United States Supreme Court Preview

The College of Law’s annual United States Supreme Court Preview brings together journalists, litigators, and academics to discuss cases pending before the Supreme Court. The event is open to the public.

Friday, September 29, 2023
1:15 p.m. – CLE Registration Opens
1:30 p.m. – Program Starts
Melanie Gray Ceremonial Courtroom, Dineen Hall

CLE Materials

Attorney Affirmation Form

Evaluation Form

Supreme Court 2023-2024 Preview

Panelists:

Jenny S. Breen, Associate Professor of Law

Kareem Crayton, Brennan Center, Senior Director, Voting Rights and Representation

Lisa A. Dolak L’88, Angela S. Cooney Professor of Law 2009-2022, Professor of Law

Rajit S. Dosanjh, Chief, Appellate Division, United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York

Roy S. Gutterman ’93, L’00, Professor, Newhouse School of Communications; Director, Tully Center for Free Speech; Professor of Law (by courtesy appointment)

The Hon. Brenda K. Sannes, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York

Bhavan Sodhi, Chief Program Officer, Innocence Project

CLE 3 Credits

Agenda

1:15–1:30 p.m.
CLE Registration

1:30–1:35 p.m.
Welcome: Craig M. Boise, Dean and Professor of Law

1:35–2:55 p.m.
Panel I: Constitutional Law
Moderator: Keith J. Bybee, Vice Dean and Paul E. and Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72 Judiciary Studies Professor of Law
Panel participants (in speaking order):
Kareem Crayton, Brennan Center, Senior Director, Voting Rights and Representation
Jenny S. Breen, Associate Professor of Law
Lisa A. Dolak L’88, Professor of Law
Hon. Brenda K. Sannes, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York

2:55–3:20 p.m.
Intermission (light snacks and coffee provided)

3:20–4:30 p.m. Panel II: Crime and Speech
Moderator: Lauryn P. Gouldin, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law
Panel participants (in speaking order):
Bhavan Sodhi, Chief Program Officer, Innocence Project
Rajit S. Dosanjh, Chief, Appellate Division, United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York
Roy S. Gutterman ’93, L’00, Professor, Newhouse School of Communications; Director, Tully Center for Free Speech; Professor of Law (by courtesy appointment)

CART will be provided. For questions and to request an accommodation, please contact Chris Ramsdell at ceramsde@syr.edu.

Presented by Syracuse University College of Law

Keynote:

“The Supreme Court Under Siege”

Moderator:

Keith Bybee, Vice Dean; Paul E. and Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72 Judiciary Studies Professor; Professor of Law; Professor of Political Science; Director, Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media (IJPM); Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

Panelists:

  • Joan Biskupic, CNN Legal Analyst
  • Celia Cohen L’90, Co-Head of Financial Institutions, United States, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
  • Shubha Ghosh, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and Director of the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute
  • Benita Miller L’96, Executive Director, Powerful Families, Powerful Communities NJ
  • Aliza Milner, Teaching Professor and Director of Legal Communication and Research
  • Gretchen Ritter, Syracuse University Vice Chancellor, Provost, and Chief Academic Officer

 

Keynote: “The Supreme Court Turning Right Again,” with David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times

The College of Law’s fifth annual United States Supreme Court Preview brings together journalists, litigators, and academics to discuss cases pending before the Supreme Court. The event is open to students, alumni, and community members. Examining the pending cases on the docket for the 2021-2022 term, the Preview will open with a keynote from featured speaker David G. Savage, Supreme Court Correspondent, The Los Angeles Times, followed by a panel discussion. 

Moderator: Vice Dean Keith Bybee

Panelists:

Moderator: Vice Dean Keith Bybee
Panelists:

The College of Law’s fourth annual Supreme Court Preview program examined pending cases on the docket for the 2020-2021 term with featured speaker Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Correspondent, The New York Times.

Liptak’s talk was followed by a panel discussion with Reeves Anderson, Supreme Court Litigator, Arnold & Porter; Upnit K. Bhatti L’15, Managing Associate, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; the Hon. Mae D’Agostino L’80, US District Court for the Northern District of New York; Professor Paula Johnson; and the Hon. Rosemary S. Pooler, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Moderated by Vice Dean Keith Bybee, among other cases, the panel addressed cases involving:

  • First Amendment implications surrounding faith-based adoption agencies and same-sex couples.
  • The potential liabilities imposed on domestic corporations under the Alien Tort Statute.
  • Eighth Amendment sentencing authority over juvenile offenders.
  • Constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.
  • The “expropriation exception” of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which abrogates foreign immunity when “rights in property taken in violation of international law” are in issue.
  • The interpretation of “seizure” by use of physical force within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, among others.

Watch the video.

Presented by Syracuse University College of Law; the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media; the Syracuse Civics Initiative; and the NDNY-Federal Court Bar Association

The College of Law’s third annual Supreme Court Preview program examined the pending cases on the docket for the 2019-2020 term. The Preview opened with featured speaker Jess Bravin, The Wall Street Journal Supreme Court Correspondent, followed by a panel discussion. On the panel, Bravin was join Second Circuit Judge Rosemary Pooler, Arnold & Porter Supreme Court Litigator Reeves Anderson; University Professor David Dreisen; and Associate Dean for Faculty Research Lauryn Gouldin for a preview of the Court’s October 2019 docket.

The College of Law‘s second annual Supreme Court Preview program examined the vacancy following Justice Anthony Kennedy retirement after nearly three decades on the country’s highest court. Justice Kennedy was the deciding swing vote in many high profile cases during his tenure and his retirement announcement launched a politically contentious nomination process that has dominated the news cycle for most of the summer.

Featured speaker Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate, opened the afternoon program with a lecture on the impacts that these significant court transitions have on the journalists who regularly cover the Court.

Lithwick then joined the Honorable Rosemary Pooler of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and College of Law Professors Sanjay Chhablani and Margaret Harding for a panel discussion moderated by Vice Dean Keith Bybee. The panel previewed some of the cases pending before the Court, including cases involving arbitration, the death penalty, the double jeopardy clause, and Native American sovereignty, among others.

The Supreme Court’s 2016-2017 term was marked by caution and consensus that reflected the eight justices’ “strenuous efforts” to rule narrowly to avoid deadlocks. After the 2016 election and the subsequent confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch in April, the Court returned to fighting weight.

As speaker Amy Howe, editor and reporter for SCOTUSblog explained, the Court’s docket for 2017-2018 had “no shortage of blockbusters,” presenting issues including: the constitutionality of President Trump’s travel ban; whether Colorado’s public accommodations law violates a bakery owner’s First Amendment rights by requiring him to make custom cakes for same-sex weddings; whether the Fourth Amendment protects historical cell-site location information (and the continued viability of the controversial third-party doctrine); whether Wisconsin’s most recent legislative redistricting is unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering; and whether arbitration agreements that require employees to forgo collective, class-action relief are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (a case in which DOJ’s position from before the election has changed).

This program examined the impacts of the 2016 election on the 2017-2018 term and on the composition of the Court going forward with previews and analysis of key cases on the Court’s 2017-2018 docket.