Amending America’s Unwritten Constitution

May 16–17, 2019 • Boston College

Schedule

This conference will be structured around eight keynote lectures delivered in plenary sessions. In addition to the eight keynote lectures, this two-day conference will include concurrent panels featuring papers selected from a Call for Papers. The purpose of the concurrent panels is to convene groups of faculty and graduate students for a high-level discussion on enduring and emerging questions raised by the conference themes, broadly-defined. The panels will be chaired by the keynote lecturers. These panels will offer participants a combination of rigorous scholarly exchange on the ideas raised in the papers.

May 16, 2019

Time Session Information
9:00am

Welcoming Remarks
9:15am

Plenary Lecture

The Unwritten Constitutions of the United States

Mark Graber (Maryland)
10:15am

Break
10:30am

Plenary Lecture

Enumerating Amendments

Sandy Levinson (Texas)
11:30am

Break
11:45am

Plenary Lecture

Unwritten State Constitutions?: In Search of a Constitutional Audience

Miriam Seifter (Wisconsin)
12:45pm

Luncheon Keynote Lecture

Amending an Unwritten Constitution: Comparative Perspectives

Mark Tushnet (Harvard)
2:15pm

Plenary Lecture

Circumventing the “Unwritten” Constitution

Vik Amar (Illinois)
3:15pm

Break
3:30pm – 5:00pm

Concurrent Panels

Chairs: Mark Graber and Sandy Levinson
Chairs: Vik Amar and Carolyn Shapiro
Chair: Miriam Seifter

May 17, 2019

Time Session Information
9:00am

Plenary Lecture

The Unwritten Foundations of (All) Written Constitutions

Frederick Schauer (Virginia)
10:00am

Break
10:15am

Plenary Lecture

The Courts’ Role in Unwritten Amendments

Carolyn Shapiro (Chicago-Kent)
11:15am

Break
11:30am

Plenary Lecture

The Role of the People in Unwritten Amendment

Emily Zackin (Johns Hopkins)
12:30pm

Lunch
2:00pm

Concurrent Panels

Chairs: Frederick Schauer
Chairs: Emily Zackin
Chair: Mark Tushnet
3:30pm

Break
3:45pm – 4:30pm

Closing Plenary Session