Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Hon. Eric Schmitt, U.S. Senator, State of Missouri, on the importance of states in the legislative process:
"The states retain all those other authorities that weren't expressly granted to the federal government, and so from a philosophical perspective, the states are kind of the center of it. The federal government has gotten way too big and assumed way too many responsibilities… The legislature has to play a role, be more prescriptive and do some other things, but the states have a lot of authority."
Hon. Eric Schmitt, U.S. Senator, State of Missouri, on the importance of states in the legislative process:
"The states retain all those other authorities that weren't expressly granted to the federal government, and so from a philosophical perspective, the states are kind of the center of it. The federal government has gotten way too big and assumed way too many responsibilities… The legislature has to play a role, be more prescriptive and do some other things, but the states have a lot of authority."
![SOC! Sidebar 3: Competitive Shooting [2025 NLC]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N9BXZsAVw3Q/mqdefault.jpg "SOC! Sidebar 3: Competitive Shooting [2025 NLC]
SOC! Sidebar 3: Competitive Shooting [2025 NLC]")
![[LIVE] SOC! SIDEBAR: Tennis](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NN9-iifZc3A/mqdefault.jpg "[LIVE] SOC! SIDEBAR: Tennis
[LIVE] SOC! SIDEBAR: Tennis")
![[LIVE] Trial by Jury or Administrative Adjudication: What Would the Founders Say?](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NojREJndJdI/mqdefault.jpg "[LIVE] Trial by Jury or Administrative Adjudication: What Would the Founders Say?
In this Federalist Society America 250 series, experts analyze modern legal and policy debates through the lens of the Founding generation. The Founders gave us the tools to answer many contemporary questions; join us as we explore those answers.
The Founders regarded trial by jury as an indispensable check on government power, and the Fifth and Seventh Amendments enshrined that guarantee. In recent decades, however, the proliferation of administrative adjudication has steadily displaced the jury from disputes between citizens and the state. While the Supreme Courts decision in SEC v. Jarkesy was a significant step toward restoring the constitutional baseline, much work remains. Lower courts continue to rely on Atlas Roofing Co. v. OSHA to uphold agency adjudication of claims that, at the Founding, would have been tried before a jury. Cases like the recently decided FCC v. AT&T and next terms Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards, LLC illustrate just how far modern practice has drifted from constitutional design.
Thomas Jefferson identified the jury as the only anchor, ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution. Yet today, Americans routinely face penalties imposed by federal agencies, not juries of their peers. Join us for a Federalist Society America 250 panel discussion looking back to the Founding Era to ask: What has become of the right to a jury trial in actions brought by the federal government?
Featuring:
• Robert E. Johnson, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
• Prof. Renée Lerner, Donald Phillip Rothschild Research Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Prof. Christopher J. Walker, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
• (Moderator) Hon. Jennifer Walker Elrod, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Register for the live webinar at https://fedsoc.org/events/trial-by-jury-or-administrative-adjudication-what-would-the-founders-say
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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.")
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As debates over birthright citizenship intensify in legal and public spheres, this webinar will explore the constitutional, historical, and jurisprudential foundations of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Drawing on their recent scholarship in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, our panelists will examine how original meaning, common-law antecedents, and modern legal arguments intersect in today’s birthright citizenship controversy.
Featuring:
• Prof. Keith Whittington, David Boies Professor of Law, Yale Law School
• Prof. Ilan Wurman, Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
• (Moderator) Hon. Steven Menashi, Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• (Introducer) Sean-Michael Pigeon, Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
Register for the live webinar at https://fedsoc.org/events/birthright-citizenship-in-context-law-history-and-contemporary-debate
* * * * *
As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.")
