Civil Liberties and the (post-Kennedy) Roberts Court: Privacy, Speech, and Religion

BU Law marked Constitution Day with a panel that considered some of the decisions from the past Supreme Court term.

As the Supreme Court’s 2017–18 Term ended, Justice Kennedy, the Court’s swing vote, announced his retirement. BU Law celebrated Constitution Day with “Civil Liberties and the (post-Kennedy) Roberts Court: Privacy, Speech, and Religion,” a panel that considered some of the most controversial decisions from the past term in the areas of privacy, religion, and speech, in which Justice Kennedy often played a critical role. These include the Court’s decisions to uphold the travel ban (Trump v. Hawaii), reverse a ruling against baker Jack Phillips for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple (Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission), strike down California’s rules concerning crisis pregnancy centers (NIFLA v. Becerra), and rule that Fourth Amendment expectations of privacy limit government’s ability to monitor persons through their cell phones (Carpenter v. United States). The panel also discussed how the post-Kennedy Court might address future controversies over these issues.

Panelists

Danielle Keats Citron – Morton & Sophia Macht Professor of Law, University of Maryland, Frances King Carey School of Law; visiting Fordham Law School, Fall 2018

Karen Pita Loor – Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law

Linda C. McClain – Professor of Law and Paul M. Siskind Research Scholar, Boston University School of Law

Jay Wexler – Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law

Moderator

James E. Fleming – The Honorable Paul J. Liacos Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Intellectual Life, Boston University School of Law