Law & Ethics Fellowship

Winter Term 2023

Session 1: January 20th (Friday) at 6:30-8pm (dinner).  What is the disagreement about in the pending affirmative action cases?

(Sonu Bedi, Joel Parker 1811 Professor in Law and Political Science, Professor of Government, Hans '80 and Kate Morris Director of the Ethics Institute)

 

 

 

Session 2: February 20 (Monday), 6:30-8pm (dinner).  What is the disagreement about in the pending case regarding freedom of speech and public accommodations law? 

(Amanda Shanor, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, Wharton School at the University of Penn.)

 

 

 

 

Session 3: March 3, 6:30-8pm (dinner).  What is the science of democratic accountability?

(Minh Ly, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Vermont.) Minh Ly is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Vermont. His book, Answering to Us: The Right to Democratic Accountability, is under contract with Princeton University Press. The book explains the importance of accountability to democracy. The novel democratic theory that it develops gives us the resources to reckon with two of the most formidable anti-democratic forces we face today: the rise of elected authoritarianism and discrimination against minorities.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Term 2023

Session 4: April 24 (Monday) at 3pm-4pm (discussion) and  4:30pm-6pm (public lecture in Filene).   What is surveillance capitalism?

(Shoshana Zuboff, Charles Edward Wilson Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School and a former Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. 2023 Burt Dorsett '53 Lecturer.

 

 

Session 5: May 11 (Thursday) at 3pm-4pm (discussion) and  4:30pm-6pm (public lecture in Filene).  What is the relationship between privacy and our digital lives?

(Danielle Citron, Jefferson Scholars Foundation Schenck Distinguished Professor in Law Caddell and Chapman Professor of Law; Director, LawTech Center. University of Virginia. 2023 Roger S. Aaron '64 lecturer.

 

 

 

 

Session 6: May 26 (Friday) at 6:30-8pm (dinner).  What is the study of tech ethics and tech law about? Fellowship wrap up session with Sonu Bedi.

Winter Sessions

Session 1: January 21 at 7-8:15 (Zoom)  What is the disagreement about in the pending Supreme Court case regarding abortion? (Dobbs v. Jackson Woman's Health) (Sonu Bedi, Joel Parker 1811 Professor in Law and Political Science, Professor of Government, Hans '80 and Kate Morris Director of the Ethics Institute)

 

 

 

 

Session 2: February 11 at 7-8:15 (Zoom) What is the disagreement about in the pending Supreme Court case regarding financial assistance to religious schools? (Carson v. Makin)(  Elizabeth Sepper, Professor of Law at UTexas School of Law

 

 

 

Session 3: February 25 at 7-8:15 (Zoom) What is the disagreement about in the pending Supreme Court case regarding damages for emotional distress under civil rights law? (Cummings v. Premier Rehab)  Catherine Smith, Professor of Law at UDenver Sturm College of Law

 

 

 

Session 4: March 3 at 5-6:15 (in-person) What is it like to argue 45 cases before the Supreme Court? Neal Katyal '91, Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, Partner, Hogan Lovells

 

 

 

Spring Sessions (in person)

Session 5: April 11, fellow meeting 3, lecture 4:30. (in-person) Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard

 

Session 6: April 22 at 6-7:15 New research on the Constitution and ethics. Daniel Fryer, Assistant Professor of Law, UMichigan Law School

 

 

Session 7: May 5, fellows meeting 3, lecture 4:30 Technology that Reads Minds: Understanding the Ethical and Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence, Nita Farahany '98, Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law

 

Session 8: May 20 at 7 Fellowship wrap up (Sonu Bedi)

 

 

Session 1:  Does the First Amendment protect unethical behavior?  

(Sonu Bedi, Joel Parker 1811 Professor in Law and Political Science, Professor of Government, Hans '80 and Kate Morris Director of the Ethics Institute)

 

Session 2:  How should businesses respond to social media outrage directed at what their employees do-off duty?

(Vikram Bhargava, Assistant Professor, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University)

 

 

 

 

Session 3:  Should the Supreme Court overturn its precedence on religious exemptions in a pending case this term?   

(Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Associate Professor of Religion & Public Life, University of Notre Dame)

 

 

 

 

 

Session 4:  What does dignity mean under human rights law when a state sterilizes individuals without their consent?  

(Nimu Njoya, Lecturer in Political Science, Williams College)

 

The Law and Ethics fellowship program is a two-term undergraduate program taking place over Winter 2020 and Spring 2020.  This year's theme is at the intersection of ethics, law and science.  The fellowship requires attendance at the events listed below, which include the public lectures, meetings with our speakers,  sessions on pending Supreme Court cases, and a session on new research in ethics.  As part of the fellowship, our fellows will also meet our lecturers prior to their lecture. Given the seminar style format of the fellowship meetings, we anticipate an enrollment of 15 students. The fellowship is open to all undergraduates, including first year students, from all academic backgrounds who have not participated in the program before. 

WINTER 2020

January 17, Introductory Fellows Dinner with Professor Bedi 6:30-8:30pm "Do we have a free speech right to encourage suicide?"

January 27, Nina Tandon, (CEO EpiBone) Meeting with Fellows, 3:00-4:00pm. Public Lecture "Body 3.0 and the Ethics of Building with Biology", 4:30-6:00pm

February 14, Elizabeth Kamali, (Harvard Law), Fellows Dinner, 6:30-8:30pm "Is it wrong, under the Constitution, to abolish the insanity defense?" (pending case before the Supreme Court)

March 5, Mitchell Reich, (Hogan Lovells, LLC) Fellows Dinner 6:30-8:30pm "Is it wrong, under civil rights law, to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity?" (pending case before the Supreme Court)

SPRING 2020

April 15, Steven Pinker, (Harvard University) Meeting with Fellows, 3:00-4:00pm.  Public Lecture "Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress", 4:30-6:00pm.

May 8, Nimu Njoya, (Williams College) Fellows Dinner 6:30-8:30pm New Research in Ethics.

May 21, 2020, Nita Farahany, (Duke Law) Lunch Meeting with Fellows, 12:30-1:30pm.  Public Lecture "Technology that Reads Minds: Understanding the Ethical and Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence" , 4:30-6:00pm

May 28, Wrap Up Session, Fellows Dinner 6:30-8:30pm

Are you interested in discussing and learning about the relationship between law and ethics?  Are you interested in meeting the author of the Handmaid's Tale?  Are you interested in hearing from litigants who have argued current cases before the Supreme Court?  Are you interested in learning about cases involving the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and excessive fines?  Or a case involving the Establishment Clause and the separation of church and state?   Are you interested in meeting with a CNN correspondent and former dean of admissions at Yale Law School?  Are you interested in engaging with new research in ethics? If the answer is "yes," you should consider applying for the Ethics Institute's 2019 Law and Ethics Fellowship Program. 

This undergrad student fellowship program will be a two-term program taking place over Winter 2019 and Spring 2019.  It is open to all undergraduates from all academic backgrounds. 

The fellowship is comprised of three parts.

Part I: Engaging with our Public Programming

Students will meet and hear from Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale who will be our Burt Dorsett Fellow and Asha Rangappa, Senior Lecturer at Yale, who will be our Roger S. Aaron lecturer.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part II:  The Supreme Court Workshop

Students will attend four sessions of the Supreme Court Workshop.  This workshop brings scholars and practitioners to campus to discuss cases currently before the Court, cases that raise issues that are at the intersection of law and ethics.  Learn more about last year's workshop. 

Introduction to the Fellowship Program

Does the Constitution protect unethical behavior?  And why should we care?

Facilitated by Sonu Bedi, Hans Morris Director of the Ethics Institute on February 20, 2019.

American Legion v. American Humanist

Does the Establishment Clause of the Constitution permit the government to erect and maintain a Latin cross? 

Facilitated by Neal Katyal, Professor of National Security Law, Georgetown University Law Center on, March 1, 2019.  Katyal is one of the lawyers in this case.

Timbs v. Indiana

Does the ban on excessive fines in the Eighth Amendment apply to states? 

Facilitated by Wesley Hottot, Attorney for the Institute of Justice, March 28, 2019. Hottot argued this case before the Court, his oral argument is here::https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/17-1091

Madison v. Alabama

Does the ban on cruel and unusual punishment in the Constitution prevent the state from executing a prisoner who no longer remembers committing the crime?

Facilitated by Norrinda Hayat, Associate Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Civil Justice Clinic at Rutgers Law, April 29, 2019.

                                 

                                   Part III:  Engaging with New Research in Ethics

"Epistemic Injustice and Workplace Domination"

Facilitated by Nina Windgaetter, Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, University of New Hampshire, April 9, 2019.        

 

 

                                                                     

Supervised by:  Sonu Bedi, Director of the Ethics Institute and Associate Professor of Government
Are you interested in some of the hot button issues the Supreme Court will decide this coming term involving cell phones and the Fourth Amendment, Trump's immigration ban, discrimination against same sex couples in providing wedding services, and the permissibility of political gerrymandering?  Do you want to engage with scholars in a seminar style format about the ethical issues these cases raise?  If the answer is "yes," you should consider applying for the Ethics Institute's Supreme Court Workshop.

Description:  The United States Supreme Court hears cases for the 2017-18 term from October to early spring, with decisions being announced later that year.  The Ethics Institute will conduct a workshop in Winter 2018 where students learn about some of these pending cases and the ethical issues they raise.  For each session, the Institute will bring a visiting legal scholar to discuss the case.   The speaker will be coming solely to meet with students in the workshop.  The Institute will provide dinner during the session.  The hope is that students will get a chance to learn about a pending case and to think critically about it before the Court announces its decision. No prior background in law is required. The workshop is open to all undergraduates.  This will be a unique opportunity for students to interact with leading legal scholars in a more informal, seminar style setting rather than a conventional lecture format.  These scholars will be coming from the University of Chicago Law School, Boston University School of Law, and the American University Washington College of Law.

The requirements of the workshop include:  attendance at all sessions, completion of selected readings before each session, and a commitment to participate fully during the session. Although students will not receive formal academic credit for the workshop, the Ethics Institute will confer a certificate of completion for those students who complete the workshop.  The enrollment cap is 12 students.

A session was devoted to each of the following cases:

Trump v. International Refugee Assistance

The Court will decide whether Trump’s immigration ban is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

Facilitated by Professor Sonu Bedi, Department of Government on January 17, 2018

Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission

The Court will decide whether wedding cake bakers have a constitutional right to refuse to serve same sex couples for religious reasons.

Facilitated by Professor Linda C. McClain, Boston University School of Law on February 27, 2018

Carpenter v. United States

The Court will decide whether the government violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution by accessing a cell phone’s GPS location without a warrant.

Facilitated by Professor Jennifer Daskal, American University Washington College of Law on February 16, 2018

Gill v. Whitford

The Court will decide whether political gerrymandering—crafting districts on the basis of political affiliation—violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

Facilitated by Professor Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, University of Chicago Law School on January 29, 2018