October 2: Cleveland + Webcast: How the Separation of Powers Informs the Executive Duty to Defend the Law

Do executive branch officials in the federal and state governments have an obligation to defend the law? In 2011 the Justice Department decided that it could no longer defend constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court. Since then, several state Attorneys General followed suit, refusing to defend state laws barring the recognition of same-sex marriage. In Ohio, Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a brief opposing the constitutionality of a state campaign law, even as the Attorney General’s office was defending the law in federal court. In this lecture, Judge Pryor will consider the obligation of government officials to defend validly enacted laws in light of established separation of powers principles, drawing on his experience as a state Attorney General, a federal judge, and a law professor.
Title:
How the Separation of Powers Informs the Executive Duty to Defend the Law
The Sumner Canary Lecture
When/Where:
October 2, 2014
4:30 P.M. - 5:30 P.M.
Moot Courtroom (A59)
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
11075 East Blvd
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Also Webcast

Credit:

1 hour of in-person CLE credit available, pending approval
Speaker:
Judge William H. Pryor Jr. is a federal circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. President George W. Bush appointed Judge Pryor during a Senate recess in 2004, and the Senate confirmed his appointment in 2005.
In 2013, President Obama appointed Judge Pryor to serve four years on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a seven-member, bipartisan agency that establishes federal sentencing guidelines and policies.
Judge Pryor also serves, by appointment of Chief Justice Roberts, on the Committee on the Budget for the Judicial Conference of the United States and previously served for seven years on the Committee on Judicial Resources.
By:
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
More Information And Registration