The Thirteenth Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics and Culture
Adrian Vermeule on the Current State of Administrative Law: An Interdisciplinary Conversation
Friday, Sept. 21, 2018
8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Martin G. McGuinn '67 Ceremonial Courtroom (Room 201)
Is administrative law unlawful? “No,” answers Adrian Vermeule in Law’s Abnegation: From Law’s Empire to the Administrative State (Harvard Univ. Press 2016), a nuanced yet bold defense of the administrative state we inhabit today.
Critics of the contemporary administrative state contend that it amounts to a regime of quasi-law; to a sustained and highly reticulated response to what Karl Schmitt termed a “state of emergency;” and perhaps occasionally to the agent of what Hannah Arendt termed “administrative murder.”
Answering these and other criticisms of contemporary administrative law, Adrian Vermeule, the Ralph S. Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, will be the featured speaker at the Thirteenth Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture. Professor Vermeule will be joined in conversation by distinguished scholars of law, political science, economics, philosophy, sociology, and theology. One such scholar, Edward Rubin (Dean Emeritus, Vanderbilt Law School) has prominently argued that the modern administrative state is giving us what he has called “the new morality.” The conference speakers will assess both the factual claims and normative implications of contemporary administrative law as the possible vehicle of radical moral innovation.
The event takes place on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018 from 8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. in the Martin G. McGuinn Ceremonial Courtroom (Rm 201) at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. It is approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for 5.5 substantive credits and 1 Ethics credit.
Schedule
8:30 a.m. Welcome
Patrick McKinley Brennan, John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies and Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
8:45 a.m. Session 1: Featured Speaker
Adrian Vermeule, Ralph S. Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School
9:30 a.m. Session 2
Patrick McKinley Brennan, John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies and Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
10:15 a.m. Session 3
Emily Bremer, Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame Law School
11:00 a.m. Break
11:15 a.m. Session 4
Colleen Murphy, Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy, University of Illinois
12:00 p.m. Session 5
Jeff Pojanowski, Professor, University of Notre Dame Law School
12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Session 6
Edward Rubin, University Professor of Law and Political Science and Dean Emeritus, Vanderbilt University
2:15 p.m. Session 7
Adam White, Executive Director, C. Boyden Center for the Study of the Administrative State, George Mason University, and Research Fellow, Hoover Institution
3:00 p.m. Session 8
Brian McCall, Orpha and Maurice Merrill Professor of Law and Associate Dean, University of Oklahoma College of Law
3:45 p.m. Break
4:00 p.m. Roundtable Discussion*
Ann C. Juliano, Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Todd Aagaard, Professor of Law and Vice Dean, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Michael Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion, Villanova University
Catherine Wilson, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Public Administration, Villanova University
5:15 p.m. End
*The Roundtable Discussion will also include the speakers from the day's sessions.
