Colloquium on Constitutional and Legal Theory

The Colloquium on Constitutional and Legal Theory, ordinarily held in the spring, offers an opportunity for students and faculty to read and discuss cutting-edge scholarship in American constitutional theory and related fields by leading theorists from the United States and abroad.

The colloquium meets each week during the semester, alternating between seminar and colloquium formats. For the first meeting of each two-week segment, students meet in seminar with the instructors to discuss a pre-assigned work in progress. During the second meeting, students will convene with the instructors and all interested faculty for an intensive two-hour exploration with the paper’s author. Students might find it useful to have already taken an introductory course in jurisprudence, but there are no formal prerequisites beyond successful completion of Con Law I.

Past presenters at the Colloquium have included, among many others: Larry Alexander, Akhil Amar, Jules Coleman, John Ferejohn, John Gardner, Kent Greenawalt, Pam Karlan, Nicola Lacey, Tom Merrill, Joseph Raz, Fred Schauer, and Jeremy Waldron.

The Colloquium is generally co-taught by Dean Larry Sager and Professor Mitchell Berman. All law faculty, along with faculty from other UT schools and departments, are warmly invited to participate. However, because the two hours will be principally devoted to discussion, with only limited introductory remarks, participants are expected to have read the papers in advance.

Please note: this series is not currently active.