Past Events
Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 6:30pm in the Jeffers Courtroom
Reception and Talk with Tom Goldstein
Tom Goldstein, founder of SCOTUSblog and attorney with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld who has argued 17 cases before the Supreme Court, speaks on litigating before the Roberts Court. Reception precedes at 5:30pm in the Alcove of the Atrium. Please RSVP to Kristie Kafka by Wednesday, October 3 if you plan to attend. Attire is casual (come as you are!)
Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 12:30pm in TNH 3.114
Meeting with Special Guest Jeremy Wright
Jeremy Wright of the Austin lawyers' chapter speaks about the activities of the lawyers' chapter and alternative career options.
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 5:30pm at Scholz Beer Garten
Happy Hour with Austin ACS Lawyers' Chapter
Join members of the Austin lawyers' chapter for food, fun, and networking. This event will be cosponsored by Munsch, Hardt, Kopf & Harr, PC, and
Kator, Parks & Weiser, PLLC.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at 5:30pm in the Faculty Conference Lounge.
Elections for Next Year's Board
Happy hour follows at 6:15 at Posse East.
Friday, March 9, 2007 at 12:30pm at Texas French Bread, 3213 Red River.
Lunch with Professor Pam Karlan
A productive scholar and award-winning teacher, Pamela Karlan is also the founding director of Stanford's extraordinarily successful Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, where students litigate live cases before the Court. One of the nation's leading experts on voting and the political process, she has served as a commissioner on the California Fair Political Practices Commission and an assistant counsel and cooperating attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Professor Karlan is the coauthor of three leading casebooks on constitutional law and related subjects, as well as more than four dozen scholarly articles. She is a widely recognized commentator on legal issues and is frequently featured on programs such as the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1998, she was a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law and served as a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Abraham D. Sofaer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. (bio from Stanford Law School web site)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 3:30 pm in room 2.103
Environmental Defense in Texas: New Coals Plants vs. Texas Clean Air?
A forum for the discussion of the future of Texas environmental laws, featuring James D. Marston, Regional Director/Senior Attorney, Environmental Defense, and Amy Hardberger, Staff Attorney, Environmental Defense.
Co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Society.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 12 noon in the Francis Auditorium
Is Diversity in Public Schools Worth Pursuing? What the Law Allows
The panel discussion will focus on the relevance of the Supreme Court's review of Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board, and the impact the Court's upcoming decision will have on the affirmative action debate. Co-sponsored with the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society. Participants:
- Professor Norma Cantu moderates; Amy Magee, an attorney in TASB's legal department, will represent the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB).
- David Hinojosa, a staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), serves as lead counsel in a number of public school desegregation cases in Texas. MALDEF also filed an amicus brief in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District supporting the school district's right to use diversity plans.
- Sharon L. Browne, Principal Attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), second chaired oral arguments for the petitioners in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District before the Supreme Court. She also authored the PLF's amicus briefs in the case and is leading PLF's own litigation against race-based student assignment policies in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
- Dr. Gregory Vincent, Vice President of Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of Texas, will also provide a welcome address.
Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 12 noon.
Sanford Levinson
Sanford Levinson will be discussing the democratic deficiencies
of the U.S. Constitution as he has explained them in his new book Our
Undemocratic Constitution
Monday, October 23, 2006 at 4:00 pm in the Faculty Conference Room, 3.212
General Meeting
Featured speakers: Lucille Wood and John Donosi talk about working at a public interest law firm as opposed to a traditional law firm.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 5:30 pm at Scholz Garten
Happy Hour with ACS Austin Lawyers' Chapter
Join us for an excellent opportunity to meet Austin's progressive lawyers.
Monday, October 9, 2006 at 4:30 pm in the Faculty Conference Room, 3.212
General Meeting
Featured speaker: to be announced.
Thursday, October 5, 2006 from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm in the Law School Auditorium, 2.114
National Guantanamo Teach-In
On Thursday, October 5th, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice will join 200 other schools in 44 states in a day-long teach-in on the detentions in Guantanamo. The day's events will include a real-time webcastof panel discussions followed by a live photo presentation, play reading and discussion of the role of the arts in human rights advocacy.
The play reading, produced by second-year law student and Human Rights Scholar Annelies Lottmann, features students from a broad cross-section of academic departments lending their voices to a staged reading of excerpts from Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo's play Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom. Several of the students involved with the performance are also students in a new course being offered by Professors Derek Jinks and Jack Ratliff entitled Rule of Law in Wartime, in which student work closely with the professors on the legal representation of the detainee while also exploring several issues that have broader jurisprudential significance for the role of law in war. In addition, there will be a short presentation of Through the Walls, a photo-based project that portrays the faces, families, and stories of individuals detained in the War on Terror.
Friday, September 29, 2006 at 2:00 pm in room 3.124.
Talk with Professor David Law
Why is it worse for judges to use foreign legal materials than to consult other nonbinding or nonlegal materials? Is Constitutional law undergoing a process of global convergence, regardless of what our Justices do or say? Are we paying enough attention to what is actually happening in the world, as opposed to what we think our judges ought to be doing? Join David Law, professor of law at the University of San Diego and professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, as he addresses these and other issues surrounding the judicial use of foreign legal materials.
Monday, September 25, 2006 at 4:00 pm in the Faculty Conference Room, 3.212
General Meeting
Featured speaker: Dean Larry Sager
Monday, September 18, 2006 - Friday, September 22, 2006
Progressive Week
Thursday, September 21, 2006 at 5:30pm at the Crown & Anchor
Left of Center Happy Hour
Co-sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild. First round is free!
Monday, September 11, 2006 at 4:00 pm in the Faculty Conference Room, 3.212
General Meeting
Featured speakers: Lynn Blais and David Weiser
Thursday, August 31, 2006 at 4:00 pm in the Sheffield Room, 2.111.
The New Supreme Court
Guest speaker Thomas Goldstein presents a review of recent changes in the Court and the possible impact they may have on its future. Mr. Goldstein is a lecturer on Supreme Court litigation at Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School, as well as the head of Supreme Court practice for Akin & Gump.
Thursday, April 20, 2006 from 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Sao Paolo's Restaurant, 2809 San Jacinto, Austin, TX 78705
ACS Mentor-Mentee Luncheon
RSVP to Shelly Chattopadhyay.
Friday, April 21, 2006 at 12:00 noon in room 3.216.
The Politicization of the Department of Justice
Over the past year, news reports have intimated the increasing role of political appointees at the Department of Justice, particularly the Civil Rights Division. The speakers, each of whom worked at the DOJ for over 20 years, will address whether this is a real phenomenon. In particular, they will explore whether such politicization has affected enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws. Posner will focus on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Hebert will focus on the Texas redistricting case.
Posner served as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice from 1980 to 2003, and assisted in supervising the Division’s reviews of Section 5 preclearance submissions from the mid-1980s to 1995. He is currently an independent consultant and an adjunct professor of law at American University’s Washington College of Law and the University of Maryland School of Law. In January 2006, Posner published a paper entitled “The Politicization of Justice Department Decisionmaking Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act: Is it a Problem and What Should Congress Do?” which provides an in depth analysis of the issue of politicization and potential remedies to counter such political considerations in the Section 5 decisionmaking process.
Hebert served as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice from 1973 to 1994, holding varied positions, such as Acting Chief, Deputy Chief and Special Litigation Counsel in the Voting Section. He has served as lead attorney or chief trial counsel in numerous voting rights and redistricting lawsuits. From 1994 to 1995, Hebert served as a part-time attorney for the national office of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights under Law. He also served as General Counsel to IMPAC 2000, the national redistricting project for Congressional Democrats, from 1999 to 2002. Hebert is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a sole practitioner in Alexandria, Virginia, specializing in election law and redistricting.
Thursday, April 6, 2006 at 5:30pm in TNH 2.138
A Look Inside Guantanamo Bay
A play reading and panel discussion on Guantanamo Bay Detainees
Featuring Professor Mark B. Denbeaux, Seton Hall University School of Law and Kristine Huskey, attorneys representing Guantanamo detainees.
Moderated by Professor Derek Jinks
Readings by: Professor Barbara Harlow's Literature and Social Justice
course and Professor Karen Engle's Human Rights course.
Free and open to the public. Food and drinks will be provided.
Sponsored by ACS, Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, National Lawyers Guild.
Suggested reading material: "Report on 517 Detainees" by Mark B. Denbeaux, "Inter- and Intra-Departmental Disagreements About Who Is Our Enemy" by Mark B. Denbeaux.
Listen to the first hour and 20 minutes of the event here.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 5:15pm in the Eidman Jury Room.
ACS officer elections.
To vote and/or run for a position, you must have paid dues.
Dues are only $10 and they go straight to the national organization. Here's the link to pay online.
Once you have paid by credit card online, please send an email to our Treasurer, Katie Kimberley (ckimberley@mail.utexas.edu) with a confirmation of the payment. We will bring the updated list to the meeting on Tuesday, so please make sure to take care of this by Sunday. Otherwise, print out the confirmation receipt and bring it with you to the meeting. You can also pay by check at the meeting. (If you're not sure about whether you've paid, send an email to ckimberley@mail.utexas.edu.)
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 5:15pm in the Eidman Jury Room.
ACS General Meeting
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 12:00 noon
"The Prospects for Continuing Death Penalty Reform Under the Roberts Court"
Luncheon with Robert Owen, Adjunct Professor, The University of Texas School of Law
$7.50 for students.
Sponsored by ACS Austin Lawyers' Chapter
Please RSVP to Austin@ACSLaw.org by Monday, February 20 at 12:00 Noon.
Monday, February 20, 2006
ACS table at Law Week
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
A panel discussion on Bush's domestic surveillance program
Sponsored by ACS and the Texas Federalist Society.
Tuesday, February 7, 2006 at 2:00pm
"Coffee Talk" with Professor Scot Powe
Justice Alito's Prospective Impact on the Court
Lava Java Coffee House
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 5:15pm in the Eidman Jury Room:
ACS General Meeting
Tuesday, February 7, 2006 at 5:30pm
ACS Lawyer/Mentor Happy Hour
Thursday, January 26, 2006 at 11:30am in the Tom Clark Lounge:
Open Board Meeting
November 4, 2005
Peace and Security: The Challenge and the Promise
Address by the Honorable Surakiart Sathirathai, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand
(Sponsored by the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice and TILJ, co-sponsored by ACS, People Speak)
4:00pm, Eidman Courtroom
October 28, 2005
University Forum: "Workers Rights are Human Rights"
(Sponsored by the Equal Justice Center, co-sponsored by ACS, NLG, HRLS, PILA)
4:30pm, Sheffield Room.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at 12pm in the Auditorium:
Luncheon co-sponsored with TMLS. “Contempt of Court” author Mark Curriden will be joined by Ron Kirk. RSVP to parisa@mail.utexas.edu.
October 20, 2005
ACS Happy Hour with Lawyers' Chapter
5:30pm, Lakeside Mediation Clinic, next to Hula Hut and Mozart's.
October 3, 2005
ACS General Meeting
5:30pm, Eidman Jury Room
September 30, 2005
Same-Sex Marriage: A Constitutional Amendment
(Sponsored by LBJ School's Dialectic Dialogue, co-sponsored by ACS)
12:30pm, 3.140 Jeffers Court Room
September 19, 2005
A discussion of the Roberts nomination and ACS General Meeting
Guest Speaker: Deece Eckstein, People for the American Way
5:30pm, Eidman Jury Room
September 19-22, 2005
PROGRESSIVE WEEK 2005
A coalition of progressive organizations at UT Law (including ACS, National Lawyers' Guild, Public Interest Law Associaiton, OUTLaw, and the Human Rights Law Society) put together a week filled with events to educate law students about progressive issues.
September 12, 2005
A Debate on Takings: Discussing the Kelo Decision
Featuring: Professor Lynn Blais and Clark Neily, Institute for Justice.
3:30 pm, Sheffield Room.
September 7, 2005
NYT Reporter Linda Greenhouse discusses the life of the late Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, jurisprudential growth on the Court, and the nomination of Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court.
3:00 pm, University of Texas, Eidman Courtroom.
Co-sponsored by the University of Texas Tarlton Law Library and the ACS Austin Lawyers Chapter.
Reception to follow where Ms. Greenhouse will be signing copies of her book Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey.
