Scalia Law School Hosts its First Scalia Forum

Judge William H. Pryor Jr. Addresses the First Annual Scalia Forum

Scalia Law School hosted its first Scalia Forum on April 25, 2019. The Scalia Forum is an annual event to preserve the legacy of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia through in-depth analysis and thoughtful commentary on the contemporary influence of his judicial philosophy.

The evening’s host, Dean Henry N. Butler, introduced the evening’s speaker, the Honorable William H. Pryor, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. From 2013 to 2018, he served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and from 2017 to 2018 as Acting Chair. Judge Pryor teaches as a visiting professor at the Culverhouse School of Law of the University of Alabama. At the Scalia Forum, Judge Pryor spoke on Scalia and Democracy.

Panel members at the Scalia Forum included:

  • Reginald (Reg) Brown: a partner at WilmerHale and the Chair of WilmerHale’s Financial Institutions Group. He also leads the firm’s congressional investigations practice as Vice-Chair of the firm’s Strategic Response Practice.
  • Judge Amy Coney Barrett: appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in November, 2017. Before joining the bench, she served on the faculty of Notre Dame Law School, where she continues to teach.
  • David E. Bernstein: a University Professor and the Executive Director of the Law & Liberty Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He has been a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center, University of Michigan School of Law, and William & Mary Law School.
  • Paul D. Clement: a partner in the Washington D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States, and has argued 95 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Judge Neomi J. Rao: appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in March 2019. A graduate of Yale College (1995) and The University Chicago Law School (1999), she served as a law clerk to U. S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the 2001 October Term. Judge Rao was a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where she taught constitutional law, legislation and statutory interpretation, and the history and foundations of the administrative state.
  • Judge David R. Stras became a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on January 31, 2018. Before that, Judge Stras was an Associate Judge of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Before becoming a judge, Stras was a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School from 2004 to 2010.