Jeffrey L. Fisher, guest speaker
October 19, 2010
12:15–1:15 PM
Room 3037
Duke Law School

Jeffrey Fisher is Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. A leading authority on Supreme Court practice and nationally recognized expert on criminal procedure, Professor Fisher's work at Stanford revolves around handling cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. His successes include bringing and winning the landmark cases of Crawford v. Washington and Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, in which he persuaded the Court to adopt a new approach to the Constitution's Confrontation Clause; Blakely v. Washington, in which the Court held that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial applies to sentencing guidelines; and Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits states from imposing capital punishment for crimes against individuals that do not result in death. In 2006, The National Law Journal named Professor Fisher one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America—the youngest person on the list.

In this lecture at Duke Law, Professor Fisher talks about marshaling originalism and related interpretive methodologies in order to persuade conservative judges to protect the rights of criminal defendants. More generally, he also discusses how the United States Supreme Court might change now with its two new justices.

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