Ira C. Rothgerber Jr. Conference

The 32nd Annual Ira C. Rothgerber Jr. Conference: AI and the Constitution, took place on Friday, April 19, 2024 in partnership with Silicon Flatirons Center. The conference merged the Silicon Flatirons annual Artificial Intelligence Conference with the White Center’s annual Ira C. Rothgerber Jr. Conference on Constitutional Law. This joint conference examined emerging Constitutional issues implicated by the rapid advances in artificial intelligence. 

To read more about the conference, click here. 

Schedule of Events

9:00 a.m. | Opening Remarks

•  Suzette Malveaux
   

9: 15 a.m. | Keynote

• Harry Surden

10: 15 a.m. | Panel 1: AI and Privacy

• Suzette Malveaux —  University of Colorado Law School
• Chris Goodman - Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
• Paul Ohm - Georgetown University Law Center
• Spencer Overton - George Washington University Law School
• Scott Skinner-Thompson - University of Colorado Law School

11:45 a.m. | Lunch

A catered lunch was provided. 

1:00 p.m. | Panel 2: AI and the Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and Other Legal Documents

• Harry Surden -  University of Colorado Law School
• Yonathan Arbel - University of Alabama Law
• Andrew Coan - University of Arizona
• Vivek Krishnamurthy-  University of Colorado Law School
• Megan Ma - Stanford Law School 

2:35 p.m. | Panel 3: AI Speech and The first Amendment

• Blake E. Reid — University of Colorado Law School
• Newton Campbell - Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE)
• April Dawson -  North Carolina Central University School of Law
• Helen Norton - University of Colorado Law School

4:00 p.m. | Closing Remarks

4:05 p.m. | Reception

View a recording of the conference here. 

The 30th Annual Ira C. Rothgerber Conference: Looking Back to Move Forward: Exploring the Legacy of U.S. Slavery, took place virtually on Friday, April 8, 2022, with a special, pre-conference performance of Motus Theater's JustUs: Stories from the Frontlines of the Criminal Legal System.

Our community of nationally renowned scholars, lawyers, and leaders gathered for bold, important discussions centered around the themes introduced by The Princeton Fugitive Slave: The Trials of James Collins Johnson written by Colorado Law Dean, Professor Lolita Buckner Inniss. Themes emanating from the book include: institutional complicity and participation in slavery; law and law-like structures that helped to maintain slavery and related forms of servitude; and current impacts and implications of this history. To read more about the conference, click here. 

Thursday, April 7, 5:30 - 7 p.m.

In collaboration with the Motus Theater, this years conference presents JustUs: Stories from the Frontlines of the Criminal Legal System. Motus JustUs monologists Dereck Bell, Juaquin Mobley, and Colette Payne, will read aloud their powerful autobiographical stories artfully depicting their experiences within the criminal legal system.

Motus Theater Monologists

• Dereck Bell, Juaquin Mobley, and Colette Payne

(Proof of vaccination is required to enter the Dairy Arts Center)

Friday, April 8, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Conference Panel and Speakers

Conference facilitated by: Suzette Malveaux (Colorado Law, director of the Byron R. White Center)

Book Chat with Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss (Colorado Law) and Professor Hilary Green (University of Alabama) 

Roundtable: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre; The Quest for Accountability 

• Moderator: Professor Suzette Malveaux (Colorado Law)
• Professor Eric Miller (Loyola Law School), Professor Emerita Adjoa Ayietoro (William H. Bowen School of Law), Reverend Robert Turner (former pastor of Historic AME Church in Tulsa), Damario Solomon-Simmons, Esq. (Solomon Simmons Law)

Panel 1: Institutional Complicity in U.S. Slavery; the Role of the Judiciary and Higher Education 

• Moderator: Erin Vanek (Colorado Law '22)
• Professor Michael Higginbotham (University of Baltimore Law School), Professor Brian Mitchell (University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Professor Christopher Mathis (University of Iowa College of Law - visiting)

Lunch Break (Food provided by Colorado Law)

Panel 2: Vestiges of Slavery in the Criminal Justice System 

• Moderator: Professor Ben Levin (Colorado Law)
• Professor Jack Chin (UC Davis School of Law), Professor Sunita Patel (UCLA School of Law), Professor Monica Bell (Yale Law), Robert Saleem Holbrook (Executive Director of the Abolition Law Center, Penn Law)

Panel 3: Bringing It Home: How Slavery Impacts Property and Land Ownership in Colorado Today 

• Moderator: Sam McCarthy (Colorado Law '23)
• Professor Tom Romero (University of Denver Sturm College of Law), Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca (Denver District 9),  Rita R. Lewis (former Executive Director- Denver Metro Fair Housing Center)

Eight general CLE credits are approved for Colorado attorneys.

Watch the video recording of the 30th Annual Rothgerber Conference.

The 29th Annual Ira C. Rothgerber Conference: Pursuing Citizenship, took place virtually on Friday, April 9, 2021, with a special, pre-conference performance of Motus Theater's UndocuMonologues.

This year's conference built upon Colorado Law Professor Ming Hsu Chen's new book, Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era, in which she argues that the citizen/alien binary should instead be reframed as a spectrum of citizenship, a concept that emphasizes continuities between the otherwise distinct experiences of membership and belonging for immigrants seeking to become citizens. In addition, citizenship consists of economic, social, political, and legal dimensions; the modern era of intense immigration enforcement distorts the balance and produces a sense of citizenship insecurity. This conference charted a broad conception of citizenship, putting the law in its social context, and explored its inextricable relationship to immigration enforcement in the modern era. To read more about the conference, click here. 

Motus Theater’s Undocumonologues

Motus Theater presented UndocuMonologues, which weaves together autobiographical monologues from undocumented writers, interwoven with the music of Elisa Garcia. Story themes include the threat of deportation, the injustice of being sent into exile from the country in which you were raised, border patrol, the current human and civil rights threats to immigrants, and racial profiling. 

Two monologues were performed by the writers themselves, while the third was read aloud by special guest, the Honorable Mimi Tsankov, National Association of Immigration Judges, who reflected upon her experience connecting with that story. The event concluded with a 20 minute talk-back, where audience members reflected on their experience and posed questions to those involved. For more information about Motus Theater and how to get involved, please visit: https://www.motustheater.org.

2021 Conference Panels & Panelists

Opening: Ming Hsu Chen (Colorado Law), author of Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era in conversation with Hiroshi Motomura (UCLA School of Law)

Panel 1: Citizenship Theory Beyond Legal Status

• Moderator: Seema Sohi (Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado Boulder)
• Niambi Carter (Political Science, Howard University), Elizabeth Cohen (Political Science, Syracuse University), Allen Colbern (Political Science, Arizona State University), Amanda Frost (Washington College of Law). 

Lunchtime Panel: Stories of Immigrants

• Moderator: Violeta Chapin (Clinical Faculty, Colorado Law)
• Salvador Hernandez (Colorado State Director, Mi Familia Vota), Alan Sanchez (CU Alumni), Shiyan Zhang (CU Alumni).

Panel 2:  Citizenship, Integration, and Belonging 

• Moderator: David Cook-Martin (Sociology, University of Colorado Boulder)
• Tomas Jimenez (Sociology, Stanford), Cristina Rodriguez (Yale Law School), Stella Burch Elias (University of Iowa College of Law), Shannon Gleeson (Labor Relations, Law & History, Cornell), Xóchitl Bada (Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago).

Panel 3:  Noncitizens, Exclusion, and Enforcement 

• Moderator: Hunter Knapp (Postdoctoral fellow, University of Colorado Law)
• Adam Goodman (Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago), Rebecca Hamlin (Political Science, University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Laura Lunn (Detention Program Managing Attorney, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network), Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia (Penn State Law). 

Opening, Panel 1 & Lunch Panel [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmJaoQ5TcXA]
Panel 2 [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By8F7STK2Ns]

Panel 3 [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy7FoSCe9Ug]

The 28th Annual Ira C. Rothgerber Conference took place on April 3, 2020. This year's conference focused on the topic "Women’s Enfranchisement: Beyond the 19th Amendment". 2020 marked the centennial of the 19th Amendment, formally extending suffrage to some, but not all, women, and is a presidential election year with an unprecedented number of female candidates running for national and local offices. But barriers to both political rights and social, lived equality persist, particularly for women at the intersections of race, sex, and class. The 28th Annual Ira C. Rothgerber Conference used the centennial to take stock of how far we’ve come—and how far we have to go—in terms of formal political enfranchisement as well as the social and economic empowerment of women more broadly.

Motus Theater’s Undocumonologues

Motus Theater presented UndocuMonologues, which weaves together autobiographical monologues from undocumented writers, interwoven with the music of Elisa Garcia. Story themes include the threat of deportation, the injustice of being sent into exile from the country in which you were raised, border patrol, the current human and civil rights threats to immigrants, and racial profiling. 

Two monologues were performed by the writers themselves, while the third was read aloud by special guest, the Honorable Mimi Tsankov, National Association of Immigration Judges, who reflected upon her experience connecting with that story. The event concluded with a 20 minute talk-back, where audience members reflected on their experience and posed questions to those involved. For more information about Motus Theater and how to get involved, please visit: https://www.motustheater.org.

2021 Conference Panels & Panelists

Introductory Remarks by Suzette Malveaux and Keynote Address by Reva Siegel (Yale Law)  

Panel 1: “Historical Perspectives on the Nineteenth Amendment: Looking Back, Looking Forward” 

• Prof. Carolyn Ramsey (Colorado Law)
• Prof. Julie Suk (CUNY, Graduate Center)
• Prof. Mary Ziegler (Florida State Univ. Law)
• Prof. Susan Schulten (University of Denver, History)

Panel 2: “Barriers to Political Representation” 

• Prof. Dara Stolovitch (Princeton, Gender & Sexuality Studies)
• Prof. Atiba Ellis (Marquette Law)
• Prof. Bertrall Ross (Berkeley Law)
• Prof. Justin Levitt (Loyola Law)
• Prof. Ming Chen (Colorado Law)  

Panel 3 “Lived Equality: Beyond Formal Political Rights” 

• Prof. Aya Gruber (Colorado Law)
• Chinyere Ezie (Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights)
• Diana Flynn (Litigation Director, Lamda Legal)
• Prof. Cary Franklin (Univ. Texas Law)
• Prof. Scott Skinner-Thompson (Colorado Law) 

Introductory Remarks & Keynote Address [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R43EesUpIb0&list=PLwFq2GL-i5UjDHrDLVBzsvq439NVkDKDi&index=2]

Panel 1 [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4xdEGNY9XI&list=PLwFq2GL-i5UjDHrDLVBzsvq439NVkDKDi&index=3]

Panel 2 [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NR_fParT3k&list=PLwFq2GL-i5UjDHrDLVBzsvq439NVkDKDi&index=4]

Panel 3 [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjsj2kA9S7w&list=PLwFq2GL-i5UjDHrDLVBzsvq439NVkDKDi&index=5]

The 27th Annual Rothgerber Conference took place Friday, April 5, 2019, and was open to the public. This year's conference focused on the topic, "National Injunctions: What Does the Future Hold?", and featured an exciting panel of diverse scholars, with remarks by Phil Weiser, Colorado Attorney General; and Professor Suzette Malveaux, University of Colorado Law School.   

At the 26th Annual Rothgerber Constitutional Law Conference on Friday, April 13, 2018, speakers from around the U.S. explored a broad range of issues related to listeners’ constitutional interests and rights, including when and why listeners’ interests should matter to First Amendment law, how we might go about determining listeners’ interests, and what to do when listeners’ interests may be in tension with speakers’ interests -- generally or in specific contexts involving speech to voters, consumers, workers, students, information users, shareholders, clients, consumers of the media, and other specific individuals or communities.

Scholarship

• Listeners' Choices, James Grimmelmann
• Limiting the Right to Buy Silence: A Hearer-Centered Approach, Burt Neuborne
• Powerful Speakers and Their Listeners, Helen Norton
• When Audiences Object: Free Speech and Campus Speaker Protests, Gregory P. Magarian
• The MacGuffin and the Net: Taking Internet Listeners Seriously, Derek E. Bambauer
• Press Speakers and the First Amendment Rights of Listeners, RonNell Andersen Jones
• Data Subjects’ Privacy Rights: Regulation of Personal Data Retention and Erasure, Alexander Tsesis
• Commercial Speech Protection as Consumer Protection, Felix T. Wu

The 25th Annual Rothgerber Constitutional Law Conference addressed the topic of “Truth, Lies, and the Constitution.” Speakers included:

• Professor Alan Chen, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
• Professor Carla Fredericks, University of Colorado School of Law
• Professor David Han, Pepperdine University School of Law
• Professor B. Jessie Hill, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
• Professor Gregory Klass, Georgetown Law School
• Professor Justin Marceau, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
• Professor Helen Norton, University of Colorado School of Law
• Professor Catherine Ross, George Washington University School of Law
• Professor Mark Spottswood, Florida State University College of Law
• Professor James Weinstein, Sandra Day O’Connor Arizona State University College of Law
• Professor Christina Wells, University of Missouri School of Law 

Keynote Address

[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmcJmj9u6ec&list=PLwFq2GL-i5Uj84QuYlOLXVv9ajQSgqD8A&index=1]

Panel One

[video: https://youtu.be/JJkqOuVTURc]

Panel Two

[video: https://youtu.be/iE_SQSD_J6o]

Panel Three

[video: https://youtu.be/4m3sJU1FneQ]

Scholarship

• Climate Change Disinformation, Citizen Competence, and the First Amendment James Weinstein
• Incredible Lies Catherine J. Ross
• Sex, Lies, and Ultrasound B. Jessie Hill
• Government Lies and the Press Clause Helen Norton
• Standing Rock, the Sioux Treaties, and the Limits of the Supremacy Clause Carla F. Fredericks & Jesse D. Heibel
• Free Speech Hypocrisy: Campus Free Speech Conflicts and the Sub-Legal First Amendment Christina E. Wells
• Truth, Lies, and the Confrontation Clause Mark Spottswood
• Categorizing Lies David S. Han
• Developing a Taxonomy of Lies Under the First Amendment© Alan K. Chen & Justin Marceau
• The Law of Deception: A Research Agenda Gregory Klass

The 24^th Annual Rothgerber Conference offered attendees the opportunity to recognize the contributions of Colorado Law Professor Robert Nagel to constitutional scholarship over the course of his career. Speakers included:

• Professor Larry Alexander, San Diego Law School
• Professor Paul Campos, University of Colorado Law School
• Professor Mark Tushnet, Harvard Law School
• Dr. Matthew Franck, Director, William E. and Carol G. Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution
• Professor Michael Greve, George Mason University School of Law
• Professor Stephen Presser, Northwestern Law School
• Professor Frederick Schauer, Virginia Law School

[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-aSKWWFleg]

Panel One

[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU3cyn60ZPw&index=1&list=PLwFq2GL-i5UincFgfI_AV6ULWk9M6cNcH]

Panel Two

[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBCgCfP2V14]

The 23rd Annual Rothgerber Conference, “Presidential Interpretation of the Constitution,” brought academics from around the country to explore the themes raised in Professor Hal Bruff’s recently published Uncommon Ground: How Presidents Interpret the Constitution. Professor Bruff delivered a keynote address. Speakers included:

• Gabrielle Appleby, University of South Wales
• Henry L. Chambers, Jr., Richmond School of Law
• Kathleen Clark, Washington University Law School
• Martin Flaherty, Fordham Law School
• Heidi Kitrosser, University of Minnesota Law School
• David Pozen, Columbia Law School
• Peter Shane, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
• Kevin Stack, Vanderbilt Law School
• Adam Webster, University of Adelaide, South Australia

At the 22nd Annual Rothgerber Conference, on October 2, 2014, academics and attorneys from around the country gathered to discuss how litigation strategy has pushed and is continuing to push constitutional change. There were three panels during the conference, focusing on these topics: race and constitutional litigation; getting to same-sex marriage; and constitutional litigation and movement identity.

The 21st Annual Rothgerber Conference focused on federalism and its impact on the constitutional debates surrounding the legalization of marijuana, gay marriage, gun rights, and immigration. Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerken gave the conference's keynote address, entitled "The Political Safeguards of Horizontal Federalism."

The 20th Annual Rothgerber Conference took place in November 2012 and focused on expanding Constitutional literacy to the public.  The Conference featured keynote speaker Professor Mark Tushnet of Harvard Law, a prominate advocate in popular constitutionalism. 

Video of Professor Mark Tushnet's Keynote Address

Video from Panel Discussion

On November 4-5, 2011, participants in the 19th Annual Rothgerber Conference spoke about “Toward a Constitutional Right of Access to Justice: Implications and Implementation.” The Conference explored the many facets of access to justice, with panelists discussing recent Supreme Court decisions on the civil right to counsel and taxpayer standing; the role of law school clinics, pro bono work and cause lawyering in providing access; and the crisis in funding and other barriers to operationalizing access.