With a new justice on the Supreme Court and dozens of legal challenges to the President’s executive orders filed all over the country, this year has already been a blockbuster one for the courts. Watch distinguished legal scholars Erwin Chemerinsky, Frederick Lawrence, and Dahlia Lithwick as they discuss how Neil Gorsuch could impact the future of Supreme Court jurisprudence, the most important cases of the term—on topics such as separation of church and state, racial bias in the criminal justice system, and free speech—and challenges to the President’s executive orders. Watch here: https://www.adl.org/supreme-court-review-2017

Pluralism Project Summary:

On July 6, 2017 from 12 pm to 1:30 pm (EST) the Anti-Defamation League held its eighteenth annual Supreme Court review in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.  Held before a live audience and streamed to viewers across the country, the panel discussed key cases from the 2016-2017 judicial year that touched on civil rights and the separation of church and state.  Laura Jones, Assistant Director of Legal Affairs at ADL, moderated the panel, which included Erwin Chemerinsky, Frederick Lawrence, and Dahlia Lithwick, all leading lawyers, academics, and journalists on Supreme Court civil rights issues.  After discussing Court dynamics in the “term of eight,” the panelists moved on to discuss six Supreme Court decisions and two groups of cases making their way through the lower courts.  Most attention was given to a Supreme Court decision on a church claiming religious discrimination and lower court cases grappling with the Muslim travel ban.

This summary was written by a Pluralism Project staff member who attended the event.