Don't miss it . . .

The Second Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture will be held at Villanova on October 16, and it's now possible to register for the event by clicking here http://www.eventbrite.com/event/68959259

This year's topic is "The Judicial Office in Our Constitutional Democracy: Avoiding Dogmatism on a Disputed Question."  Justice Antonin Scalia will deliver the keynote address, and the other speakers include Professors Paul Kahn (Yale), Jean Porter (Notre Dame), James R. Stoner, Jr. (LSU), and Jeremy Waldron (NYU). 

The early returns suggest that the event is going to fill up, so please register early (and tell your friends)!

The schedule for October 16 is as follows:

8:00-8:45 a.m. - Registration/Continental Breakfast

8:45 a.m. - Welcome: Father Peter Donohue, OSA, President of Villanova University

8:50 a.m. - Welcome: Dean Mark Sargent, Villanova University School of Law

9:00 a.m. - Textualism and Democracy

Jeremy Waldron
University Professor, New York University School of Law

Commentator:

Professor Catherine Lanctot
Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Moderator:

Professor Chaim Saiman

10:00 a.m. - Break

10:15 a.m. - Determination and Deduction: How Aquinas Might Distingquish the Work of the Legislator from the Work of the Judge

James R. Stoner, Jr.
Professor of Political Science, Louisiana State University

Commentator:

Professor Michael Moreland
Assistant Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Moderator:

Visiting Professor Kevin Walsh

11:15 a.m. - Meaning, Intention, and the Purposes of Law: Judicial Interpretation in a Natural Law Context

Jean Porter
John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

Commentator:

Michael J. White
Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy, Arizona State University

Moderator:

Professor Robert Miller

12:15 p.m. - Lunch (boxed lunches served in Bartley Hall)

1:10 p.m. - Keynote Address: The Role of Catholic Faith in the Work of a Judge

Hon. Antonin Scalia
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States

Introductions by Dean Mark Sargent and Professor Steve Chanenson

Moderator:

Professor Steve Chanenson

2:15 p.m. - Break

2:30 p.m. - Sovereignty and Our Supreme Court: A Holy Alliance?

Patrick McKinley Brennan
John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies, Villanova University School of Law

Commentator:

Paulina Ochoa Espejo
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale University

Moderator:

Professor and Associate Dean Doris Brogan

3:30 p.m. - Charisma and the Foundations of Judicial Authority

Paul Kahn
Ralph R. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities and Director, Orville H. Schell, Jr., Center for International Human Rights

Commentator:

Penelope Pether
Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

Moderator:

Professor Tiffany Graham

4:30 p.m. - End

4:45 p.m. - Mass, St. Thomas of Villanova Church