Report and Recording from Class Colloquium 6: Akhil Amar on The Presidency, Vice-Presidency and The Constitution

In another first for the Class of 1969, we decided not to hoard the stellar talent we’ve recruited for Class Colloquia.  So, we arranged for adjacent Yale Classes 1967 – 1973 to be invited.  Over 500 people signed up!

Professor Amar did not disappoint.  He demonstrated why he is so well-regarded as a teacher (in addition to being a first-rate scholar).   He addressed many of the constitutional concerns that participants had — mostly about the current election and how this norm-shattering president might navigate the next several weeks.  He tried to reassure his audience and caution against panic by presenting some critical lessons drawn from American history.  Specifically, he addressed questions related to:

• Executive orders
• War and the War Powers Act
• Signing statements
• Pardons
• Merrick Garland, Brett Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court, including Originalism
• Gerrymandering
• Political reforms needed now

He ended with sharing his strongly held views regarding both President Trump and the urgent need to find bi-partisan leaders to create some national unity and a durable politics within which the long-standing arguments can be processed to effective solutions.

Here is the video:

Last, the session did have some technical challenges related to having almost 500 registrants and handling some recent Zoom app updates.  The Class Colloquium organizers request that everyone update to the latest Zoom version number (now 5.4) in advance of Class Colloquium 7, Brian Dowling and Calvin Hill!     Click on that link to get details and/or register for that event now!