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FedSoc Forums

*This series was formerly known as Teleforums.

FedSoc Forums is a virtual discussion series dedicated to providing expert analysis and intellectual commentary on today’s most pressing legal and policy issues. Produced by The Federalist Society’s Practice Groups, FedSoc Forum strives to create balanced conversations in various formats, such as monologues, debates, or panel discussions. In addition to regular episodes, FedSoc Forum features special content covering specific topics in the legal world, such as:

Courthouse Steps: A series of rapid response discussions breaking down all the latest SCOTUS cases after oral argument or final decision

A Seat at the Sitting: A monthly series that runs during the Court’s term featuring a panel of constitutional experts discussing the Supreme Court’s upcoming docket sitting by sitting

Litigation Update: A series that provides the latest updates in important ongoing cases from all levels of government

The Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speakers.

Latest Episodes:

Courthouse Steps Decision: Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections involved whether a candidate for federal office has standing to challenge an Illinois law that requires election officials to count mail-in ballots postmarked or certified as of election day and received within two weeks of the election.
Following the 2024 election cycle, Congressman Michael Bost and two other political candidates sued the state board of elections, contending that counting ballots after election day violated federal law (principally 2 U. S. C. §7 and 3 U. S. C. §1, which set election day as the Tuesday following the first Monday in November). The district court dismissed the case, deciding the candidates lacked standing and the Seventh Circuit affirmed. Now the Supreme Court has reversed that ruling, holding in a decision by Chief Justice Roberts that Bost had standing to challenge the rules dealing with the counting of votes in his election.
Join us for a Courthouse Steps program where we break down and analyze the decision and what its impacts may be.
Featuring:
Jason Torchinsky, Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
(Moderator) Hans A. Von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom

Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Louisiana v. Callais (Round 2) Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Louisiana's congressional districts, which it redrew following the 2020 census, currently sit in a state of legal uncertainty.The map initially only had one majority-black district. However, following a 2022 case called Robinson v. Ardoin (later Laundry), which held that it violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Louisiana re-drew the map to include two majority-black congressional districts.In January 2024, a different set of plaintiffs sued alleging the new map violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The case rose to SCOTUS and was heard as a part of the OT24 term. The issues before the Court included (1) Whether the majority of the three-judge district court in this case erred in finding that race predominated in the Louisiana legislature’s enactment of S.B. 8; (2) whether the majority erred in finding that S.B. 8 fails strict scrutiny; (3) whether the majority erred in subjecting S.B. 8 to the preconditions specified in Thornburg v. Gingles; and (4) whether this action is non-justiciable.On June 27, 2025, rather than issue a decision on the case, the Supreme Court issued an order restoring the case to the OT 25 calendar for reargument. This time, the Court has explicitly granted the question of "Whether Louisiana’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." Oral argument (round 2) is set for October 15, 2025.Join us for a post-oral argument Courthouse Steps program where we will break down and analyze how this oral argument went before the Court.Featuring:
Prof. Michael R. Dimino, Sr., Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
(Moderator) Brad A. Benbrook, Founding Partner, Benbrook Law Group

Courthouse Steps Decision: Barrett v. United States Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

In Barrett v. United States, the Court was asked to consider the relationship between two provisions of the Armed Career Criminal Act and whether a single act that violated both provisions could yield two convictions. The Court held the answer was "no", with a majority of the Court holding that Congress did not "clearly authorize" two convictions stemming from a single act.
Though at first glance a technical case related to a provision of the federal criminal code, Barrett raises interesting questions about the Double Jeopardy clause, statutory interpretation, and sentencing.
Join us for a Courthouse Steps program where we break down and analyze the decision and what its impacts may be.
Featuring:
William S. McClintock, Partner, Special Matters and Government Investigations, King & Spalding LLP

Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., both involve the question of whether states can designate women’s sports based on biological sex consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.In 2020 and 2021, Idaho and West Virginia passed laws that required public schools and colleges to designate sports by biological sex and to forbid males from competing on women’s sports teams. Two male athletes who identified as females, one a middle school shot-put and discus thrower and the other a collegiate cross-country runner, challenged the laws in the U.S. District Courts for the District of Idaho and Southern District of West Virginia, alleging a right to compete in women’s sports and saying the state laws discriminate on the basis of sex and transgender status in violation of Title IX and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. In Little v. Hecox, the Idaho district court entered a preliminary injunction against the Idaho law for violating the Equal Protection Clause, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed. In West Virginia v. B.P.J., the West Virginia district court preliminarily enjoined the West Virginia law for violating Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause and then dissolved that injunction, upholding the law at summary judgment. The Fourth Circuit reversed and ordered the district court to enjoin the law for violating Title IX.The Supreme Court granted certiorari, and oral argument is set for January 13, 2026. Join us for a post-oral argument Courthouse Steps program where we will break down and analyze how both oral arguments went before the Court.Featuring:
Sarah Parshall Perry, Vice President & Legal Fellow, Defending Education
(Moderator) William E. Trachman, General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation

Emerging Issues in Federal Death Penalty Litigation Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Recent federal prosecutions have renewed attention on the administration and future of the federal death penalty. This panel brings together experienced capital litigators to examine the evolving legal, institutional, and practical landscape facing federal practitioners.
Panelists will address issues including the use of commutations and clemency, charging and authorization protocols in capital cases, litigation strategies unique to federal death-eligible prosecutions, and the interaction between federal and state capital regimes. The discussion will situate current high-profile cases within broader doctrinal and policy trends, assessing how differing approaches across recent administrations have shaped prosecutorial discretion, defense strategy, and judicial oversight in capital litigation.
The panel will also provide forward-looking perspectives on where federal death penalty practice may be headed, including implications for future administrations and for capital litigation nationwide.
Featuring:
Prof. David I. Bruck, Professor of Law, Emeritus, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Steve Mellin, Retired Assistant United States Attorney
Johnny Sutton, Partner, Ashcroft
(Moderator) James M. Trusty, Member, Ifrah Law

A Union for Every Driver: Sectoral Bargaining Comes to the Rideshare Industry Jan 26, 2026

Show notes

Two state laws could transform labor relations in the United States. In both California and Massachusetts, statutes now allow rideshare drivers to organize at the sectoral level: one union could represent all drivers in each state. Both represent a bold experiment—one that departs from the way labor relations has been regulated for more than a century. And each could produce the biggest spike in unionization in decades. But will they work? Will drivers actually organize? And if they do, will the result bump up against federal law? Our expert panel will break down the historical, legal, and policy implications of these bold new laws.
Featuring:
David Madland, Senior Fellow & Senior Adviser, American Worker Project, Center for American Progress
William L. Messenger, Vice President & Legal Director, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
(Moderator) Alexander T. MacDonald, Shareholder & Co-Chair, Workplace Policy Institute, Littler Mendelson P.C.

Loper Bright Fallout for SEC Rulemaking? Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

In an unprecedented action, the SEC in July dismissed with prejudice a pending enforcement case concerning an alleged violation of a rule promulgated under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (ICA). In 2023, the SEC had charged the defendants (a mutual fund, its investment advisor, and independent directors of the fund) with violating its 2016 “liquidity rule,” which limits the percentage of assets investment companies may hold in "illiquid" investments. The independent directors argued that the ICA did not authorize the SEC to make rules concerning fund liquidity and that its decision to do so based on a protection of investors rationale was owed no deference under the 2024 Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright.
The district court ordered supplemental briefing on Loper Bright implications, but before the SEC filed its supplemental response, it dismissed the case against all defendants, citing “policy reasons”, without more explanation.
Our panelists will discuss the numerous legal and policy issues and questions raised by this sequence of events.
Featuring:
Jan Folena, Partner and Co-Chair of Securities & Regulatory Enforcement, Stradley Ronon
Margaret Little, Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
(Moderator) Michael Piwowar, Executive Vice President, Milken Institute Finance

Analysis of the New Proposed “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) Rule Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

On November 20th, 2025, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a rule to define what “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) means under the Clean Water Act. This is yet another effort to finally provide a durable WOTUS rule. Fortunately, the 2023 Supreme Court opinion in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency provided much-needed clarity for the agencies when determining what are regulable waters. Have the agencies developed a proposed rule that is consistent with Sackett? How have they defined key terms like “relatively permanent” and “continuous surface connection” and what wetlands would be regulated?
The public comment period for this rule ended on January 5th, 2026, with a final rule likely to come out in the coming months. Please join our panel of experts as they detail what is in the rule, provide analysis and perspective on the rule, and explain what changes the agencies should make for any final rule.
Featuring:
Prof. Pat Parenteau, Professor of Law Emeritus, Vermont Law School
John Paul Woodley, Principal, Advantus Strategies, LLC
Damien Schiff, Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
(Moderator) Daren Bakst, Director of the Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Litigation Update: Prosecutor v. Päivi Räsänen Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

Päivi Räsänen, a Finnish parliamentarian, has been criminally prosecuted for expressing her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality in a 2019 tweet. Following multiple police interrogations, in April 2021, she was charged with “hate speech” under the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity section of the Finnish Criminal Code, alongside Lutheran bishop Juhana Pohjola. Despite two unanimous acquittals, Räsänen now faces the seventh year of legal proceedings. The landmark case was heard at the Finnish Supreme Court on 30 October 2025, following the State prosecutor’s appeal. The prosecution is seeking tens of thousands of euros in fines and is demanding that Räsänen publications be censored.
Featuring:
Lorcán Price, Legal Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom International (Counsel for Päivi Räsänen)
(Moderator) Karen J. Lugo, Founder, Libertas-West Project

Regulation and Fair Access to Banking Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

Allegations of politically motivated “debanking” have intensified debate over how federal regulation, supervisory practices, and concerns about “reputation risk” influence banks’ decisions about which customers to serve. In recent months, the President issued an Executive Order directing agencies to reexamine supervisory and risk-management frameworks, while the banking regulators themselves have taken steps related to supervision, anti-money-laundering obligations, and the treatment of reputation risk—often implicating questions surrounding confidential supervisory information. At the same time, Congress and stakeholders across the financial sector continue to grapple with the scope and meaning of federal “fair access” standards and what they might require of banks going forward.With these developments unfolding in parallel, important questions remain unresolved. What role should the government play in shaping banks’ customer relationships? How should supervisory expectations be calibrated, and what legal clarity—whether legislative or regulatory—might be needed to strike the proper balance?Please join the Federalist Society on Wednesday, January 7, at 12 PM ET for a virtual discussion exploring these issues and examining where regulators and lawmakers may go from here.
Featuring:
John Berlau, Senior fellow and Director of Finance Policy, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Tabitha Edgens, Executive Vice President & Co-Head of Regulatory Affairs, Bank Policy Institute
Brian Knight, Senior Counsel, Corporate Engagement Team, Alliance Defending Freedom
(Moderator) John Heltman, Washington Bureau Chief, American Banker

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