Michael Waldman: How the Supreme Court Divided America

The 2021-2022 term of the U.S. Supreme Court is widely considered to be the most consequential in living memory. Bruen, West Virigina v. EPA, Dobbs—the Court’s rulings in these controversial cases weakened gun restrictions, hobbled the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to fight climate change, and overturned the constitutional protection for abortion rights nearly 50 years after Roe v. Wade. In The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, Brennan Center for Justice president Michael Waldman examines the term’s major cases, the meaning of “originalism”—a new, extreme method of interpreting the Constitution—and offers proposals for reform.

Join Waldman and Angela Glover Blackwell, founder in residence at PolicyLink and Professor of Practice at the Goldman School of Public Policy, for an in-depth look at the tumultuous 2021-2022 term and a discussion of how these decisions will affect every American for generations to come.

6:00 - 7:00pm Discussion

7:00 - 7:30pm Book signing

If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Bora Reed at [email protected] or 510-680-3013 with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.

Michael Waldman is president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. A nonpartisan law and policy institute that focuses on improving systems of democracy and justice, the Brennan Center is a leading national voice on voting rights, money in politics, criminal justice reform, and constitutional law. Waldman, a constitutional lawyer and writer who is an expert on the presidency and American democracy, has led the Center since 2005. He was a member of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States in 2021.

Angela Glover Blackwell is Founder in Residence at PolicyLink, the organization she started in 1999 to advance racial and economic equity for all. Under Angela’s leadership, PolicyLink gained national prominence in the movement to use public policy to improve access and opportunity for all low-income people and communities of color, particularly in the areas of health, housing, transportation, and infrastructure. Angela is also the host of the Radical Imagination podcast, Professor of Practice at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, and the author of The Curb Cut Effect (2017) and How to Achieve a Multiracial Democracy (2023) published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Host or Publisher The Goldman School of Public Policy