NORA SMITH
Staff Writer
Michael R. Dreeben, “one of the nation’s most experienced and skilled Supreme Court advocates,” will deliver the 22nd annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Philosophy.
Currently serving as a distinguished lecturer from government at Georgetown University Law Center and adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law, Dreeben has argued 109 Supreme Court cases on behalf of the United States and other private clients throughout his career.
In his lecture, Dreeben said he hopes to provide audience members with insights into how the Supreme Court plays a major role in defining what it means to be an American citizen and in Americans’ everyday lives.
“This is a significant year in the life of the nation and in the life of the Supreme Court,” Dreeben said. “We are 250 years from the Declaration of Independence, which begins with very stirring language, ‘all men are created equal,’ and the Supreme Court plays an important part in defining what it means to be an American — both what it means to be an American citizen and what rights you have as a citizen.”
Dreeben said recently, significant rulings of the Supreme Court have continued to characterize what it means to be an American citizen and the rights that follow.
“Perhaps the most salient case on the court’s docket was its reaffirmation of birthright citizenship as enshrined in the 14th Amendment, [which] rejected an effort by President [Donald] Trump to redefine birthright citizenship to include only people who are residents and domiciled in the United States and to exclude the children of people temporarily or unlawfully here,” Dreeben said.
Dreeben explained this ruling reaffirmed the principle that this land is a nation of immigrants, but in other rulings, “the court defined what it meant to have equal rights as a citizen in far less generous ways and ways that are less true to the heritage of the country.”
In one case, Dreeben said the court cut back on the Voting Rights Act, leaving minority communities without full political rights or the ability to fight against voting discrimination.
“The court, as Justice Robert Jackson recognized, is said to be infallible only because it’s final; but in reality, as Justice Jackson understood, the court’s decisions are not final,” Dreeben said. “The court can overrule its own rulings, amendments to the Constitution can be enacted and the long-run promise of the Supreme Court is to bring us closer to liberty and equality, and my hope is that over time, the court achieves that promise.”
Dreeben said Jackson proposed “a view of impartiality and neutral enforcement of the law” that has been upheld by the Department of Justice for decades.
In a recent essay for Harvard Law Review, “Robert Jackson’s The Federal Prosecutor Revisited,” Dreeben revisited Jackson’s 1940 speech and explained how Supreme Court decisions have both increased the president’s power and created a way for the DOJ to advance presidential policies instead of acting as a neutral enforcer of the law, according to Dreeben.
“I would like to see a return to the ideals that Jackson articulated in his 1940 speech,” Dreeben said.
Dreeben said this tradition of independence and judiciary guaranteed by Article 3 of the Constitution is a pillar in the stability of our society.
“That is a priceless gift that I hope to see continued, and having the chance to deliver the Robert Jackson lecture is an honor because he represents the best of that tradition,” Dreeben said.
Dreeben said he is honored to be a part of the Chautauqua Institution community and looks forward to sharing his thoughts about the Supreme Court as well as Robert Jackson’s influence with Chautauquans.
