Sir Christopher Greenwood, Turley and Others To Speak At Constitutional Conference

I have the honor today and tomorrow of speaking at the Utah Valley University’s annual Constitutional Conference sponsored by The Center for Constitutional Studies. The CCS, under Director Rick Griffin, has blossomed into an extraordinary center for intellectual exchange in Orem, Utah with figures regularly brought from all over the world to discuss a myriad of legal and policy questions. This conference is particularly fortunate to have a group of diverse academics and lawyers, including Judge Sir Christopher Greenwood, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Judge on the International Court of Justice. Sir Christopher will give a keynote address entitled “The Powers and Privileges of U.S. Presidents Abroad under International Law.” He is one of the truly towering figures in international law.

I was fortunate enough to have dinner with Sir Christopher and Lady Susan Greenwood at Sundance last night with the other speakers. While it was still pouring cats and dogs, it remains one of the prettiest locations in this beautiful state. Like all English jurists, he came to the bench with an extensive practice and academic background. He was Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and a practising barrister who argued more than forty cases before the English courts, International Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights and other international tribunals. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1999 and made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to public international law in 2002.

At 1 p.m. I will speak on Executive Power in the 21st Century and will be joined on a panel by Louis Fisher, Scholar in Residence at the Constitution Project; Former Library of Congress Senior Specialist in Separation of Powers (Congressional Research Service, from 1970 to 2006) and Specialist in Constitutional Law (the Law Library, from 2006 to 2010). Also on the panel will be Michael Stokes Paulsen, distinguished university chair and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Fisher The panel will be moderated by Benjamin Kleinerman, associate professor of constitutional studies and democracy at James Madison College at Michigan State University. I will then chair a panel at 3 p.m. with Fisher, Paulson and David Moore, professor of law at Brigham Young University, on the expansion of presidential powers.

On Thursday, I will speak again on Abraham Lincoln’s use of presidential powers. I will be joined by Jennifer Weber, an associate professor of history at the University of Kansas who has written a book on the Copperheads during the Civil War. Fisher will chair the panel. You can go to http://www.uvu.edu/ccs for a full schedule of events and registration information.