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Jeffrey S. Sutton is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure and as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, and as the Commissioner of the Supreme Court Fellows Program.

Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.

September 6-7, 2022

"When Justice is Done: Representing the United States in the Supreme Court"

Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar is the 48th Solicitor General of the United States and serves as the fourth-ranking individual at the Department of Justice. As Solicitor General, she is responsible for conducting and supervising all Supreme Court litigation on behalf of the United States. The Solicitor General also determines whether appeals will be taken by the federal government to all appellate courts and whether the federal government will file an amicus curiae brief or intervene in any appellate court. The Solicitor General additionally assists the Attorney General in the development of broad Department program policy.

Ms. Prelogar has devoted her career to Supreme Court and appellate advocacy. She has argued 14 cases in the Supreme Court in a variety of areas, including constitutional law, administrative law, environmental regulation, criminal law, and antitrust. In the most recent Supreme Court term, she delivered oral argument in cases concerning state-law prohibitions of abortion (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and United States v. Texas); the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine-or-test requirement (National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor); the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants (West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency); and the rescission of the Migrant Protection Protocols (Biden v. Texas).

Ms. Prelogar previously served in multiple roles at the Department of Justice. Before her confirmation as Solicitor General, she served as Acting Solicitor General and Principal Deputy Solicitor General for nearly seven months. She also served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General from 2014 to 2019. In that capacity, she briefed and argued multiple cases in the Supreme Court and helped formulate the government’s appellate strategy in lower courts. During her prior tenure as a career attorney at the Department, she also was detailed to Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and obstruction-of-justice issues, where she served as an Assistant Special Counsel.

Ms. Prelogar was born and raised in Boise, Idaho, and graduated from Boise High School. She received her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Emory University and a master’s degree in creative writing with distinction from the University of St. Andrews. She subsequently spent a year living and studying in St. Petersburg, Russia, as a Fulbright Fellow. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School where she was an Articles Editor of the Harvard Law Review.

After graduating from law school, Ms. Prelogar clerked for Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She then completed consecutive Supreme Court clerkships for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Elena Kagan. After her clerkships, she worked as an associate in the appellate group at Hogan Lovells LLP. She later became a partner at Cooley LLP, where she focused on appellate litigation. Ms. Prelogar devoted substantial time to pro bono litigation while in private practice and also served as a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where she co-taught a course on Supreme Court and appellate advocacy.

Ms. Prelogar was nominated by President Joe Biden on August 11, 2021, was confirmed by the United States Senate and received her commission on October 28, 2021, and was sworn in by Attorney General Garland the next day. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two young sons.

"Vindicating the Rule of Law: From Ruby Ridge to Guantanamo Bay"

Mr. Nevin is a partner in his firm Nevin, Benjamin and McKay, LLP. His practice focuses primarily on the representation of criminal defendants and other cases implicating issues of civil rights and government overreaching.

Mr. Nevin’s cases include the 1993 Ruby Ridge case, the 2004 terrorism prosecution of a Saudi Arabian graduate student, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, and the 2008 successful defense of Geoffrey Fieger, in which he joined with legendary trial lawyer Gerry Spence to defend against vindictive political prosecution. Mr. Nevin has represented Khalid Shaikh Mohammad in his capital prosecution arising from the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the Military Commission at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mr. Nevin is a founder and past president of the Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is the namesake of its Nevin Professionalism Award, presented annually to a criminal defense lawyer who advances the ideals of the profession. Mr. Nevin serves as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Practice at the College of Law, founding board member of the Idaho Innocence Project and Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is a Fellow and former Idaho State chair of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has served on the Board of Advocates for the West, a nonprofit conservation law firm, and serves on the National Security Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Mr. Nevin’s work has been discussed in the following publications:

• Police State: How America’s Cops Get Away with Murder, Gerry Spence (St. Martin’s Press, 2015)
• Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy, Susan N. Herman (Oxford University Press, 2011)
• American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion, Paul M. Barrett (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2006)
• The Devil’s Advocates, H. Mitchell Caldwell (Scribner/Lisa Drew Books, 2006)
• Cyanide Canary, Hildorfer and Dugoni (Free Press, 2004)
• Every Knee Shall Bow, Jess Walter (Regan Books/Harper Collins, 1995)
• Ambush at Ruby Ridge, Alan W. Bock (Dickens Press, 1995)

Ken Salazar served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior and Colorado United States Senator and Attorney General. Mr. Salazar's law practice is focused on energy, environment, natural resources, corporate governance and Native American matters.

In December 2008, President Barack Obama selected Mr. Salazar to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of Interior. Mr. Salazar was confirmed as the 50th Secretary of the Interior by a unanimous US Senate vote on January 20, 2009. Prior to his confirmation, Mr. Salazar served as US Senator for Colorado and served on the Energy and Natural Resources and Finance Committees, which oversaw the nation's energy, natural resources, tax, trade, social security and healthcare systems. He also served on the Agriculture, Ethics, Veterans Affairs and Aging Committees. 

As Secretary, Mr. Salazar led the nation's efforts to develop and implement the framework for America's energy independence. The effort included overseeing the exploration and development of conventional and renewable energy resources on public lands and oceans, working on matters relating to climate change, the exploration of frontier areas like the Arctic, leading the successful response to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and overhauling the regulatory oversight of oil and gas exploration and production.

As Secretary, he led the effort to permit more than 11,000 MW of power on public lands from solar, wind and geothermal sources (the equivalent of power from more than 30 regular power plants) and developed the blueprint for future siting and development of these resources, including high priority transmission infrastructure projects. As part of his renewable energy efforts, he also created the first offshore wind energy plan for the Atlantic Ocean and awarded the first leases in American history for offshore wind projects. During his service, he also led the creation of regional climate change centers in the United States. 

Secretary Salazar also led the nation's efforts on conservation, including the designation of 10 National Parks and 10 National Conservation and Wildlife Refuges, and organized more than 100 other conservation and preservation projects in the United States. He also led the successful resolution of bilateral conservation efforts with Mexico and Canada along the two borders. 

Mr. Salazar led the President's initiatives in creating a new chapter with Native American tribes and Alaska Natives. This effort included the resolution of longstanding conflicts like the Cobell litigation, water rights cases, and permitting energy and solar projects in Indian country. 

As a US Senator, Senator Salazar sponsored and led efforts for the enactment of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the 2006 Gulf of Mexico Security Act, the 2007 Farm Bill, and the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. In each of these efforts, Mr. Salazar was a central player in putting together the successful bipartisan efforts that created the most significant energy legal framework in US history. As a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, Mr. Salazar was a champion for veterans and created the Office of Rural Veterans Affairs and helped lead the efforts on the new Rocky Mountain Regional VA hospital. 

Mr. Salazar received a JD degree from the University of Michigan and a political science degree from Colorado College. He later received honorary doctorates of law from Colorado College, the University of Denver and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He was recognized with induction into the Order of the Coif from the University of Colorado School of Law and received the University of Michigan Distinguished Alumni Award.

Mr. Chertoff is co- founder and executive chairman of The Chertoff Group, a security and risk management firm, where he provides high-level strategic counsel to corporate and government leaders on a broad range of security issues, from risk identification and prevention to preparedness, response and recovery.

As the 2nd Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Chertoff strengthened our nation’s borders, provided intelligence analysis and infrastructure protection, increased the Department’s focus on preparedness ahead of disasters, and implemented enhanced security at airports and borders. Following Hurricane Katrina, Chertoff transformed FEMA into an effective organization.

Prior to his nomination by President George W. Bush, Mr. Chertoff served as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Earlier, during more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, he investigated and prosecuted cases of political corruption, organized crime, corporate fraud and terrorism – including the investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mr. Chertoff also served as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1990-1994 and as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Williams Brennan, Jr. from 1979-1980.

Mr. Chertoff has received numerous awards including the Department of Justice Henry E. Petersen Memorial Award (2006); the Department of Justice John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation (1987); NAACP Benjamin L. Hooks Award for Distinguished Service (2007); European Institute Transatlantic Leadership Award (2008); and two honorary doctorates.

The youngest of 13 children from a farm in Oklahoma, Hill received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1980. She began her career in private practice in Washington, D.C. There she also worked at the U.S. Education Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. With more than 30 years of teaching law to graduate and undergraduate students, she is currently at Brandeis University where she teaches courses on gender, race, social policy and legal history. Ms. Hill has spoken to hundreds of business, professional, academic and civic organizations in the United States and abroad about how to make campuses and workplaces more fair and equitable places for the people who inhabit them.

In 1991, Anita Hill was thrust into the public spotlight when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Clarence Thomas. After the hearings Ms. Hill began speaking to audiences worldwide about how to build on the great strides of the women's and civil rights struggles. She presents concrete proposals which encourage us to extend our vision of equality to include more than legal rights. Her goal is to encourage creative, equitable and positive resolution of race, gender and class issues. She also advises on class action workplace discrimination cases.

In 1995, Ms. Hill wrote her biography, "Speaking Truth to Power". In 2011, Hill wrote "Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race and Finding Home", which takes the reader inside the subprime meltdown and the resulting devastation to families and communities. This book exposes its deep roots in race and gender inequities which imperil every American's ability to achieve the American Dream. She has also written commentary for Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Ms. Magazine, and appears regularly on national television programs including Good Morning America, The Daily Show, Meet the Press, The Today Show, The Tavis Smiley Show and Larry King Live. In 2014, the documentary "Anita: Speaking Truth to Power" was released. It depicts how Ms. Hill has become an American icon who empowers men and women around the world to stand up for peace and justice.

Despite a demanding speaking schedule, Hill continues her teaching and research. She believes that the combination of popular and scholarly work keeps her ideas fresh and grounded in both the latest research and in real life experiences. Professor Hill is also the recipient of numerous awards, grants and honorary degrees, including the Ford Hall Forum's First Amendment Award for her promotion of gender and race equality. The Fletcher Fellowship award was given to Ms. Hill for her work on ending educational disparities among poor and minority students. The Fletcher award was created in 2004 on the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education and is given to institutions and individuals working to fulfill the goals of that landmark decision. Her professional and civic contributions include the National Women's Law Center and the Boston Area Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights where she sits on Board of Directors for both organizations. Along with Provost Steve A.N. Goldstein, Hill is responsible for implementing "Fulfilling the Promise: The Brandeis University Strategic Plan".

October 14, 2015

"Truth, Justice and Democracy: Post Dictatorship"

The Honorable Juan Guzmán was born in El Salvador in 1939. He is a Chilean citizen, former judge and justice, and current lawyer who studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago. Similar to his parents, Guzmán was initially supportive of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and opposed President Salvador Allende's political agenda. But while serving as a judge, Guzmán grew more critical as he came to understand how the government maintained its power. Initially, he stayed quiet and carried on his duties as a judge eventually serving on the Court of Appeals.

He was a member of the Chilean judiciary for 36 years and acted as judge in Panguipulli, Valdivia, Santa Cruz and Santiago. Guzmán was a justice at Talca's Court Appeal for five years and justice at Santiago's Court of Appeal for 16 years. As part of his functions in Santiago, he prosecuted many state agents for human rights crimes, including Pinochet.

Guzmán's work in the field of human rights has been recognized with several awards, nationally and internationally, and he has received Honorary Degrees from the Catholic University of Louvain at Belgium, Oberlin College, Ohio, the Monterey Institute of International Studies and from Haverford College at Pennsylvania. Guzmán has been a professor of procedural law, professional ethics at the Pontifical Catholic University. He retired form the judiciary in 2005. Guzmán is the dean of the School of Law of Arcis University in Santiago, where he teaches professional ethics and human rights. He delivers speeches nationwide to raise awareness of the need for a democratic Constitution by means of a Constituent Assembly, because the 1980 Constitution enacted under the dictatorship of Gen. Pinochet is still enforced.

Judge Guzmán was the first to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on human rights violations committed during his presidency. Judge Guzmán received the in 2005 for his work. This award is given out by the Washington D.C. based Institute for Policy Studies to commemorate Orlando Letelier and Ronni Miller who were killed in 1976 by agents of the Chilean secret service. A documentary entitled “” released in 2008 tells the story of Judge Guzmán’s attempts to bring Pinochet to justice.

October 8, 2013

With Justice for All in a Changing America

Morris Dees was born in 1936 at Shorter, Alabama, the son of cotton farmers. As a young boy he worked the fields with blacks, witnessing first-hand social and economic deprivation and Jim Crow treatment at its worse.

While at the University of Alabama Law School, he met Millard Fuller. The two formed a highly successful publishing company during their time in law school. After graduation, they moved the business to Montgomery, Alabama. Fuller left the company in 1965 and later founded Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Dees continued the business and also began taking controversial civil rights cases.

Mr. Dees sold his publishing company to a major national firm in 1970 and formed the Southern Poverty Law Center, along with Julian Bond and Joseph Levin. Early Center cases included integrating the Alabama State Troopers and desegregating the Montgomery YMCA. The Center, funded by donations from over 300,000 citizens across the nation, quickly grew into one of America’s most successful and innovative public interest law firms.

In 1980, the Center founded the Intelligence Project in response to resurgence in organized racist activity. The project monitors hate groups and develops legal strategies for protecting citizens from violence-prone groups. A made-for-television movie about Mr. Dees, Line of Fire, describes his successful fight against the Ku Klux Klan. It included the $7 million precedent-setting judgment against the United Klans of America on behalf of the mother of Michael Donald, a young black man lynched by the Klan in Mobile, Alabama. Wayne Rogers portrayed Dees in the feature film, Ghosts of Mississippi, about the murder of civil rights worker Medgar Evers.

Other victories against hate groups include a $6 million judgment that bankrupted the Aryan Nations in Idaho, a $12.5 million jury verdict against the California-based White Aryan Resistance for the death of a black student, and a $26 million verdict against the Carolina Klan for burning black churches.

Klansmen burned the Center offices in 1983. The arsonists were convicted but not before their leader plotted to kill Mr. Dees. More than thirty men have since been imprisoned for plots to harm him or destroy Center property. This threat requires a high degree of security during public appearances.

To promote acceptance and tolerance, the Center founded Teaching Tolerance in 1990. Over 80,000 schools use the project’s free videos and teaching materials and over 400,000 teachers receive the award winning Teaching Tolerance magazine. The Center has won two Oscars for its tolerance education films and received five Oscar nominations. Mr. Dees believes that it is important to teach tolerance in the classroom as well as fight hate in the courtroom.

Mr. Dees has received numerous awards in conjunction with his work. The U.S. Jaycees chose him as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of America for his early business success. Trial Lawyers for Public Justice named him Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1987. In 2009, he was inducted into the Trial Lawyers’ Hall of Fame by the American Trial Lawyers’ Association. The American Bar Association honored him this year (2012) with the ABA Medal, the ABA's highest honor.

Mr. Dees is the author of three books, A Lawyers Journey, his autobiography; Hate on Trial; and Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat. He remains actively engaged in litigation. He and his wife live in Montgomery, Alabama.

October 4, 2012

"Unconventional Responses to Unique Catastrophes: Tailoring the Law to Meet the Challenges"

Named the “Lawyer of the Year” in 2004 by the National Law Journal, and listed repeatedly in the Journal’s “Profiles in Power: The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America,” Kenneth Feinberg is the nation’s leading authority on mediating disputes and administering compensatory awards in mass injury cases.

Mr. Feinberg has earned his national prominence through high-profile service in many of America’s most controversial and emotionally laden cases. He may be best known for serving, upon request by then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, as Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001, a 33-month pro bono undertaking in which he evaluated applications, determined appropriate compensation, and paid awards to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He later described this heart-rending work in his book, What Is Life Worth? The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11 (Public Affairs, 2005). A few years later, Mr. Feinberg was designated as administrator of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund following the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. Most recently, he has served at the request of the Obama Administration and British Petroleum as administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Compensation Fund, established to expedite compensation to victims of the Gulf oil spill.

Mr. Feinberg also has served as a Special Master in the Agent Orange, Dalkon shield, and DES (pregnancy medication) cases, as well as in asbestos litigation. In the commercial sector, he designed, implemented and administered an Alternative Dispute Resolution program for settling insurance claims made by victims of Hurricane Katrina and other Gulf hurricanes. In the aftermath of the nation’s financial crisis in 2007-2008, he served as Distribution Agent for AIG (American International Group, Inc.) Fair Fund claimants, and – at the request of the Secretary of the Treasury – he oversaw the determination of salary limitations for top executives at companies receiving federal bailout (TARP) assistance.

Mr. Feinberg has played a creative role as fund administrator in the design and implementation of other prominent settlements arising out of litigation. Examples include In Re: United States of America v. Computer Associates International, Inc. (a restitution fund of $275 million); In Re: International Air Transportation Surcharge Antitrust Litigation (a $200 million fund); In Re: Zyprexa Product Liability Litigation (a $700 million fund); and In Re: Latino Officers Association City of New York, Inc., et al., v. The City of New York, et al.(a $17 million settlement fund).

In the course of his colorful career, Mr. Feinberg has been a court-appointed special settlement master, mediator and arbitrator in a vast array of other disputes – some with unique fact patterns. For example, he was one of three arbitrators selected to determine the fair market value of the original Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination, and he was one of two arbitrators selected to determine the allocation of legal fees in the Holocaust slave labor litigation.

Mr. Feinberg received his B.A. degree cum laude from the University of Massachusetts in 1967 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1970, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review. He was a law clerk for Chief Judge Stanley H. Fuld, New York State Court of Appeals from 1970 to 1972; Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York from 1972 to 1975; Special Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary from 1975 to 1980; Administrative Assistant to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1977 to 1979; partner at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler from 1980 to 1993; and founder of The Feinberg Group, LLP, in 1993. He currently is the managing partner of Feinberg Rozen, LLP, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C.

Remarkably, Mr. Feinberg has found time for additional forms of civic engagement and volunteer service to the nation. He was a member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Human Radiation Experiments from 1994 to 1998; the Presidential Commission on Catastrophic Nuclear Accidents from 1989 to 1990; and the Carnegie Commission Task Force on Science and Technology in Judicial and Regulatory Decision Making from 1989 to 1993. He is a current member of the National Judicial Panel of the Center for Public Resources; board chair-elect of the RAND Institute of Civil Justice; vice-chair of the Board of Human Rights First; a member of the Board of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; and president of the Washington National Opera.

A gifted communicator, Mr. Feinberg has shared his professional experiences and perspectives in law school classrooms at Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, New York University, the University of Virginia, and Columbia University. He also has delivered guest lectures at Duke, UCLA, Vanderbilt, and the New York Law School.

And now he is coming to Idaho. We are proud to welcome Mr. Feinberg as the 2012 Sherman J. Bellwood Memorial Lecturer.

April 28-29, 2011

"My Prison, My Home: A Scholars Perspective on the Middle East and The Search For The Rule of Law"

Dr. Haleh Esfandiari is currently the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. From 1995-1996, she was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Dr. Esfandiari has taught Persian language at Oxford University. She also taught Persian language, contemporary Persian literature as well as courses on the women's movement in Iran while at Princeton University from 1980 to 1994. Prior to Princeton, she served as Deputy Secretary General of the Women's Organization of Iran. She was also the Deputy Director of a cultural foundation where she was responsible for the activities of several museums and art and cultural centers. She also worked as a journalist in Iran and taught at the College of Mass Communication in Tehran.

Dr. Esfandiari is the author of Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran's Islamic Revolution (1997), editor of Iranian Women: Past, Present and Future (1977), the co-editor of The Economic Dimensions of Middle Eastern History (1990), and of the multi-volume memoirs of the famed Iranian scholar, Ghassem Ghani. Among her other writings are chapters in the books: In the Eye of the Storm: Women in Post-Revolutionary Iran (1992), Iran at the Crossroads (2001), Middle Eastern Women on the Move (2003) and Islam and Democracy in the Middle East (2003). Her articles have also appeared in Foreign Policy, Journal of Democracy, Princeton Papers in Near Eastern Studies, The New Republic, and Middle East Review. Her article “The Woman Question” appeared in the Spring 2004 edition of Wilson Quarterly. She is the co-author of Best Practices: Progressive Family Laws in Muslim Countries (2005), a Woodrow Wilson Center and RAND Corporation publication. She is also the co-author of “Why 'Soft' Power in Iran Is Counterproductive” (October 8, 2007) and “Iran Closes an Iconic Magazine” (April 11, 2008), both in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her articles for the Washington Post include “Held in My Homeland” (September 16, 2007), featured in the Outlook section, and her Op-Ed “Tehran's Self-Fulfilling Paranoia” (August 21, 2009). She has also written for blogs and websites such as the New York Review of Books Blog with “Iran’s Harshest Sentence for an Innocent Scholar” (October 2009) and “Iran’s Women of War” (January 2010), as well as “Why Iran Freed Roxana Saberi” (May 2009) in the Daily Beast and “Misreading Tehran: The Real Impact of the Elections” (June 2010) in Foreign Policy.

Dr. Esfandiari has also edited the proceedings of conferences sponsored by the Middle East Program which include: "Women in Central Asia: A Turn of the Century Assessment" (2001), "Symposium on Palestinian Refugees" (2001), “ Middle Eastern Women on the Move” (2001), "Intellectual Change and the New Generation of Iranian Intellectuals" (2001), "An Assessment of the Iranian Presidential Elections" (2002), “More Than Victims: The Role of Women in Conflict Prevention” (2002), “Winning the Peace: Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq” (2003), “Post-Khatami Iran” (2004), “Women, Muslim Laws and Human Rights in Nigeria” (2004), “The ‘Strategic Partnership’ Between India and Iran” (2004), “Political Transition in Afghanistan: The State, Islam and Civil Society” (2004), “Building a New Iraq: Women’s Role in Reconstruction” (2004), “The Status of Women in the Middle East” (2005), "A Troubled Triangle: Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan" (2005), “Building a New Iraq: Ensuring Women’s Rights” (2005), "Iran After the June 2005 Presidential Election" (2005), “A View from the Region: Different Perspectives on Israel’s War with Lebanon’s Hizbullah” (2006), “Regional Strategies for Empowering Women” (2006), “Reformist Women Thinkers in the Islamic World” (2009), “Secularism in the Muslim Diaspora” (2009), “Vanguard: Women in the Iranian Election Campaign and Protest” (2009), “The Iranian Presidential Elections: What Do They Tell Us?” (2010).

Dr. Esfandiari is the first recipient of a yearly award established in her name, the Haleh Esfandiari Award. This award was presented to Dr. Esfandiari by a group of businesswomen and activists from countries across the Middle East and North Africa region on the occasion of a conference sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Center, “Women Entrepreneurs: Business and Legal Reform in the MENA Region,” held in Amman, Jordan in May 20 - 22, 2008. Her other awards include: a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant (1997); the Special American Red Cross Award (2008); an honorary degree from Georgetown University Law Center (2008); the Women's Equality Award from the National Council of Women's Organizations (2008); and Miss Hall’s School Woman of Distinction Award (April 2009). Dr. Esfandiari is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Project on Middle East Democracy and, in December 2008, became one of three first annual recipients of POMED’s “Leader for Democracy” award. She was featured in Parade magazine (May 2008), in O, the Oprah Winfrey magazine (November 2008), and in Vogue magazine (August 2009).

Her memoir, My Prison, My Home, based on Esfandiari’s arrest by the Iranian security authorities in 2007, after which she spent 105 days in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison, was published in September 2009 by Ecco Press, an imprint of Harper Collins. The paperback edition will be released October 1, 2010.

September 13-14, 2011

"The American Judiciary: Underfunded, Misunderstood, and More Important than Ever"

Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III is Member-in-Charge of the Northern Kentucky offices of Frost Brown Todd LLC, a regional law firm with over 450  lawyers in nine offices located in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and Indiana. In August 2011 he became the ABA President for a one-year term..

Throughout his career, Robinson has served as a leader in his profession and in his community.  An ABA member since 1972, he has been active in the Association for more than 25 years in various leadership roles, including a three-year term as association Treasurer and seven years on the ABA Board of Governors.  Robinson is a Past President of the Kentucky Bar Association, a Past President of the Kentucky Bar Foundation and founding Chair of Kentucky's Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program.  He also served as Board Chair of the Kentucky and the Northern Kentucky Chambers of Commerce, and as Board Chair of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Robinson’s awards and recognitions include the Judge Learned Hand Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, the Outstanding Lawyer Award from the Kentucky Bar Association, the Themis Award from the Cincinnati Bar Association, the Jacob E. Davis Award from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the Lincoln Award from Northern Kentucky University and the Oak Award as Outstanding Alumnus of Kentucky from the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education.

He is a graduate of Thomas More College and the University of Kentucky, College of Law, where in 2004 he was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame.

April 15, 2010

The United States and Tribal Nations: An Evolving Relationship Guided by Domestic and International Law"

Larry Echo Hawk

Larry Echo Hawk, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, was confirmed by the United States Senate as the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 19, 2009, and was sworn into office by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on May 22, 2009.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Echo Hawk served for 14 years as a Professor of Law at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School where he taught Federal Indian law, criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, criminal trial practice, and published several scholarly papers.

A former U.S. Marine, Mr. Echo Hawk began his law career as a legal services attorney working for impoverished Indian people in California, then opened a private law office in Salt Lake City. In 1977, he was named Chief General Legal Counsel to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho, a position he held for more than eight years. He became special counsel to the tribes in 1998. He is admitted to the bar in Idaho, Utah, and California.

Mr. Echo Hawk was elected Attorney General of Idaho in 1990, the first American Indian in U.S. history to achieve that distinction. He had served as the Bannock County (Idaho) Prosecuting Attorney since 1986. Before that, he served two consecutive terms in the Idaho House of Representatives, from 1982 to 1986.

Mr. Echo Hawk has served on the American Indian Services National Advisory Board and Board of Trustees. He was appointed by President Clinton to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which is responsible for coordinating the Federal Government’s efforts to combat juvenile delinquency in the United States. He also has served on the Indian Alcoholism Counseling and Recovery Housing Program, and the American Indian Community Resource Center Board.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree from BYU in 1970. Mr. Echo Hawk received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah in 1973 and attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA Program from 1974 to 1975. He has received numerous awards and honors, including Distinguished Alumnus Awards from both Brigham Young University (1992) and the University of Utah (2003).

In 1991, Mr. Echo Hawk was awarded the George Washington University’s prestigious Martin Luther King medal for his contributions to human rights, and was honored as a speaker at the Democratic National Convention. As Idaho’s delegation chair, he became the first American Indian to lead a state delegation to a national political convention.

Mr. Echo Hawk also was honored in 1995 as the first BYU graduate ever to receive the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s prestigious Silver Anniversary Award, which is given to a select few prominent athletes who completed their collegiate athletic eligibility 25 years ago and have distinguished themselves in their careers and personal lives.

Lawrence Baca

Lawrence Baca, a Pawnee Indian, is President of the Federal Bar Association. Formerly a Deputy Director of the Office of Tribal Justice, United States Department of Justice, during his 32 years with the Department he also served as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division. Mr. Baca has also served as Chairman of the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession from 2002-2005 after serving two years as a Commissioner. He has been elected President of the National Native American Bar Association three times. Baca’s legal work has been profiled in the American Bar Association Journal as one of “Twelve Who Made It” and in Indian Country Today, the leading American Indian newspaper in the country, in an article calling Baca “the grandfather of Indian country credit.”

In 1973, Baca received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in “American Indian History and Culture” from the University of California, Santa Barbara. A 1976 graduate of Harvard Law School, Baca was one of the first American Indians to graduate from Harvard. He was the first American Indian ever hired through the Department of Justice's Honor Law Program.

In 1988, Mr. Baca was presented with a Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of California, Santa Barbara. In April 2008, the Indian Law Section of the Federal Bar Association created the Lawrence R. Baca Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Federal Indian Law to honor his career and contributions to the Federal Bar Association. He was it’s first recipient. Baca also received the American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award in 2008 recognizing his work in mentoring minority attorneys and opening doors and opportunities for Native American attorneys at the United States Department of Justice.

Professor Rebecca Tsosie

Professor Tsosie has written and published widely on doctrinal and theoretical issues related to tribal sovereignty, environmental policy, and cultural rights. Professor Tsosie is the author of many prominent articles dealing with cultural resources and cultural pluralism. She has used this work as a foundation for her newest research, which deals with Native rights to genetic resources.

Professor Tsosie, who is of Yaqui descent, has also worked extensively with tribal governments and organizations. She serves as a Supreme Court Justice for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and as a Court of Appeals Judge for the San Carlos Tribal Court of Appeals. Professor Tsosie was appointed as a Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar in 2005. Prior to this, she held the title of Lincoln Professor of Native American Law and Ethics.

She is an Affiliate Professor for the American Indian Studies Program. She is the co-author of a federal Indian law casebook entitled American Indian Law: Native Nations and the Federal System. Tsosie was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and received the American Bar Association's "2002 Spirit of Excellence Award." She is the 2006 recipient of the "Judge Learned Hand Award" for Public Service.

March 13, 2009

"Abraham Lincoln's Legacy: Shaping Idaho and the Legal Profession"

John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, was born in Buffalo, New York, on January 27, 1955. He married Jane Sullivan in 1996 and they have two children—Josephine and John. He received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1976 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979.

He served as a law clerk for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1979-1980, and as a law clerk for then-Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1980 Term. He served as a Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States from 1981-1982, as Associate Counsel to President Reagan from 1982-1986, and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General from 1989-1993.

From 1986-1989 and 1993-2003, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. He served as a Judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2003-2005. Nominated as Chief Justice of the United States by President George W. Bush, he assumed that office on September 29, 2005.

April 21, 2008

"The Enduring Constitutional Conversation: Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Jefferson"

As a law professor and dean, as a federal appellate judge, as an appointed independent counsel in high-profile cases, as a representative of blue-chip clients in private practice, as a pro bono advocate for condemned persons on death row, and as a public citizen engaged in community service, Kenneth W. Starr has pursued a career spanning the breadth of the legal profession.

Kenneth Starr currently serves as the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California. Dean Starr previously taught Constitutional Law as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law. He was also a distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University School of Law and Chapman Law School in Orange, California.

Dean Starr’s current academic life includes a resumption of scholarship. His scholarship includes First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life, published in 2002. The book, which was written to explain key decisions by the Justices of the Supreme Court to the American people, is now in paperback. It is described by United States Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle as “eminently readable and informative…not just the best treatment to date of the Court after Warren, it is likely to have that distinction for a long, long time.”

In his academic life, Dean Starr maintains a longtime connection to the practice of law. He is Of Counsel to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, where he was a partner from 1993 to 2004, specializing in appellate work, antitrust, federal courts, federal jurisdiction and constitutional law. Through his Of Counsel connection, Dean Starr has in recent cases represented: public school officials in a Free Speech case involving a student’s display of a banner (the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case); California winegrowers asserting a constitutional (Commerce Clause) challenge to state laws restricting interstate delivery of wine; Blackwater defendants in the Iraqi wrongful death civil suit; and (serving pro bono) death row inmates in two murder cases where exculpatory or mitigating evidence allegedly was suppressed or disregarded by prosecutors.

As Solicitor General of the United States from 1989 to January 1993, Dean Starr argued twenty-five cases before the Supreme Court. He also served as United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989, as counselor to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith from 1981 to 1983, and as law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger from 1975 to 1977 and 5th Circuit Judge David W. Dyer from 1973-1974. Dean Starr received bipartisan praise for his work on behalf of the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee in a case involving the diaries of former Oregon Senator Bob Packwood. Dean Starr was appointed by a three-judge federal court panel to serve as Independent Counsel for five investigations, including Whitewater, from August 1994 to October 1999.

Having received his B.A. from George Washington University in 1968 and his M.A. from Brown University in 1969, Dean Starr graduated from the Duke Law School with a J.D. degree in 1973. He was Note and Comment Editor of the Duke Law Journal and graduated Order of the Coif. He is admitted to practice in California, the District of Columbia, Virginia and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dean Starr has numerous professional affiliations, including having served as president of the Institute of Judicial Administration in New York and the Council for Court Excellence in Washington, D.C. Other Boards on which he serves or has served include Advocates International, American Law Institute, American Association of Law Schools, American Judicature Society, Supreme Court Historical Society, American Inns of Court Foundation, Institute for United States Studies, American University, Shenandoah University, and the American Bar Association Journal Board of Editors.

He has received a multitude of honors and awards including the J. Reuben Clark Law Society 2005 Distinguished Service Award, the 2004 Capital Book Award, the Jefferson Cup award from the FBI, the Edmund Randolph Award for Outstanding Service in the Department of Justice, and the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.

Dean Starr was born on July 21, 1946, in Vernon, Texas, and raised in San Antonio. He and his wife Alice have three children and two grandchildren. They lived in McLean, Virginia from 1978 to 2004, when they moved to Malibu, California. He has volunteered many hours teaching in the inner city and assisting disadvantaged students in Washington, D.C. with summer internships, after school programs, and financial help for attending college.

October 12, 2006

"National Security and the Constitution: A Dialogue"

Senator Gary Hart

From 1975 to 1987, Gary Hart, a Democrat, represented Colorado in the United States Senate. He was a member of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a committee also known as the “Church Committee.” He also served on the Armed Services Committee, where he specialized in nuclear arms control and was an original founder of the military reform caucus. In addition, he served on the Senate Environment Committee, Budget Committee and Intelligence Oversight Committee. During his Senate years, he played a leadership role in major environmental and conservation legislation, military reform initiatives, new initiatives to advance the information revolution and new directions in foreign policy. In 1984 and 1988, he was a candidate for his party's nomination for president.

Senator Hart currently is Wirth Chair Professor in the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver and is Distinguished Fellow at the New America Foundation. He co-chaired the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, a bipartisan entity chartered by the U.S. Department of Defense. The commission performed the most comprehensive review of national security since 1947, predicted the terrorist attacks on America and proposed a sweeping overhaul of U.S. national security structures and policies for the post-Cold War new century and the age of terrorism. He also co-chaired the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on Homeland Security, which produced the report “America Unprepared—America Still at Risk” in October 2002. Hart currently is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Task Force on Science and Security.

Senator Hart has been Senior Counsel to Coudert Brothers, a multinational law firm with offices in nineteen countries. He has served as a 果冻传媒麻豆社ing Fellow, Chatham Lecturer, and McCallum Memorial Lecturer at Oxford University; Global Fund Lecturer at Yale University; and Regents Lecturer at the University of California. He has earned a doctor of philosophy degree from Oxford as well as graduate law and divinity degrees from Yale. He has been a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, and he is the author of fourteen books. He resides with his family in Kittredge, Colorado.

Senator Alan Simpson

From 1979 to 1997, Alan Simpson, a Republican, represented Wyoming in the United States Senate. He was elected by his peers to serve as Assistant Republican Leader (party whip) from 1984 to 1994. He chaired the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration. He also served on the Finance Committee, the Special Committee on Aging, and the Environment and Public Works Committee (co-sponsoring the Clean Air Act).

Senator Simpson, a native of Cody, Wyoming, graduated from the University of Wyoming; served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956, including an overseas deployment in the Fifth Infantry Division and Second Armored Division; and then returned to the University of Wyoming to earn his law degree. He served as a Wyoming Assistant Attorney General; practiced law in Cody for eighteen years; and served in the Wyoming State Legislature, attaining the position of Majority Floor Leader and Speaker Pro-Tem in the House of Representatives, before he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Following his service in Washington, D.C., Senator Simpson was a visiting lecturer in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he also served two years as Director of the Institute of Politics. In 2000, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Wyoming, as a visiting lecturer in the political science department, where he co-teaches with his brother Peter (also a former state legislator) a course entitled “Wyoming’s Political Identity: Its History and Politics.” Senator Simpson is a partner in the firm of Simpson, Kepler & Edwards in Cody (a division of the Denver firm of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine). He is a member of the American Battle Monuments Commission and numerous other corporate and non-profit boards. He resides with his family in Cody.

October 20, 2005

"The Legal Profession's Calling to Aid the Disadvantaged"

The Honorable Alan C. Page, Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, presented the 2005 Sherman J. Bellwood Memorial Lecture in Moscow on Thursday, October 20, 2005. A graduate of Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota Law School, Justice Page earned his J.D. degree as a full-time law student while also engaging in what he modestly calls “full-time employ[ment] as a professional football player.” In fact, he became a legendary Minnesota Viking, winning the National Football League’s “most valuable player” award) and earning a place in the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame.

While still playing in the NFL, Justice Page entered the private practice with a major law firm in Minneapolis. He then undertook a career of public service as Assistant Attorney General for Minnesota. In 1993 he was elected to the Supreme Court (the first African American ever elected to state office in Minnesota). He has been re-elected twice, having established a reputation on the Court as a reflective, deliberate and disciplined jurist.

Justice Page is an exponent of education, of public service by the legal profession, and of the importance of maintaining the independence and integrity of state judiciaries. He is expected to address these topics during the Bellwood Lecture and in other remarks at the College of Law. Justice Page is a member of the American Law Institute and creator of the Page Education Foundation, which assists disadvantaged youth seeking opportunities in post-secondary education.

October 21, 2004

"Justice for All: Are We Fulfilling the Pledge"

Having devoted a career to making “equal justice under law” more than a slogan, Helaine M. Barnett has become the national leader of America’s legal services program for the poor. In January, 2004, she was named President of the Legal Services Corporation, a federal nonprofit organization created by the Congress and governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the President of the United States. The LSC will mark its 30th anniversary this year. It supports 158 independent local legal aid programs around the nation, including Idaho.

A graduate of Barnard College and the New York University School of Law, Ms. Barnett compiled a 37-year record of providing legal services in New York City before ascending to the LSC presidency. Prior to her appointment, she was the attorney-in-charge of the Civil Division of the Legal Aid Society of New York City. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, she mobilized the nationally acclaimed 9/11 Disaster Assistance Initiative. Earlier she created the Legal Aid Society’s homeless family rights project and oversaw creation of a citywide health law unit. During her tenure, the civil division grew into a nationally recognized provider delivering high-quality civil legal assistance through a network of eight neighborhood-based offices and specialized citywide programs. Under her watch, the division earned universal respect for its legal work, innovative projects and adherence to the highest professional and ethical standards.

Ms. Barnett also is a prominent figure in the American Bar Association. She is a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates, and a former member of the ABA’s Board of Governors and Executive Committee – the only legal services lawyer ever to have held those positions. She is a past chair of the ABA Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and a current member of the ABA Commission on Governance. In addition, she is actively involved in efforts to preserve the independence and integrity of state judiciaries. She serves, by appointment of the Chief Judge of the State of New York, as co-chair of that state’s Commission to Promote Public Confidence in Judicial Elections.

September 18, 2003

"Looking Beyond Our Borders: The Value of a Comparative Perspective in Constitutional Adjudication"

The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg became an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1993, following service as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia from 1980 to 1993.

Justice Ginsburg's legal career began with a judicial clerkship in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, after she had received her B.A. from Cornell University, attended Harvard Law School and earned her L.L.B. from Columbia Law School. She later served as associate director of the Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure, eventually becoming a professor of law at Rutgers University. She then returned to Columbia where she became the first woman to hold a tenured professorship.

During her career in legal education, Justice Ginsburg became known for her work to promote gender equality and civil rights. She co founded the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, served the ACLU as general counsel and participated on its national board of directors. During that time she litigated and won a number of key cases solidifying a constitutional principle against gender-based discrimination. She assisted personally in the landmark Idaho case of Reed v Reed (1971), in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that gender-based discrimination violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1999 Justice Ginsburg received the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award for her significant contributions to the advancement of gender equality and civil rights.

October 10, 2002

"Confronting Injustice"

Criminal justice can be controversial, but Americans overwhelmingly agree that the legal system should provide fair processes and accurate outcomes. The 2002 Bellwood Lecturer has devoted his career to those goals.

Bryan Stevenson is the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. A graduate of Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government, he has represented capital defendants and death row prisoners in the Deep South since 1985 when he was a staff attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 1989 he has directed a non-profit organization that defends the legal rights of the poor and people of color in Alabama. He has been recognized by several national publications and organizations as one of the nation’s top public interest lawyers.

Stevenson’s work on behalf of condemned prisoners has won him national acclaim. In 1995 he was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship Award Prize. He is a 1989 recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award, the 1991 ACLU National Medal of Liberty, and the 1993 Thurgood Marshall Medal of Justice, and in 1996 the National Association of Public Interest Lawyers named him the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year. He has also received honorary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and Georgetown University Law School. Stevenson has served as a visiting professor of law at the University of Michigan School of Law and New York University School of Law, published several widely disseminated manuals on capital litigation, and written exclusively on criminal justice, capital punishment, and civil rights issues.

The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama is a private, nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system. Alabama remains one of the few states in America that does not have a statewide public defender system. With few exceptions, defense services for the poor in Alabama are provided by court-appointed counsel who are compensated at some of the lowest rates in the nation. The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, with a legal staff of 6 attorneys, represents nearly 100 of the approximately 187 condemned men, women, and juveniles currently facing execution in the state of Alabama.

Bryan Stevenson writes about our broken system of justice in New York Times Best Seller “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.” The Autobiographical work won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction, and is a major motion picture starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx. Bryan Stevenson appeared with Michael B. Jordan on in Jan. 2020.

October 2, 2001

"The Legal Profession as Problem Solvers and Peacemakers"

As the nation's first female attorney general, Janet Reno headed the world's largest law office (125,000 employees) for nearly eight years. In this capacity she was responsible for the enforcement of federal laws and for defending the government in court. During her watch, crime was dramatically reduced and heightened professionalism became the order of the day in the law enforcement community.

Known for her integrity, independence and respect for the rules of law and evidence, Ms. Reno worked ceaselessly to bring "justice" to the Department of Justice. She used the authority of her office to enforce civil rights, environmental and health statutes with the same professionally innovative approaches that achieved conventional crime rate reductions throughout her tenure. Her courage, vision and dedication to both duty and principle are legendary - and have made her one of the country's most admired women.

The longest serving attorney general since before the civil war, Ms. Reno promotes lawyers as problem solvers . "A good lawyer must try to resolve a client's problem in a way that does not make the problem worse. A good lawyer has a duty to assist the client in maintaining continuing, positive relationships". During her tenure she established a dispute resolution program in the Department of Justice that emphasizes consensual resolution based on negotiation, and where appropriate, the use of mediation and other forms of dispute resolution. Within three years the number of cases where some form of dispute resolution was used was tripled.

A native of South Florida, Ms. Reno graduated from Coral Gables High School, Cornell University and Harvard Law School. Prior to her appointment as attorney general she served for 15 years as the State Attorney for Dade County. Ms. Reno is involved with issues important to her, including advocacy for children, problem solving, law enforcement, and elder justice. She lives at the family's home in South Florida.

September 7, 2022

"Constitutional Interpretation

Justice Scalia received his A. B. from Georgetown University in 1957. He graduated magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School in 1960, where he served as note editor of the Harvard Law Review. He then entered private practice until accepting a faculty appointment in 1967 at the University of Virginia School of Law. In 1971, he joined the Nixon administration serving in a number of positions. During the Ford administration, Justice Scalia served as assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel.

In 1977 Justice Scalia resigned his government position to focus on teaching. He accepted a position as a visiting scholar in residence at the American Enterprise Institute in 1977, and from 1977 - 1982 he served as professor of law at the University of Chicago. Justice Scalia also taught at Georgetown University and Stanford University as a visiting professor of law. In 1982, President Reagan appointed him to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In 1986, President Reagan nominated him to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Warren Burger's retirement and William Rehinquist's elevation to Chief Justice. The Senate confirmed Justice Scalia's nomination by a 98-0 vote.

Justice Scalia is a noted proponent of textualism, the view that the judicial interpretation of laws should be guided by the intent of legislators as expressed in the text of laws. His views are set out in A Matter of Interpretation, published in 1997 by the Princeton University Press. He has also written numerous law review articles and essays, many of which deal with judicial interpretation of laws and the judicial role.

September 14, 1999

"Feminist Internationalism: In Defense of Universal Values"

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Halberstam received an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1955. His reporting career began in Mississippi at the West Point Daily Times Leader, where he spent one year before moving on to the Nashville Tennesseean.

In 1960 he joined the staff of the New York Times. Halberstam's first wartime reporting came in 1962 in the Congo. He then asked to be assigned to Vietnam to cover America's involvement in Southeast Asia. Two years later, at age 30, he received a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting which questioned U.S. involvement in the war. Halberstam also served as New York Times correspondent in Poland where his reporting led to the country's Communist regime ordering him out of the country.

Halberstam was a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine from 1967 to 1971. He has authored 16 books, nine of which have been best sellers. Halberstam's trilogy of books on power in America, "The Best and the Brightest," "The Powers That Be" and "The Reckoning" have won innumerable awards.

Sports in America has been the subject of five of his books, with topics ranging from amateur rowing to major league baseball and basketball. His most recent work, released in February, is "Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made."

Halberstam is a legendary figure in America as a journalist, author and historian. He is the recipient of 14 honorary degrees and was the George Mason University Heritage Chair in Writing in 1994-95.

April 8, 1999

"The Children: How the Unique Courage and Faith of Ordinary People Changed America"

Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. She received her B.A. from NYU and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard. Professor Nussbaum is known for her efforts to connect Hellenistic ethics and Greek mythology to modern life. She is the author of many books including The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy (1986), Poetic Justice: The Literary Imagination and Public Life (1996), For Love of Country: A Debate on Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism (1996) Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education (1997), Sex and Social Justice (Oxford, 1999). Her current work Women And Human Development: The Capabilities Approach will be released by Cambridge University Press next year. She is also the author of numerous articles.

In addition to her work as an author, Professor Nussbaum has taught a variety of courses dealing with the nature of rationality and its application in the law including Pre-Socratic Philosophy; Reason and the Human Good in Ancient Ethical Thought; Law and Literature; and Liberal Theories of Justice.

February 10, 1998

"Charting the Course of Federalism: The Supreme Court and State Sovereignty"

Justice O'Connor graduated magna cum laude from Stanford University. She also took her law degree from Stanford where she served on the Stanford Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. O'Connor served as a state senator in the Arizona legislature and was elected Senate Majority Leader in 1972. In 1975 she was elected to the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Arizona, and served as a trial court judge from 1975 to 1979. In 1979 O'Connor was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Governor Bruce Babbitt, a position she held until 1981. On July 7, 1981, former President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice O'Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September and took office on September 25, 1981, to become the first woman U. S. Supreme Court Justice.

O'Connor began her law career as a deputy county attorney for the San Mateo County, California. She also served as a civilian attorney for Quartermaster Market Center, Frankfurt, Germany, an Assistant Attorney General in Arizona, and had a private law practice for a time.

Justice O'Connor is a current member of the National Board of the Smithsonian Associates. Prior to her appointment to the U. S. Supreme Court, she served in many civic positions including President of the Board of Trustees for The Heard Museum; Board of Advisors for the Salvation Army; Vice-President of the Soroptimist Club of Phoenix, Arizona; Board of 果冻传媒麻豆社ors for the Arizona State University Law School, Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of Arizona Academy; and the Board of Trustees at Stanford University. She has also served on the Arizona Board of Junior Achievement, the Board of Directors of the Phoenix Historical Society, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and as Vice-President and Advisory Board member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Maricopa County California.

October 2, 1997

"The Public Lands and Minority Cultures: Lessons From the Rio Chama Valley, Devils Tower, and the Clearwater River Watershed"

Charles Wilkinson, the Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado, has written widely on law, history, and society in the American West.

Professor Wilkinson has a deep interest in Indian people, dating from his days with the Native American Rights Fund. That interest has led him to work for tribes on many issues, most recently as tribal representative (along with Jaime Pinkham of Idaho's Nez Perce Tribe) in the negotiation of Secretary Babbitt's 1997 Secretarial Order on Tribal Rights and the Endangered Species Act.

Wilkinson, who has been teaching law since 1971, has received many honors, including the National Wildlife Federations' National Conservation Achievement Award and teaching awards from his students at Colorado, Oregon, and Michigan law schools. His books include the standard law texts on public land law and Indian law. His publications also include American Indians, Time and the Law (Yale, 1987), The Eagle Bird (Pantheon 1992), Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water and the Future of the West (Island Press, 1992) and Fire on the Plateau: Conquest and Endurance of the American Southwest (Inland Press, 1999) among others.