Constitutional interpretation has increasingly turned to history and a close reading of the text to decipher meaning.

Duke Law panelists disuss Juliana v. United States, a case the Supreme Court allowed to proceed in the 9th Circuit, which concerns the constitutional and public trust implications of climate change. Specifically, the youth plaintiffs argue that (1) the United States' actions that have contributed to climate change have unconstitutionally deprived future generations' right to life, liberty, and property; and (2) that the atmosphere is protected by the Public Trust Doctrine.

Is healthcare a right? What is will happen to health coverage if the ACA is amended? Michael Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies at Cato Institute, and Duke Law Professor Barak Richman discuss the future of the Affordable Care Act.

Co-sponsored by the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society.

What is statutory interpretation? Why should you care? How does the legislature work as it designs these statutes? Duke Law Professors Mathew D. McCubbins and Stephen E. Sachs discuss these questions and others involving statutory interpretation.

Sponsored by the Duke Law Federalist Society.

The Duke Forum for Law and Social Change's fall town hall explored issues related to geopolitical borders--specifically, how U.S. immigration policy affects and is affected by refugee migration. Stuart Anderson of the Cato Institute reviewed the U.S.'s historical "open-borders" policies towards immigration and argued that the modern anti-immigration and anti-refugee policy shift is not based on scientifically-sound facts or data.

Co-sponsored by the Federalist Society and the Refugee Asylum Support Project (RASP).

Do intellectual property issues fall along party lines? The Federalist Society presents a discussion featuring Duke Law Professor James Boyle and Alden F. Abbott, Rumpel Senior Legal Fellow and Deputy Director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation and former Director of Patent and Antitrust Strategy for BlackBerry.

Sponsored by the Federalist Society.

The Honorable Grover Joseph Rees III, former U.S. ambassador to East Timor, and Geoffrey Mock from Amnesty International, discuss the United States' role in the current Middle Eastern and European refugee crisis.

Sponsored by the Federalist Society.

The Duke Law Federalist Society presents a discussion about the Supreme Court's recent high-profile rulings and their impact on future constitutional and legal doctrine. For this discussion, the Federalist Society hosts: Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review, and Duke Law's Ernest Young, one of the nation's leading authorities on the constitutional law of federalism. The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by the Federalist Society.

Two scholars of the Second Amendment, both cited in McDonald v. Chicago, discuss the intersection of race and gun control. Clayton Cramer is the author of "The Racist Roots of Gun Control" and other works exploring the history and policy implications of the right to bear arms. Professor Darrell Miller is the author of "Guns as Smut: Defending the Home-Bound Second Amendment" (cited in MacDonald by Stevens, J., dissenting).

Sponsored by the Federalist Society.

Join the Federalist Society and renowned Natural Law Theorist Professor Hadley Arkes on the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade. What is the current state of abortion jurisprudence? Where is it headed? Are we on the right path? Obviously opinions will differ, so join us for a great discussion!

Duke Law Alum and George Mason University Professor Nathan Sales L'00 joins the Federalist society to discuss the recent National Security Leaks. Why do they matter? Who is behind them? Are they politically driven?

Join the Federalist Society, Duke Law ACLU, Mr. Stewart Verdery, and Ms. Sarah Preston for a discussion on your privacy in the post 9-11 world of airports before you head home for Fall Break! Mr. Verdery was the Assistant Secretary for Border and Transportation Security Policy and Planning at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2003-2005. Ms. Preston is the Policy Director of the ACLU of North Carolina.

As Professor Sachs said in the September 4 panel on the ACA, "It's Constitutional, Now what?," "Just because the Supreme Court held that the ACA was constitutional doesn't mean it is constitutional." Join the Federalist Society as Professor Neil Siegel and Mr. Ilya Shapiro square off in a head to head debate on the Supreme Court's ACA Decision. Is it Constitutional? Was it great? Terrible? So-so?

The Supreme Court's health care ruling was an extremely important, and perhaps surprising, decision. Professor Neil Siegel (whose writings may have influenced part of the opinion), Professor Steven Sachs (author on health reform and former clerk to Chief Justice Roberts), and Asheesh Agarwal of Ogletree Deakins (an authority on the possible impacts of the decision) discuss the ruling. Professor Joseph Blocher will moderate. Sponsored by the American Constitution Society, the Federalist Society, and the Health Law Society.

Join the Federalist Society, the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy, and former FBI Special Agent Alicia Hilton, and Professor Lisa Griffin for a discussion on the issues raised by the case Florida v. Jardines. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court in the upcoming October term.

The Federalist Society welcomes you to join us for a debate between Mr. J. Christian Adams from the Election Law Center and Professor Atiba Ellis, L '00 from the West Virginia University College of Law for a debate on Voter Identification Laws. As more states pass such laws understanding this topic is becoming increasingly important. Mr. Adams is an election lawyer who served in the Voting Rights Section at the U.S. Department of Justice and a columnist for PJmedia.com.

October 1, 2009 - Former Ambassador to the UN John Bolton spoke about President Obama's New International Order. Sponsored by the Federalist Society, the International Law Society, and the Duke University Program in American Grand Strategy.

Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit speaks. While serving as attorney general of Alabama, Pryor sought then-Chief Justice Roy Moore's removal from the Alabama Supreme Court for defying a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building. Pryor was appointed to the Eleventh Circuit in 2003 and confirmed in 2005 as part of the "gang of 14" compromise. Introduction by Ernest A. Young. Sponsored by the Duke Law Federalist Society.

Recorded on April 14, 2009.

Randy Barnett, professor of legal theory at Georgetown Law, speaks on Lochner and the 14th Amendment.

Sponsored by the Federalist Society.

Dean Samuel Wells of the Duke Chapel talks with Douglas Laycock, the Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, about the constitutional law of church and state from two external perspectives: the theological point of view, and the point of view of European constitutional traditions permitting established churches. Sponsored by the Duke Law Federalist Society.

Produced on January 23, 2009.

Appearing: Samuel Wells (Duke Chapel), interviewer; and, Douglas Laycock (Michigan Law School), interviewee.

James B. Jacobs speakes on why hate crime laws are unnecessary and undesirable.

Recorded on January 14, 2009.

Appearing: James B. Jacobs (New York University School of Law), speaker.

Jonathan Hafetz, a staff attorney with the New York Office of the ACLU National Security Project, joins Professor Scott Silliman to discuss the implications of the Boumediene v. Bush decision in which the Supreme Court held that detainees at Guantanamo have the right to challenge their detentions in federal court. Co-sponsored by the ACLU, ACS, the Federalist Society, and the National Security Law Society.

Recorded on October 01, 2008.

Join Judge Sentelle, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, for an engaging discussion of extraordinary rendition in the War on Terror.

Co-sponsored by the Federalist Society and the Program in Public Law.

Recorded on March 28, 2008.

Lecture titled: Bring 'Em Back Alive: Extraordinary Rendition in the War on Terror.

Appearing: Scott Silliman (Duke University School of Law), introduer; David Sentelle (U.S. Court of Appeals), speaker.

Robert A. Levy, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and co-counsel for the plaintiff gun-owners in District of Columbia v. Heller, will discuss the legal issues implicated in the case and will then be available for questions. Heller, argued on 3/18, is the first Supreme Court case to seriously consider gun-ownership rights in the context of the Second Amendment since 1939. Sponsored by the Federalist Society and the Program in Public Law.

Recorded on March 24, 2008.

Full title: District of Columbia v. Heller: "The Right of the People to Keep & Bear Arms?".

The Duke Law Federalist Society and the Program in Public Law present The Criminalization of Almost Everything: Why Liberals and Conservatives Should be Alarmed, with Todd Gaziano, Director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, Heritage Foundation, and Professor Sara Beale.

Recorded on February 18, 2008.

Full title: The Criminalization of Almost Everything: Why Liberals & Conservatives Should Be Alarmed.

Appearing: Sarah Campbell (Duke Law Student), host/introductions ; Todd Gaziano (Heritage Foundation), speaker ; Sara S. Beale (Duke Law), speaker.