America needs a renewed spirit of civic engagement that prioritizes in-person interaction and begins in local communities. That was one of the central messages at an event hosted this March at Harvard Law School, titled “The American Experiment at 250,” which examined the challenges facing law and governance in the United States today. The event was the first in a series marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
“As we commemorate this nation’s 250th birthday, I am proud that Harvard Law students, faculty, alumni, and staff are playing their part in our never-finished collective undertaking to build a nation committed to liberty, democracy, justice, and the rule of law,” said Dean John Goldberg in his introductory remarks.
During the panel, participants shared ideas from essays reflecting on contemporary political and legal issues in the U.S. that will be published in a forthcoming book. Participants included Annette Gordon-Reed ’84, Molly Brady, Jonathan Zittrain ’95, Daphna Renan, Richard Re, and moderator Tomiko Brown-Nagin.
Gregory and Emily Harvey Memorial Lecture
When the rule of law is eroded in a democracy, it can be difficult to restore, says Aziz Huq, a scholar of U.S. and comparative constitutional law and a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Huq spoke at the Harvard Law School Election Law Clinic’s inaugural Gregory and Emily Harvey Memorial Lecture this March.
Drawing on the work of German scholars Ernst Fraenkel and Max Weber, and making comparisons across countries, Huq pointed to what he described as worrisome trends in the United States in which he says the ordinary meaning and practice of law have been either ignored or used to insert coercion into previously collaborative relationships.
Huq, former counsel to and director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, focuses on democratic backsliding. In 2018, he co-wrote “How to Save a Constitutional Democracy,” examining foreign anti-democratic movements and how weaknesses in the U.S. Constitution could harm democracy at home.
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