Judging Hard Cases
When
May 13, 2022
8:30 am - 3:00 pmWhereMiller Center
ContactNick Nugent
Sponsor(s)Karsh Center for Law and Democracy, and Center for Public Law and Political Economy
Scholars will discuss their work at the cutting edge of debates about how to adjudicate hard cases, especially those involving disagreements about constitutional rights. This topic has attracted renewed attention in recent years. Borrowing from private law, some scholars have argued that courts should adopt a least cost avoider approach to resolving rights conflicts. Others have urged the adoption of European-style proportionality review. And there is now an emerging literature on how to confront moral and epistemic uncertainty in selecting among methods of adjudication for rights conflicts. This event is open to invited guests.
Thursday, May 12
3:30-4 p.m.
Welcome
4-5:30 p.m.
Panel 1
- Ruth Chang, Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Oxford Faculty of Law
- Frederick Schauer, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
- Commentator: Deborah Hellman, David Lurton Massee, Jr., Professor of Law; F. Palmer Weber Research Professor of Civil Liberties and Human Rights; Director, Center for Law & Philosophy, University of Virginia School of Law
Friday, May 13
8:30-9 a.m.
Breakfast
9-10:30 a.m.
Panel 2
- Courtney Cox, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law | “The Uncertain Judge”
- Commentator: Richard Re, Joel B. Piassick Research Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
- Evan Bernick, Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University College of Law | “Hedging Constitutional Bets”
- Commentator: Joshua Fischman, Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
10:30-11 a.m.
Break
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Panel 3
- Charles Barzun ’05, Horace W. Goldsmith Research Professor of Law, and Michael Gilbert, Vice Dean, Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, Director, Center for Public Law and Political Economy, University of Virginia School of Law | “Conflict Avoidance in Constitutional Law”
- Micah Schwartzman ’05, Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law, Roy L. and Rosamond Woodruff Morgan Professor of Law, Director, Karsh Center for Law and Democracy, University of Virginia School of Law, and James Nelson ’09, Associate Professor of Law and Business, Vinson & Elkins Professorship, University of Houston Law Center | “Second Order Decisions in Rights Conflicts”
- Commentator: Lewis Kornhauser, Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30-3 p.m.
Panel 4
- Aaron Tang, Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law | “Consequences and the Supreme Court”
- Commentator: Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
- Rebecca Stone, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law | “A Qualified Defense of Private Law’s Misfeasance-Nonfeasance Distinction”
- Commentator: Rachel Bayefsky, Associate Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
