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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:

The Government’s Arms Around Cryptocurrency: Hug or Stranglehold? May 24, 2022

Show notes

As the cryptocurrency industry grows, state and federal governments are considering how that industry should be regulated. The President has directed the Secretary of the Treasury to report soon on the issues involved. A draft bill that would regulate stablecoins has been released in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, states are competing with one another to adopt regulatory laws that may attract cryptocurrency firms to their welcoming, but taxing, arms striving for economic growth.
Will regulation be designed to avoid discouraging innovation in a highly creative environment? Fears have been expressed that unregulated cryptocurrency could theoretically present systemic risk, and consumers may need to be protected--particularly in light of the recent collapse of the Luna cryptocurrency and its related Terra stablecoin. Some believe that regulation may be an opportunity to include those presently unserved by the banking system. Complicating this already complicated picture may be rivalry among multiple federal agencies, including the banking regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission, each of which may make a case for potential authority over aspects of the cryptocurrency industry. Our panel of experts will address these timely and controversial questions.
Featuring:
--Douglas Elliott, Partner, Oliver Wyaman
--Michael Piwowar, Executive Director, Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets
--Dawn Stump, Former Commissioner, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
--Thomas Vartanian, Executive Director, Financial Technology & Cybersecurity Center
--Moderator: Paul N. Watkins, Managing Director, Patomak Global Partners
Related:
Central Bank Digital Currency--Efficient Innovation or the End of the Private Banking System?
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To register, click the link above.

Hollywood’s Recent Best Picture Winner Shines a Spotlight on the Harms of the Administrative State May 24, 2022

Show notes

A Hollywood depiction of the lives of fishermen tells a real life story about how Executive Branch overreach damages American families. Hear from two practitioners challenging the administrative state on these very regulations depicted in “Coda” and learn why telling clients’ stories is critical to reform.
Featuring:
--Eric Bolinder, Managing Policy Counsel, Americans for Prosperity Foundation; Counsel, Cause of Action Institute
--John Vecchione, Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
--Moderator: Eileen O'Connor, Founder, Law Office of Eileen J. O'Connor PLLC

Central Bank Digital Currency--Efficient Innovation or the End of the Private Banking System? May 17, 2022

Show notes

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are the subject of a global debate. In one version, individuals and businesses would hold deposits directly with the central bank. Critics point out that the Federal Reserve would then control how these deposits are used, allocating credit to private-sector borrowers and to government spending, arguing that CBDCs would eviscerate the private banking industry and create government surveillance of all financial transactions in the accounts. An alternate version is that CBDCs take the form of a tokenized dollars, distributed through the banking system and operating in parallel with paper currency and bank accounts. Supporters say this could yield lower transaction costs and more rapid settlement of payments, and could strengthen the international role of the U.S. dollar.
Featuring:
--Bert Ely, Principal, Ely & Company, Inc.
--Chris Giancarlo, Senior Counsel, Willkie Digital Works LLP; Former Chairman, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission
--Greg Baer, President & Chief Executive Officer, Bank Policy Institute
--Moderator: Alex J. Pollock, Senior Fellow, the Mises Institute
Related:
The Government’s Arms Around Cryptocurrency: Hug or Stranglehold?
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To register, click the link above.

How the Largest Whistleblower Award in History Came About May 17, 2022

Show notes

On October 21, 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced a nearly $200 million whistleblower award, the largest in history. The award was related to more than $3 billion in sanctions by the CFTC and foreign regulators. The award, so large that it emptied the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's fund for whistleblower awards, was criticized as "relating to an action by a foreign futures authority to address harm outside the United States." Join us as we speak with David Kovel, attorney for the whistleblower and managing partner of Kirby McInerney LLP, as he discusses his role in this record-shattering award, the challenges he faced, and the public policy questions we face.
Featuring:
--David Kovel, Managing Partner, Kirby McInerney LLP
--Moderator: Prof. Gary Kalbaugh, Special Professor of Law, Maurice A. Dean School of Law
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To register, click the link above.

Courthouse Steps Decision Webinar: Hemphill v. New York May 17, 2022

Show notes

On January 20, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hemphill v. New York. In an 8-1 decision, the Court reversed and remanded the judgment of the Court of Appeals of New York, holding that the trial court’s admission—over Hemphill’s objection—of the plea allocution transcript of an unavailable witness violated Hemphill’s Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him.
Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court. Justice Alito filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice Kavanaugh joined. Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion.
Please join our legal expert to discuss the case, the legal issues involved, and the implications going forward.
Featuring:
--Mike Hurst, Partner, Phelps Dunbar LLP and former United States Attorney, Southern District of Mississippi

Courthouse Steps Decision: Determining Finality for Pursuing Liability: The Implications of Thompson v. Clark May 17, 2022

Show notes

In Thompson v. Clark, the plaintiff sought to bring a civil suit claiming he was the victim of a wrongful seizure after police allegedly entered his apartment without a warrant based on unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse. Thompson was charged with resisting arrest amid the warrantless raid, but prosecutors subsequently elected to drop this criminal case. The question that then arose was whether this result, though short of a formal exoneration, was sufficient to meet the requirement that there be a favorable conclusion of the criminal case against Thompson before he could pursue his civil suit. In this discussion, attorneys for amici on both sides will explore which justices got it right and the implications of this ruling in future cases for prosecutors, defendants, and civil litigants.
Background
Thompson v. Clark was decided on April 4 with the Supreme Court holding Larry Thompson’s showing that his criminal prosecution ended without a conviction satisfies the requirement to demonstrate a favorable termination of a criminal prosecution in a Fourth Amendment claim under Section 1983 for malicious prosecution. The majority rejected the dissenting view that an affirmative indication of innocence should be required. Justice Kavanaugh delivered the 6-3 opinion of the Court. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Thomas and Gorsuch joined.
Featuring:
Vincent Stark, Bureau Chief, Legal Affairs Unit, Albany County District Attorney's Office
Marie Miller, Attorney, Institute for Justice
Moderator: Marc Levin, Chief Policy Counsel, Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor, Right on Crime

The Biden Administration’s Enhanced Policies On Corporate Criminal and Regulatory Enforcement May 05, 2022

Show notes

Last fall, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced significant changes to Department of Justice policies on corporate criminal enforcement, including the use of monitors, review of prior misconduct, and cooperation. As Monaco stated, "This is a start -- and not the end -- of this administration's actions to better combat corporate crime." These changes and the Administration's formation of a Corporate Crime Advisory Group signal a shift in DOJ's commitment to ferreting out corporate crimes and more rigorous enforcement activities. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced its own intention to conduct faster investigations, bring bigger cases, and to seek harsher penalties. In his first speech on enforcement, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler quoted the agency's first Chair, Joseph Kennedy, to summarize his own agenda: "The Commission will make war without quarter on any who sells securities by fraud or misrepresentation." Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, has also requested that Congress expand the CFTC's enforcement powers and professed the agency's readiness to serve as the "primary cop on the beat" for cryptocurrency markets.
Former DOJ prosecutor Luke Cass and Britt Biles, who held former senior legal roles at the SEC, the White House, and the U.S. Small Business Administration will explain these policy shifts and discuss the risks for corporate America under this new era, additional priority enforcement areas for the Administration, and what these new policies mean for the future of corporate compliance.
Featuring:
--Luke Cass, Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson
--Britt Biles, Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson
--Moderator: Nicholas Marr, Assistant Director, Practice Groups, The Federalist Society

Environmental Justice, Property Rights, and Zoning May 05, 2022

Show notes

This panel will focus on the pros and cons of zoning, its relation to environmental justice, its detrimental (or beneficial) impacts on minorities, and its consistency (or inconsistency) with property rights. Importantly, the discussion will engage with the scope of modern zoning and what, if anything, should be done to alter, increase, or decrease the government's zoning power. Given the rise of environmental justice in administrative policy and academic debate, this event presents a timely discussion of environmental justice's application to debates over zoning policy in the United States. Criticisms of zoning are on the rise from both the right and left. Critics focus on the ignoble racial history of zoning and its detrimental impacts on the housing market and property values. Defenders instead look to the community stability provided by zoning and the separation of industrial from residential property uses. This panel will present varying views from across the intellectual spectrum featuring both criticisms and defenses of zoning from the right and left.
Featuring:
Prof. Nicole Stelle Garnett, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
Randall O'Toole, Blogger, The Antiplanner
Richard Rothstein, Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and a Senior Fellow (emeritus) at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Prof. Christopher Serkin, Elisabeth H. and Granville S. Ridley Jr. Chair in Law and Professor of Management at the Owen Graduate School of Management
Moderator: Adam Griffin, Law Clerk, U.S. District Courts

Courthouse Steps Decision Webinar: Badgerow v. Walters May 04, 2022

Show notes

On March 31, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Badgerow v. Walters. In an 8-1 decision, the Court reversed and remanded the judgment of the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, holding that Vaden’s “look-through” approach to determining federal jurisdiction does not apply to requests to confirm or vacate arbitral awards under Sections 9 and 10 of the FAA.
Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion.
Please join our legal experts to discuss the case, the legal issues involved, and the implications going forward.
Featuring:
--Bradley Hubbard, Senior Associate and Member, Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice -Group, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
--Elizabeth Kiernan, Associate and Member, Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Ten Years On: The America Invents Act and the role of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in resolving patent disputes May 04, 2022

Show notes

On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the American Invents Act (AIA) into law. The first major overhaul of the U.S. patent system since the 1952 Patents Act, the AIA received overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers when enacted. But, with the recent ten-year anniversary of the AIA, a new director poised to take the helm at the USPTO, and Congress ramping up debate on reforms to the AIA, is now the time for a reexamination? Our speakers will consider the role of the PTAB in resolving patent disputes and the legality of the exercise of significant discretionary authority by the USPTO Director to implement policy outside the authority granted the director under the AIA.
Featuring:
Joseph Matal, partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in the Washington, D.C. office of Haynes and Boone, LLP
Paul Brian Taylor, who served over 20 years as Counsel and Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice. He also served as Senior Counsel at the House Committee on Oversight.
Moderator: Hon. Bob Goodlatte, Former Congressman, United States House of Representatives

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