Dear Colleagues:

Greetings, and I hope that, if you are receiving this e-mail, you and yours are healthy and safe during this dangerous and strange time for the world, our nation, our community, and Case Western Reserve University.

So much is in suspension or worse, and one minor example has been the “Friday Lunch” discussions, which we had to suspend after our discussion with Professor Jessica Kelley back on March 6. A new semester now begins, with a partial return of students and faculty to campus. That has involved many adjustments in order to enable social distancing, which doubly prevents us from meeting in-person. First, we could not have many people in a room due to social distancing anyway. Second, Kelvin Smith Library has re-organized our usual meeting room, the Dampeer Room, as study space for students. This is necessary because the regular space has had to be reconfigured to spread students further away from each other, and so can accommodate many fewer students.

Therefore, we will resume “virtually” as Zoom meetings, beginning on Friday, August 28. Discussions will begin at 12:30 p.m., the usual time. Each week, beginning today, we will send out the newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. Every Monday the same information will be posted on fridaylunch.case.edu. If you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting.

This week’s link is: https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMvdeioqjgtE9cIOCGxMTLOGG-MFbBUHA2v

I deeply regret that going virtual may lose some of the attractions of our gatherings. For example, I won’t be able to provide goodies until we can get back together in person. And it will not be as easy to have side conversations (though there are ways to “chat” privately in the chat function). On the positive side, it should be a lot easier to join, without having to leave the comfort of your own home or office. Our Siegal Lifelong Learning program has had somewhat larger participation in its events since going online.

We can only start and see how it goes. I am very glad that we can begin with our traditional start-of-the-academic-year topic and grateful to our superb speakers for agreeing to continue the tradition. The Supreme Court term that began in October of 2019 and ended in July (late, due to COVID-19) had a series of significant and/or surprising decisions. Join us as our highly expert Professors Adler and Entin discuss both those decisions and what’s coming up in the next term.

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.

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 Guests

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).

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

September 4: Regulating the Content of Online Platforms. With Raymond Ku, J.D., Professor of Law, Laura B. Chisholm Distinguished Research Scholar, and Director, Center for Cyberspace Law and Policy.

September 11: “Deaths of Despair” and the Case for Medicare for All. With Joseph White, Ph.D., Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

September 18: The Economy Now and With the Next Administration. With Dean Baker, Ph.D., Senior Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research.

September 25: Age and Financial Fear. With Christine L. Day, Ph.D, Professor of Political Science, University of New Orleans.

October 2: Leading on Lead Poisoning: New Initiatives in Cleveland and the Role of Research. With Robert L. Fischer, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Co-Director, Center on Urban Poverty & Community Development, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences

October 9: TBA

October 16: Covid-19 and the Economics of Health Care. With J.B. Silvers, Ph.D., John R. Mannix Medical Mutual of Ohio Professor of Health Care Finance.

October 23: COVID-19: Rapid Research and Rapid Revelations. With Mark Cameron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences.

October 30: Election Forecast Discussion. Speakers To Be Determined

November 6: “Banning the Box”: The Substance and Politics of Legislation to Reduce Obstacles to Hiring Felons. With Daniel Shoag, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics.

November 13: Targeted Assassinations and Other Red and Not-So-Red Lines. With Shannon E. French, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, Inamori Professor of Ethics, and Director, Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence

November 20: What’s the Beef? The Controversy Over the Health Effects of Red Meat. With Hope Barkoukis, Ph.D., Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professor in Wellness and Preventive Care and Chair, Department of Nutrition.

December 4: The Economics of Sports After (?) COVID-19. With Jonathan Ernest, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics.