Dear Colleagues:

For many years the “Friday Lunch” has had an early-Fall-term discussion of the Court, summarizing what happened in the previous term and projecting what might happen in the term that would begin the First Monday in October. Each year one question has been whether the conservative revolution so passionately pursued and feared would finally occur. Each year it did not. Even President Trump’s appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to replace the less reliably conservative (but still conservative) Anthony Kennedy did not seem to eliminate the balance in which one relatively or situationally moderate conservative, usually Chief Justice Roberts, could still side with the four Democratic appointees, making decisions unpredictable.

But President Trump and Senator McConnell’s success in replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Justice Amy Coney Barrett just before the 2020 election seemed to create a conservative supermajority that could finally achieve conservative activists’ goals. The October, 2020 term nevertheless was not dramatic. But the October 2021 term was. As the Washington Post summarized,

“The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the nationwide right to abortion dominated one of the court’s most consequential terms. The emboldened 6-3 conservative majority, with three nominees of President Donald Trump, wasted little time expanding the rights of gun owners to carry guns in public, strengthening the role of religion in public life and sharply curtailing the Biden administration’s power to combat climate change.”

One indicator of significant change was that so much happened in the October, 2021 term that our distinguished speakers barely got to discussing the new term that began in October, 2022. So they have kindly agreed to come back to start “Spring” semester, reporting on the arguments made in cases that have been heard to date and the arguments and decisions still to come. They would normally be able to report on decisions already made but, as of this writing (January 13) no decisions had been made – a record-setting delay. But we have already seen arguments on major cases involving voting rights, challenges to the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency, affirmative action, religious objections to anti-discrimination laws, and most fundamentally, whether the authority of state legislatures over elections has any limits or cannot even be overseen by state courts enforcing state constitutions.

What, then, are the tea leaves about likely decisions to come? Are there unexpected cleavages becoming visible within the conservative super-majority? What are the most important stakes on the agenda? It is a great pleasure to welcome back Professors Adler and Entin for this unusual update. Please join them for their wise and somewhat different perspectives on the law and the Court, what has happened and what might happen next.

In-Person and Virtual Attendance

In order to make it easy for people to protect themselves and still participate, the meetings are accessible on Zoom. Participants can register for each meeting in the same way they did for the past two years. The link is posted below.

We now have new technology in the Dampeer Room that should make it easier for participants on Zoom to hear the discussion in the room and allow less worry about echoes within the room.

The discussion begins at 12:30 p.m., but the room should be open no later than Noon. We try to have beverages and refreshments set up soon after that. Participants should be able to sign on to Zoom also by Noon. But please remember not much will be happening online until the talk begins at 12:30 pm. Please also remember to show identification when entering Kelvin Smith Library.

Zoom participants should speak up when asked for questions or comments, or submit thoughts through Zoom’s chat function. Please keep yourself muted until you are choosing to speak.

Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. When you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. If you do not get the newsletter, you should also be able to get the information each Monday by checking http://fridaylunch.case.edu/ Then if you choose you can use the contact form on that website to request the registration link.

This week’s Zoom link for registration is:

https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tf-2upjMrHNGW5nqy0y-n_GVGey0R5aXm

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Please e-mail padg@case.edu if you have questions about how the Zoom version of the Friday Lunch will work or any other suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you. We are very pleased to be partnering this semester with the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program to share information about the discussions.

Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,

Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Jonathan H. Adler is the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and and Director, Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he teaches courses in environmental, administrative, and constitutional law.

Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011), and over a dozen book chapters. His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2016 study identified Professor Adler as the most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law under age 50.

Professor Adler is a contributing editor to National Review Online and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, “The Volokh Conspiracy.” A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS “Newshour with Jim Lehrer” and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” to the Fox News Channel and “Entertainment Tonight.”

Jonathan Entin has taught Constitutional Law; Administrative Law; Courts, Public Policy and Social Change; and a Supreme Court Seminar. Before joining the faculty in 1984, he clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (when she was on the U.S. Court of Appeals) and practiced in Washington with Steptoe & Johnson. The recipient of several teaching awards and a former co-editor of the Journal of Legal Education, he is at work on a book about equal protection. Among his recent publications are “Getting What You Pay For: Judicial Compensation and Judicial Independence,” Utah Law Review (2011) and “Responding to Political Corruption: Some Institutional Considerations,” Loyola University Chicago Law Journal (2011).

* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

January 27: Tik-Tok, Tik-Tok. With Anat Alon-Beck, J.D., Assistant Professor of Law, and Girma Parris, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science.

February 3: Nuclear Fusion: The Race to Harness the Power of the Sun. With Philip L. Taylor, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor and Perkins Professor of Physics Emeritus, and Cyrus C. Taylor, Ph.D., Albert A. Michelson Professor in Physics.

Note: Later programs have not been finalized. Among the likely topics for which we have speakers but have not nailed down dates are policy issues and the nursing profession; Muslim diasporas in the west; the challenges to connecting new sustainable power sources to the electric grid; and “Environmental and Social Corporate Governance.” Please contact Joe White at jxw87@case.edu to suggest further topics – particularly topics with speakers!

February 10: TBD

February 17: TBD

February 24: TBD

March 3: TBD

March 10: TBD

March 17: Spring Break

March 24: TBD

March 31: TBD

April 7: TBD

April 14: TBD

April 21: TBD

April 28: TBD