This weekend the University of San Diego’s Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism will be holding its third annual Hugh and Hazel Darling Originalism Works-in-Progress Conference.   The Conference is a great event, bringing to San Diego leading scholars from throughout the country to discuss the most recent work on originalism with the Center’s six members.  At the last two conferences, I have learned a tremendous amount and am expecting to do so again this year.

This year’s conference has a great line up of presenters and commentators:

1.         Ilya Somin (George Mason): “Originalism and Political Ignorance”

Commentator: John McGinnis (Northwestern)

2.         Jamal Greene (Columbia): “Fourteenth Amendment Originalism”

Commentator: Michael Paulsen (St. Thomas)

Special Session on the Enumerated Powers (Papers 3-5)

3.         Kurt Lash (Illinois): “Resolution VI: The Virginia Plan and Authority to Resolve “Collective Action Problems” Under Article I, Sect. 8”

4.         Robert Pushaw (Pepperdine): “Obamacare and the Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause: Identifying Historical Limits on Congress’s Powers”

5.         John Mikhail (Georgetown): “The Necessary and Proper Clauses”

Commentator on Papers 3-5: Jack Balkin (Yale)

6.         Jennifer Mason McAward (Notre Dame): “McCulloch and the Thirteenth Amendment”

Commentator: Mark Tushnet (Harvard)

7.         Stephen Sachs (Duke): “Constitutional Backdrops”

Commentator: Andrew Kent (Fordham)

8.         Garrett Epps (Baltimore): “The Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment: The Case for ‘Narrative Originalism”

Commentator: Chris Green (Mississippi)

The last two conferences are on line at the Originalism Center’s website.  This year’s conference will also be posted on line in a couple of weeks.

For more information on the conference and the Originalism Center, take a look at the Center’s website.