Video & Audio

Why did colonists wear Native American costumes at the Boston Tea Party? Professor Farah Peterson investigates the history of mob protests for economic rights on the path to America’s unwritten constitution.

UVA Law professor G. Edward White, author of the three-part “Law in American History” series, discusses the changes he’s seen over his 50-year career publishing books in legal history, and the impact of how citations are counted. White served as the lunch speaker during an Alumni Board and Council luncheon.

A Union effort to redistribute land to former slaves during the Civil War unraveled because of the efforts of Southern lawyers, UVA Law professor Cynthia Nicoletti explains.

As World War II made clear, the United States needed to step up on civil liberties and civil rights to take on the Soviet Union, UVA Law professor G. Edward White explains.

A panel of scholars discuss UVA Law professor G. Edward White’s final volume in his “Law in American History” series. The panel included professors Jack Landman Goldsmith, Harvard Law School; Laura Kalman, University of California, Santa Barbara; and Victoria Nourse, Georgetown University Law Center. UVA Law professor Charles Barzun served as moderator, and Dean Risa Goluboff introduced the panel.

After the U.S. surgeon general released a landmark report on the dangers of smoking, lawyers and activists helped curb a public health epidemic, UVA historian Sarah Milov explains.

Drawing on her research from her recent book “Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis,” UVA Law professor Cynthia Nicoletti gives an overview of the U.S. government's attempts to prosecute Confederate President Jefferson Davis for treason after the Civil War. Nicoletti describes how conflicting legal theories regarding the constitutionality of secession contributed to the case ultimately being dropped with no conclusion. Nicoletti was the featured speaker at a Law School Foundation Board and Council lunch. F. Blair Wimbush ’80, chair of the Law School Foundation Board of Trustees, introduced Nicoletti.

A panel of major legal scholars discuss the Due Process Clause. The panelists examine the original meaning as understood by its drafters, as well as potential future applications to upcoming legal controversies. The panel includes Scott Ballenger ’96, partner at Latham & Watkins; professor Randy Barnett, Georgetown University Law Center; professor John Harrison, UVA Law; and professor Julia Mahoney, UVA Law. Judge Diane S. Sykes, Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, serves as moderator. The panel was part of a symposium on “The Future of Originalism: Conflicts and Controversies,” sponsored by UVA Law’s Federalist Society chapter.

UVA Law hosted a re-argument of the Slaughter-House Cases, a Reconstruction-era Supreme Court ruling that narrowed citizenship rights in the privileges or immunities clause of the Constitution. The opposing counsel positions were taken by Dominic Draye, solicitor general of Arizona, and Elbert Lin, partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth. Federal appeals court judges Thomas B. Griffith ’85 of the D.C. Circuit, Diane S. Sykes of the Seventh Circuit and John K. Bush of the Sixth Circuit decided the case. The re-argument was the concluding event of the UVA Law Federalist Society conference “The Future of Originalism: Conflicts and Controversies.”

A panel of legal scholars and historians discussed UVA Law professor Cynthia Nicoletti’s book “Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis.” In her book, Nicoletti demonstrates how the legality of secession remained an open question after the Civil War, and how it affected Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ prosecution. The panel featured Nicoletti, Duke University professor Laura Edwards, University of Pennsylvania professor Sarah Gordon, University of Maryland professor Michael Ross and UVA professor Elizabeth Varon. The panel was moderated by UVA Law professor George Rutherglen.

Professors A. E. Dick Howard, Anne Coughlin, Daniel Ortiz and Micah Schwartzman discuss key cases from the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court term, and look ahead to the coming year.

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III '72 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit discussed his book "All Falling Faiths: Reflections on the Promise and Failure of the 1960s" with Dean Risa Goluboff. In the book, Wilkinson shares what life was like in the 1960s, and describes the influence that decade has today. He asks his own generation to recognize its youthful mistakes and pleads with future generations not to repeat them.

To mark his appointment to the Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law chair, professor A. E. Dick Howard gives a lecture describing lessons he has drawn from his personal experiences in the realm of constitutional law. He recounts his role in the drafting and adoption of the Virginia Constitution, his time comparing notes with constitution-makers in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe, and his observations on marking the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, delivers the keynote address at " Loving : Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."

Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed delivered the McCorkle Lecture on "Black Citizenship, Law, and the Founding."

UVA Law Professor Cynthia Nicoletti discusses her new book, "Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis." The book focuses on the post-Civil War treason prosecution of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which was seen as a test case on the major question that animated the Civil War: the constitutionality of secession.

A panel of scholars discusses Professor G. Edward White's "Law in American History, Vol. II," published by Oxford University Press. The panelists are Logan Sawyer (University of Georgia), Chuck McCurdy (UVA) and Barbara Welke (University of Minnesota), in addition to White. Dean Risa Goluboff introduces the panel and Charles Barzun moderates the question-and-answer session at the end. (University of Virginia School of Law, Nov. 10, 2016)

UVA Law legal historian G. Edward White takes a fresh look at law in the U.S. after the Civil War in the second installment of his "Law in American History" series.

Slate's Dahlia Lithwick and UVA Law professors John Harrison, Frederick Schauer and moderator Micah Schwartzman discussed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's legacy and looked ahead to the battle over his successor.

A panel of academics discuss UVA Law professor Risa Goluboff's new book, "Vagrant Nation: Police Power, Constitutional Change, and the Making of the 1960s." In addition to Goluboff, the panelists are John Fabian Witt of Yale Law School, Laura Kalman of the University of California Santa Barbara History Department; and Anne Coughlin and G. Edward White of UVA Law. Dean Paul Mahoney provides opening remarks.

Professor Saikrishna Prakash, an expert in presidential powers, talks about his new book, "Imperial from the Beginning: The Constitution of the Original Executive," during a talk for Alumni Board and Council members.

Barry Cushman of Notre Dame Law School, Stephanie Hunter McMahon of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Logan Everett Sawyer of the University of Georgia College of Law and Victoria Saker Woeste of the American Bar Foundation discuss their work and celebrate the legacy of University of Virginia legal historian Charles McCurdy during the panel "Federalism, Law and the Economy," moderated by Sarah Milov of the University of Virginia Department of History.

J. Herbie DiFonzo of Hofstra Law School, Richard F. Hamm of State University of New York at Albany Department of History, Reuel E. Schiller of University of California, Hastings College of the Law and Patricia Hagler Minter of Western Kentucky University Department of History discuss their work and celebrate the legacy of University of Virginia legal historian Charles McCurdy during the panel " Adjudicating Rights and Interests in a Changing Nation," moderated by Claudrena Harold of the University of Virginia Corcoran Department of History

Professor A. E. Dick Howard speaks to UVA Law alumni on the importance of the Magna Carta to today's legal traditions during 2015 Alumni Weekend.

UVA Law professor A. E. Dick Howard and William & Mary law professor Tom McSweeney discuss the impact of Magna Carta on both American and English law in honor of its 800th anniversary this year. The event, sponsored by the Federalist Society at UVA Law and the Student Legal Forum took place on March 25 at the University of Virginia School of Law.