The National Constitution Center and the National Association of Attorneys General host a bipartisan conversation with Attorneys General Doug Peterson of Nebraska and Phil Weiser of Colorado exploring the role of state attorneys general, state law, and state police powers under the Constitution in addressing the potential dangers of various social media platforms to public health, privacy, and competition. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This program is presented in partnership with the Center for Excellence in Governance at the National Association of Attorneys General.
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Doug Peterson serves as the 32nd Attorney General of the State of Nebraska. Following law school, Peterson spent two years serving as a district attorney of Lincoln County. From 1988 to 1990, he served as assistant attorney general to the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office. In 1990, he entered private practice, where he had the opportunity to advise and advocate for both individuals and businesses until his 2014 election as Attorney General.
Phil Weiser serves as the 39th Attorney General of the State of Colorado. Before running for office, Weiser was the Hatfield Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Colorado Law School, where he founded the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship. He has served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation in the Obama Administration’s National Economic Council. Weiser has also served on President Obama’s Transition Team and in President Bill Clinton’s Department of Justice as senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- NetChoice v. Paxton
- Adam Liptak, The New York Times, "Supreme Court Blocks Texas Law Regulating Social Media Platforms"
- PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980)
- Lochner v. New York (1905)
- Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
- New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann (1932)
- Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC (1992)
- Whitney v. California (1927)
- Colorado Attorney General: Press Release, "Attorney General Phil Weiser says antitrust enforcement at a critical juncture as modern market forces push antitrust law into new territory"
- Colorado Attorney General: Press Release, "The Ginsburg/Scalia Initiative"
- Nebraska Attorney General: Press Release, “AG Peterson Joins Coalition Of 44 Attorneys General Urging Facebook To Abandon Launch Of Instagram Kids”
- Cecilia Kang and Mike Isaac, The New York Times, “State attorneys general open an inquiry into Instagram’s impact on teens”
- Childhood 2.0, dir. Robert Muratore (2020)
- Nebraska Attorney General: Press Release, “Attorney General Peterson Joins Nationwide Investigation into TikTok”
- Phil Weiser, The Daily Sentinel, "We the people must rebuild our democracy"
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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