Sovereign Power and the Constitutional Text
David Rubenstein Forum, Room 702
1201 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
This conference will explore whether and to what extent the federal government has authority stemming from the United States’ status as a sovereign nation in the international community. This question is relevant to numerous areas of public law, including U.S. foreign relations law, immigration law, Indian law, criminal law, and the law governing territorial acquisition and regulation. It is also relevant to broader methodological debates over constitutional interpretation, as well as to debates over the relationship between international law and the Constitution. The conference will address not only the issue of sovereignty as a source of authority, but also potential limitations on that authority, as well as the distribution of that authority between the three branches of the federal government.
Participants
- Gregory Ablavsky, Stanford
- Will Baude, Chicago
- Maggie Blackhawk, NYU
- Curtis Bradley, Chicago
- Jennifer Chacon, Stanford
- Adam Cox, NYU
- Bridget Fahey, Chicago
- Jonathan Gienapp, Stanford
- Tom Ginsburg, Chicago
- Craig Green, Temple
- John Harrison, Virginia
- Andrew Kent, Fordham
- Alison LaCroix, Chicago
- John Mikhail, Georgetown
- Farah Peterson, Chicago
- Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus, Columbia
- Richard Primus, Michigan
- Michael Ramsey, San Diego
- Cristina Rodriguez, Yale
Agenda
All sessions will take place in Room 702 of the David Rubinstein Forum, at 1201 E. 60th Street. This building is a half-block from the Study Hotel and about a block from the law school. The sessions will each be 75 minutes in length, except for the second one, which (because of the greater number of papers) will be 90 minutes in length.
9:00 – 9:15 am Introductions
9:15 – 10:30 am Session I: Sovereignty, the Founding, and Enumeration
- Jonathan Gienapp, Behind the Constitution’s Text: Debating Union and Sovereignty at the Founding
- Craig Green, On Sovereignty and Make-Believe
- John Mikhail, Sovereign Power and the Sweeping Clause
- Christina Ponsa-Kraus, Powers Inherent in the Constitution
- Commentator: Will Baude
10:30 – 10:45 am Coffee Break
10:45 am – 12:15 pm Session II: Indian Law, Immigration Law, and Colonialism
- Gregory Ablavsky, Structural Federal Indian Law
- William Baude, From “Native Nations” to “Indian Tribes”
- Maggie Blackhawk, On the Constitution of American Colonialism
- Jennifer Chacon, Immigration and Sovereignty
- Adam Cox, What Was the Point of “Inherent Power” Arguments?
- Commentator: Alison LaCroix
12:15 – 1:15 pm Lunch
1:15 – 2:30 pm Session III: Sovereign Power, International Law, and Constitutional Change
- Curtis Bradley, Extradition and National Authority
- Tom Ginsburg & Kristina Daugirdas, The Comparative Foreign Relations Law of International Organizations
- Richard Primus, Did Cumulative Coverage Make Implied Powers Superfluous?
- Michael Ramsey, Acquiring Territory
- Commentator: John Harrison
2:30 – 2:45 pm Coffee Break
2:45 – 4:00 pm Session IV: Federalism, War, and Territory
- Bridget Fahey, Sovereignty as Agency
- John Harrison, Implied Federal Sovereign Power and State Jurisdiction to Prescribe Rules of Conduct That Apply Outside the United States
- Andrew Kent, The Civil War and Inherent Sovereign Power
- Alison LaCroix, Arsenals, 1861
- Commentator: Richard Primus