Constitutional Conventions

Kirby West is an attorney at the Institute for Justice. Earlier this year, she worked on the IJ team that successfully litigated Carson v. Makin at the Supreme Court of the United States. In the Season 2 opener, Kirby joins Jon and new host Robert Capodilupo to talk about Carson v. Makin, educational choice, and free exercise litigation.

Elbridge Colby is the co-founder and a principal of The Marathon Initiative, a policy initiative designed to prepare the United States for an era of great power competition. His new book, The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, lays out a plan for preventing China from establishing hegemony over East Asia. It was selected by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Top 10 Books of 2021. In this season finale, he joins Zack and Jon to talk about his new book and the future of conservative foreign policy.

Prof. Joshua Kleinfeld is a Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. His research focuses on the distinctive social function and sense of justice at work in the criminal system. He also studies the theory and practice of democratic self-governance as both a matter of political theory and of public law. Prof. Kleinfeld joins Zack and guest host Katie Mahoney to talk about everything from scholarly rigor and epistemology to the state of legal education and the nature of law.

Dr. Joseph Simmons is the Vice President of Academic Affairs for the Yale Federalist Society and a 3L at Yale Law School. Joseph joins Jon and Zack to talk about his recent note in the Yale Law Journal, “https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/reconstructing-the-bankruptcy-power-an-originalist-approach (Reconstructing the Bankruptcy Power: An Originalist Approach)." Joseph, Jon, and Zack talk about the Bankruptcy Clause, originalist methodology, and the process of getting published by the Yale Law Journal.

Judge Justin Walker serves on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Before his elevation in 2020, he served as a judge on the US District Court for the District of Western Kentucky. Prior to being appointed to the bench Judge Walker, among other things, served as a speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and taught law at the University of Louisville. Judge Walker joins Jon and Zack to talk about everything from his experiences as Secretary Rumsfeld's speechwriter and the importance of learning to disagree to the career of Winston Churchill and development economics.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many are pursuing legal challenges in international courts against Putin's regime. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton joins Jon and Zack to discuss why these efforts are misguided and what recent developments in the war mean for American grand strategy. Along the way, they talk about everything from international law at the UN and US leadership on the world stage to the state of legal education in America today. Ambassador John Bolton served as the 27th United States National Security Advisor and as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He received his JD from Yale Law School in 1974.

On this pilot episode, co-hosts Jonathan Feld and Zack Austin discuss what it means to be a conservative law student at Yale Law School, their involvement with the Federalist Society, and what they hope to achieve with this new show. Every week, Constitutional Conventions looks forward to bringing you the best commentary from foremost thinkers, judges, and leaders on debates and controversies in American public life.