The Brennan Center for Justice and the National Constitution Center present a symposium exploring how the Articles of Confederation shaped the U.S. Constitution. Historians, legal scholars, and journalists—including Aditya Bamzai of the University of Virginia School of Law; Alicia Bannon of the Brennan Center; Wilfred Codrington of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Brennan Center; Jay Cost of American Enterprise Institute; Jonathan Gienapp of Stanford University; Johann Neem of Western Washington University; Farah Peterson of the University of Chicago School of Law; Jack Rakove of Stanford University; Kermit Roosevelt of University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; Ilya Somin of Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University; and Alan Trammell of Washington and Lee University School of Law—will examine the legacy of the Articles of Confederation, the founding debates over federal power, and the lasting influence of these debates on constitutional interpretation today.
This program is presented in partnership with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.
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Agenda
11-11:15 a.m. | Introductory Remarks
- Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO, National Constitution Center
- Michael Waldman, president and CEO, Brennan Center for Justice
11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | Panel 1: The Articles of Confederation
Explore the origins of the Articles of Confederation—examining the political, practical, and ideological reasons behind the states' sovereignty—and how the “firm league of friendship” among the 13 states ultimately became unworkable.
- Aditya Bamzai, Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
- Johann Neem, professor of history, Western Washington University
- Farah Peterson, professor of law, University of Chicago Law School
- Jack Rakove, Coe Professor of History and American Studies, professor of political science emeritus, Stanford University
- Moderator: Alicia Bannon, director of the Brennan Center Judiciary Program
12:30–1:15 p.m. | Lunchtime Keynote
1:15–2:30 p.m. | Panel 2: Debating the Constitution
Examine the reasons for the Constitution’s plan of government, how it was understood at the time, and how concerns over its failings were addressed through ideological debates at the Constitutional Convention.
- Jay Cost, Gerald R. Ford Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
- Jonathan Gienapp, associate professor of history, associate professor of law, Stanford University
- Kermit Roosevelt, David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
2:45–4 p.m. | Panel 3: The War Over the Constitution’s Meaning
Explore governance under the new Constitution and the Articles’ long shadow, from the early republic to the post–New Deal modern era, and how competing narratives of the Constitution’s origin story evolved.
- Ilya Somin, professor of law, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University
- Alan Trammell, associate professor of law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
- Moderator: Wilfred U. Codrington III, Walter Floersheimer Professor of Constitutional Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; fellow, Brennan Center
4–4:15 p.m. | Closing Reflections
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