I will have the pleasure of speaking today at the University of Pennsylvania Law School on the evolution of presidential power in the United States. I will participate in a distinguished panel entitled “Presidential Power and the Current Crisis of Executive Authority” at 4:00 to 6:00 pm at Fitts Auditorium (3501 Sansom Street, Philadelphia). The event will be open to the public.
The topic is described as follows:
“Since 9/11, the growth of the national security state has brought with it an increasing struggle to maintain the legal and ethical boundaries surrounding executive authority, boundaries that help to define and protect democratic governance. In today’s political landscape, debates about the scope of presidential power have intensified, and they are likely to accelerate even more this year, as a divided Congress does battle over fundamental aspects of civilian leadership and the president continues to press an unprecedented vision of the powers of his office. Questions such as whether a sitting president may be indicted, whether the president’s pardon power under the U.S. Constitution allows the president to pardon himself, whether the president may use emergency powers to fund and build a border wall, will be contentiously debated and may even find their way to the U.S. Supreme Court this year.”
The panel will be moderated by Professor Claire Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. The panelists will be:
Jonathan Turley – J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law, George Washington University
Sanford V. Levinson — W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair, Professor of Government, University of Texas Law School Law School
Sharon Lloyd — Professor of Philosophy and Law, University of Southern California
Michael Skerker — Associate Professor of Leadership, Ethics and Law, U.S. Naval Academy