The Rockefeller Center and Dartmouth Dialogues have added new speakers this spring for the Law and Democracy: The United States at 250 series, including journalist Ezra Klein, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Montgomery Fellow Annette Gordon-Reed '81, and Ford Foundation President Heather Gerken.
Former White House counsel Bob Bauer will also discuss the presidency and executive power alongside former Office of Legal Counsel head Jack Goldsmith.
The series, announced last fall, aims to give students and the community the chance to engage with fundamental questions about policy, law, and governance from a variety of perspectives as the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Klein, a New York Times opinion page columnist and host of the Ezra Klein Show, will join Heather Gerken, president of the Ford Foundation and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School, on April 16 to discuss the state of democracy in the U.S., the prospects for what Klein and co-author Derek Thompson call the "Abundance Agenda," and the future of U.S. politics and policy. Their conversation will be moderated by Russell Muirhead, the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics and co-director of the Political Economy Project.
Gordon-Reed '81, a professor of history and the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University, will present "The [Un]conscious [Un]raveling of History" in coordination with the Montgomery Fellows Program on May 14. The former Dartmouth trustee and 2021 Commencement speaker is the author of several books, including her most recent, On Juneteenth.
Bauer, who previously served as White House counsel under President Barack Obama, is professor of practice and distinguished scholar in residence and co-director of the Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic at New York University School of Law. He will join Jack Goldsmith, the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University and former assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel, for a conversation about the presidency, executive power, Donald Trump, and American democracy on May 20.
So far, the series has brought to campus more than a dozen experts in the law, policy, politics, and journalism, among them former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, New York Times opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
"The Law and Democracy series explores our system of government, its fundamental values, and its core tensions. The spring lineup promises to continue offering the Dartmouth community a broad range of expertise and viewpoints as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence," says Herschel Nachlis, senior associate director and senior policy fellow at the Rockefeller Center.
Information about registration, video streams of the events, and full biographies of the speakers are available. The lineup is subject to change:
April 2, 5 p.m., Hinman Forum, Rockefeller Center Jantz is a magistrate judge for the Northern District of Illinois.
April 7, 5 p.m., Hinman Forum, Rockefeller Center Bixby is senior advisor at the Concord Coalition.
April 16, 5 p.m., Top of the Hop, Hopkins Center for the Arts Gerken is president of the Ford Foundation and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School. Klein is a New York Times columnist and the host of the podcast The Ezra Klein Show.
Dahlia Lithwick, Mimi Rocah, and Joyce White Vance
April 27, 1 p.m., Hinman Forum, Rockefeller Center Lithwick is senior editor at Slate Magazine and a contributing analyst at MS NOW. Rocah is a former district attorney for Westchester County in New York and an adjunct professor at Fordham School of Law. Vance is a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and a professor at Alabama Law.
Frances Lee and Stephen Macedo
April 28, 5 p.m., Filene Auditorium Lee is a professor of politics and public affairs and co-director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University. Macedo is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and interim director of the University Center for Human Values at Princeton.
May 5, 5 p.m., Hinman Forum, Rockefeller Center Foster-Frau is a Washington Post investigative reporter and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard School of Journalism.
May 7, 5 p.m., Filene Auditorium Rosen is CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center.
May 8, 1 p.m., Hinman Forum, Rockefeller Center Blackhawk is the Moses H. Grossman Professor of Law at New York University.
May 12, 5 p.m., Filene Auditorium Santos is the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale University.
May 14, 4:30 p.m., Filene Auditorium Gordon-Reed is a Montgomery Fellow this spring and the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. Her talk, a Montgomery Fellows event, is being co-hosted by Rocky. Registration is not required.
May 20, 5 p.m., Rocky 03 Bauer is former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, former co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, former co-chair of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States under President Joe Biden, and a professor of practice and distinguished scholar in residence at NYU School of Law and co-director of NYU's Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic. Goldsmith is a former assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel, and the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University.
May 28, 5 p.m., Rocky 03 Gilbert is the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of the book Stumbling on Happiness.