Symposium

FDR and Obama: Are there Constitutional Law Lessons from the New Deal for the Obama Administration?

The Roosevelt Administration forged fundamental change in government policy during the Depression, but not without obstacles to that change coming from the Supreme Court. Many reviewers have noticed the similarities between the Roosevelt story and the current administration, leading many to consider whether the experiences of the 1930s can be instructive for the current political and economic climate. Our Symposium will explore this question, and address whether these eras are similar enough to draw parallels in terms of policy and law, how the legacy of the Roosevelt Court may affect future litigation over Obama Administration policies, whether new constitutional principles are needed as the Court addresses health care and financial reform, what ways the Court’s Commerce Clause jurisprudence may be affected in this litigation, and what comparisons may be made between the current Court’s federalist and anti-federalist proponents and that of the Hughes Court during the Roosevelt era.

Panelists include: Mark Tushnet, Barry Cushman, Louise Weinberg, Jamal Greene, Laura Cisneros, Charlton Copeland, and Craig Jackson.

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