The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power

Our college's law review, along with the American Constitutional Society will be hosting a panel conversation on Prof. David Driesen's new work "The Specter of Dictatorship" which challenges the Court's view on unitary executive theory and the danger it presents to our American democracy. 

This will be a co-hosted event that is open to all students, faculty, and staff. Visitors should contact the college of law directly for a visitor's parking pass. You can find a schedule of the event below. 

7:45 - 8:45 a.m. | Breakfast in the Levy Atrium

8:45 - 9:00 a.m. | Introductions

Welcome, Dean Craig M. Boise

Introduction to The Specter of Dictatorship, Professor David M. Driesen

9 - 10:30 a.m. | Panel One: The Unitary Executive, Autocracy, and American History (focus on Chapters 1 and 2)

Moderator: Professor Kristen Barnes, Syracuse Law

• Jed Shugerman, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
• Jennifer Mascott, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
• Noah Rosenblum, Assistant Professor of Law, New York University School of Law

10:45 a.m. - noon | Panel Two: The Supreme Court’s Embrace of Executive Power (focus on Chapters 3 and 4)

Moderator: Professor Mark P. Nevitt, Syracuse Law

• Julian Mortenson, James G. Phillipp Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
• Tom Keck, Professor of Political Science and Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
• Heidi Kitrosser, Robins Kaplan Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School

noon - 1 p.m. | Lunch

1 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. | Panel Three: Reforming Presidentialism: Comparative and Domestic Perspectives (focus on Chapters 5-7)

Moderator: Professor C. Cora True-Frost, Syracuse Law

• Andrea Katz, Associate Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law in St. Louis
• Cem Tecimer, Harvard Law School
• Robert Tsai, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law

2:15 - 2:30 p.m. | Concluding Remarks from Professor Driesen

3:00 p.m. - TBD | Coffee break and Campus Tour with Panelists