vernon Smith (Chapman Law School’s Nobel Laureate in Economics), Edward McCaffery (USC), Lynn Stout (UCLA), Kevin Johnson (UC Davis), and Lani Guinier (Harvard). The 2007-08 schedule will wrap up on April 15, 2008 with Dean Kenneth Starr (Pepperdine) and Professor Laurie Levenson (Loyola), who join Chapman Dean John Eastman and Professor Katherine Darmer in a debate on the "Independence of the Attorney General."