News

Dean Rodriguez to Deliver Jefferson Memorial Lecture at UC Berkeley

March 24, 2015

Daniel B. Rodriguez, dean and Harold Washington Professor at Northwestern Law, will deliver the prestigious Jefferson Memorial Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, on April 1, 2015.

In his lecture, “Federalism, Localism, and the Shape of Constitutional Conflict,” Dean Rodriguez will consider the dynamic relationship between structures of constitutional governance within the United States. He will discuss the tensions in law and politics associated with the doctrines of both federalism (the relations of the states and the national government) and localism (involving state-local relationships, and the historic issue of “home rule”) in an effort to illuminate major issues in contemporary American constitutionalism. He will also offer possible strategies and opportunities for negotiating issues of constitutional conflict in policymaking within the United States.

The lecture will draw on Dean Rodriguez’s scholarship and expertise in local government law and constitutional law, two principal areas of his academic work. It will also serve as a homecoming of sorts—Dean Rodriguez began his academic career at UC Berkeley, where he served on the faculty of the Boalt Hall School of Law from 1988 to 1998.

The Jefferson Memorial Lecture Series has brought dozens of prominent scholars and public intellectuals to UC Berkeley since 1958, including Abner J. Mikva, Eric Foner, and Elizabeth Warren.  The Jefferson Memorial Fund was established by the will of Elizabeth Bonestell to promote the tenets of American democracy.

For complete event details, visit the Berkeley Graduate Lectures website.