2008-09 Theme: Democracy and Citizenship in the 21st Century
2008-09 Year Events
The Wayne Morse Center continues its examination of the theme “Democracy and Citizenship in the 21st Century” during academic
year 2008-09 with a focus on American political development, electoral participation and broader conceptions of citizenship. Our scholars and visitors will present programs on the role of courts in the democratic process; the impact of social movements; race, citizenship and politics;
new forms of political activism; and executive power and civil liberties.
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Theme Overview (2007-09)
Wayne Morse Chair of Law
and Politics:
Mark
Graber (2008-09)
Distinguished Speakers:
Lani Guinier
Gerald Torres
Sanford Levinson
Senior Faculty Fellow:
Dan Tichenor (2008-09)
Resident Scholars:
Michelle McKinley (2008-09)
Daniel HoSang (2008-09)
Upcoming Events:
2008-09 Calendar
Project Grants
2008-09 Project Grant
Award Recipients
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Theme Overview:
During academic years 2007-08 and 2008-09, the Wayne Morse Center explores aspects of the changing conception of citizenship and the democratic process in the United States and other countries. The Center's inquiry will examine evolving theories of democracy and citizenship, from constitutional law to voting rights.
During 2007-08 the inquiry focused on international issues, Latin America and the debate over immigration. During 2008-09 the focus shifts to current issues of politics and participation in the United States and broader conceptions of citizenship.
Wayne Morse was a fierce defender of democratic principles and institutions, and he argued that economic democracy and political democracy are closely linked. He believed in the observance of international law as a means to peace, self-determination for others, and non-aggression. He argued for strict constitutional adherence to roles of the three branches of government to check executive power and ensure Congressional participation in foreign policy matters. He also believed in the efficacy of citizen participation in democracy and trusted people to constructively participate as long as they had access to “the truth.”
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Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics:
Mark Graber 2008-09
Graber is a professor of law and government at the University of Maryland. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School and earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale. Professor Graber is recognized as one of the leading scholars in the country on constitutional law and politics. His books focus on complicated and contentious issues such as slavery, abortion and free speech. He follows in the tradition of Wayne Morse who emphasized the intersection of constitutional law and democra cy.
Graber is the author of Rethinking Abortion (Princeton University Press) and Transforming Free Speech (University of California Press). His most recent book is Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil.
Graber was in residence at the UO School of Law in August and September 2008, where he taught a class on Judicial Review and Democracy.
Graber gave a public address on “Polarization and the Courts”
on September 23, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. at the Knight Law Center. Graber examined the recent era of extreme political polarization and the role of the judicial branch. He suggested that sharp partisan conflict sets in motion forces that tend to moderate judicial outcomes.
“Rather than understanding courts as the forum of principle in American life, one should also recognize their capacity to provide needed moderation during times of excessive partisanship.”
Polarization may have a surprisingly moderating influence on federal courts. For the past twenty to thirty years, the Republican and Democratic parties have become more ideologically homogenous and more inclined to run to extremes, particularly on the issues that come before the Supreme Court. Republican party platforms, for example, insist that abortion be banned throughout the United States. Democratic party platforms, by comparison, reject every restriction or regulation on reproductive choice. The Supreme Court during this time period has increasingly occupied the center of American politics. The justices on abortion take the positive that abortion cannot be banned, but can be heavily regulated, the position that most resonates with public opinion. While some accidents explain the surprising centrism of the Rehnquist Court, “Polarization and the Courts” will suggest that sharp partisan conflict sets in motion forces that tend to moderate judicial outcomes.
Graber also led a “West Coast Constitutional Law Schmooze” on September 12 and 13, 2008 at the Knight Law Center. The “schmooze” is a popular conference that attracts scholars in the law and social sciences. The topic for the schmooze was “Polarization and the Constitution.” Discussion topics included the definition of polarization, political theories of democracy and assumptions about majoritarian or polarized processes, and the role of the courts when the political parties are polarized.
Read about a recent schmooze.
View Graber's
curriculum vitae (128K PDF).
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Distinguished Speakers:
Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres
Thursday, October 23, 2008
175 Knight Law Center at 7:00 p.m.
A reception and book signing will follow in the Wayne Morse Commons.
This event was free and open to the general public.
“Changing the Wind: The Demosprudence of Law and Social Movements”
The authors of the award-winning book The Miner’s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy visited the UO to discuss their new project. Guinier and Torres continue to examine ways to revitalize democracy through participation of all citizens. The Miner’s Canary proposed a dramatic, hopeful shift in race and politics in the U.S. Now they examine social movements and their impact on the law. Link to Miner's Canary website.
Guinier and Torres examine key social movements such as the Montgomery bus boycott to show how citizens affect public policy and the law.
“Demosprudence” describes the way that ordinary citizens, through mobilized movements on the left and the right, create new social meanings that are codified by the courts. The dynamic relationship between citizens and lawmaking in a democracy is fertile ground for new lawyers, activists and public policy analysts.
Lani Guinier was the first woman of color appointed to a tenured professorship at Harvard Law School in 1998. Her distinguished legal career includes work as a civil rights attorney, and she first came to public attention when President Clinton nominated her to head the Civil Rights Division and then withdrew the nomination. Guinier continues to write and speak out on issues of race, gender, and democratic decision-making.
 Gerald Torres is a Professor of Law at the University of Texas–Austin and the former president of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). A leading figure in critical race theory, Torres is also an expert in agricultural and environmental law. He came to UT Law in 1993 after teaching at The University of Minnesota Law School, where he also served as associate dean. Torres has served as deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and as counsel to then U.S. attorney general Janet Reno.
View event poster (592 KB)
Read Activist Law, Race and the Election
A Q&A with civil rights lawyer Lani Guinier Eugene Weekly (324K PDF)
Sanford Levinson
Thursday, February 5, 2009
175 Knight Law Center at 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
“Wartime Presidents and the Constitution: From Lincoln to Obama”
 Sanford Levinson joins Wayne Morse Center Senior Faculty Fellow Dan Tichenor in a conversation about presidential power, civil liberties and the Constitution. Political Scientist Dan Tichenor will present an historical overview of how presidents wield power during wartimes, focusing on Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Acclaimed constitutional law scholar Sandy Levinson will bring the story to the present by analyzing the rise of the “surveillance state” under George W. Bush and the possibility of "constitutional dictatorship" in the presidency. Both presenters will speak to the choices facing President Barack Obama.
Sanford Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at University of Texas Law School. Previously a member of the Department of Politics at Princeton University, he is also a Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. The author of over 250 articles and book reviews in professional and popular journals, Levinson is also the author of four books: Constitutional Faith (1988, winner of the Scribes Award); Written in Stone: Public Monuments in Changing Societies (1998); Wrestling With Diversity (2003); and, most recently, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) 2006. He is also a regular participant on the popular blog, Balkinization.
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Senior Faculty Fellow:
Dan Tichenor
Political Science
 Dan Tichenor joins the UO Department of Political Science as the Philip H. Knight Professor of Social Science, and he will be the first Faculty Fellow at the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics. He is a scholar of American political thought and history and has published extensively on immigration policy and politics, the American presidency, public policy, organized interests and social movements, and inequality in the U.S. Tichenor has held numerous research posts including positions at Princeton University, the Brookings Institute, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, and the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers. He is currently completing a book on president power, civil liberties and democracy in times of crisis for Princeton University Press.
Tichenor will initiate an ongoing program at the Wayne Morse Center on Politics and Policy to encourage discussion and scholarship on key public policy issues. He will host visiting distinguished speakers and convene interdisciplinary faculty for a colloquia series. View Dan Tichenor's curriculum vitae (104K PDF).
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Resident Scholars:
Michelle McKinley
Assistant Professor of Law
Michelle McKinley will continue her groundbreaking research on race, gender and cultural citizenship as a Wayne Morse Resident Scholar during 2008-09. Her project is entitled “Bringing in Outsiders: Cultural Citizenship in Refugee and Asylum Law.” She critically examines a new generation of refugee litigation focused on gender and culture, using the legal ambivalence of the refugee to explore critical aspects of our debate on citizenship.
McKinley is organizing a symposium on Contested Citizenships that will be held May 7 and 8, 2009. Senior scholars will discuss exciting new works by junior faculty and the Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellows. Leti Volpp, Professor of Law at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, will give the keynote address on Thursday, May 7 at 4:30 p.m. at the Knight Law Center, with comments by Linda Bosniak from Rutgers University. For more info, visit the website for the two day schedule.
Professor McKinley joined the UO law faculty in 2007. She attended Harvard Law School, where she was Executive Editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal. McKinley has been active internationally, serving as the Managing Director of Cultural Survival, an advocacy and research organization dedicated to indigenous peoples.
 Daniel HoSang
Assistant Professor
Political Science and Ethnic Studies
The Wayne Morse Center is honored to welcome a remarkable young scholar, Dan HoSang, as a Resident Scholar for 2008-09. His project, Race, Direct Democracy and the Future of Civil Rights, he explores the way that ballot initiatives related to race, such as affirmative action and immigration policy, shape the terrain of state and national politics. His award-winning dissertation focused on California electoral initiatives, and he is completing a book on the subject entitled, Racial Proposition: Genteel Apartheid in Postwar California.
As Resident Scholar, he will begin to turn his lens to Oregon and the northwest, seeking to trace the origin and development of the current “colorblind consensus” on race. He is organizing a symposium at the Knight Law Center on Racial Formation in the Twenty-first Century, reviewing the theory of racial formation as we approach the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking book by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, “Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s.” The symposium on April 17 and 18, 2009, will gather leading scholars and activists engaged with issues of race and politics in the U.S.
Dr. HoSang earned his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 2007. He has published several articles on race and American political development, political engagement of youth, and Asian Americans in the political process. HoSang is a public intellectual and activist with numerous community organizations.
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Other Wayne Morse Center Events:
October 3, 2008
“Elections Exposed: Women, Money and Politics”
Knight Law Center – Noon to 5:00 p.m.
Symposium organized by UO Women’s Law Forum.
Noon Keynote in the Wayne Morse Commons: Supreme Court Justice Virginia Linder.Lunch provided during keynote address.
1:30 Panel will feature Joan Mandle, Executive Director of Democracy Matters; Barbara Garfien, Campaign Fundraising and Management Consultant; and Oregon State Senator Suzanne Bonamici. A reception will follow.
November 14, 2008
“The Imperial Presidency: Citizens and the Growth of Executive Power”
175 Knight Law Center
2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Organized by the Wayne Morse Center Fellows Featuring: Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyer's Guild, Shayana (Shane) Kadidal, Senior Managing Attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights and Jordan Paust, author of, Beyond the Law: The Bush Administration's Unlawful Responses in the "War" on Terror.
The power of the executive branch of the U.S. federal government today would surprise the framers of the Constitution. Beginning with the New Deal, the power of the executive branch grew greatly to form the modern administrative state. But since 2001, executive authority has expanded far more quickly in a number of areas. New developments include the use of signing statements, the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, broader surveillance inside and outside U.S. borders, and an unprecedented level of executive secrecy. These new developments could fundamentally change the balance of power among the three branches of government and between government and citizens. The eve of a new Administration and a new Congress provides a unique opportunity to examine this issue and explore mechanisms citizens can employ to affect the balance. The Wayne Morse Center will host a panel of distinguished scholars and practitioners to demystify the current legal landscape and offer insight into the strategies for activists and lawyers.
February 19, 2009
“Mobilizing New Constituencies: The 2008 Elections"
Read complete agenda and information on all the speakers (PDF 92 KB)
“Race, Young Voters and Local Campaigns”
Morning Keynote Session — UO Gerlinger Lounge
Program starts at 10:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Speakers at four sessions will include UW’s Matthew Barreto,
an expert on race and voting; Rep. Jefferson Smith, founder of the
Oregon Bus Project; and Mayor Kitty Piercy and Councilor Andrea
Ortiz. Also, Daniel HoSang, David Rogers and Francisco Lopez
discuss community-based organizations and political engagement.
“Yes We Did! Organizing Lessons from the Obama Campaign”
Afternoon Keynote Session — 175 Knight Law Center* (1515 Agate Street)
Program starts at 3:45 to 5:30 p.m.
“Yes We Did! Organizing Lessons from the Obama Campaign” with veteran campaign strategists, Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager, Obama for America and Dan Carol, Issues and Content Director, Obama for America.
The elections of 2008 are memorable in many ways. This program examines how campaigns and organizations organized and mobilized new groups of voters, particularly youth and people of color. The Obama campaign created a new standard in organizing on the ground and the internet, and communities of color were critical in many races. Speakers will examine the strategies and tactics that worked to enhance participation of new voters and resolve any tensions among constituent groups. They will also look to the future to discuss how this engagement can be sustained.
UO Professor of Political Science Daniel HoSang will facilitate a discussion of a project led by the Western States Center to boost political involvement of community-based organizations in the region. Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics
Keynote Speakers:
- Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager, Obama for America
- Dan Carol issues and Content Director, Obama for America
- Matthew Barreto an expert on race and voting, University of Washington
- Jefferson Smith, founder of the Oregon Bus Project and newly
elected Oregon Representative
- Kitty Piercy, Major of Eugene
Project Grants:
The Wayne Morse Center grants awards up to $10,000 to
faculty, students, and qualified community groups to
support new classes, symposia, exhibits, or other events
related to the current theme. View the 2008-09 Project Grant Award Recipients.
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