By Grace Tesoro, Staff Writer
Susquehanna’s Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society hosted guest speaker Lee Epstein who lectured on “The Evolving U.S. Supreme Court” on Sept. 11 in Faylor Hall.
Epstein is the Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. She teaches courses on constitutional law, judicial law, the U.S. Constitution and research design and methods.
Epstein gave attendees insight on the recent shifts the U.S. Supreme Court made in the presidency of Donald Trump by appointing Republican Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh.
“It is true that many liberals paid millions and millions of dollars trying to defeat this nomination. But what is also true, is that conservative groups spent millions and millions of dollars in support of this nomination. In fact, the money spent over the Kavanaugh confirmation, was perhaps more money than any other battle in American history,” Epstein stated.
“So, why? Why was so much money spent on Kavanaugh?” she asked early on in the lecture.
“[Kavanaugh’s] nomination was so expensive because Kavanaugh was the first nominee in decades who could move the Supreme Court, move it considerably to the right, and possibly lead to fundamental changes in the law,” Epstein continued.
Epstein emphasized how the lineup of the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2018 always had Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy at the center, representing “the center” in between the more left leaning and conservative Supreme Court justices.
By comparing the June 2018 lineup to how the lineup of the Supreme Court justices looks in September 2019, the addition of Kavanaugh as well as John Roberts had greatly changed the composition of the Supreme Court.
“This is one of the more conservative courts in the last several decades,” Epstein said.
Epstein also discussed that with the new composition of the Supreme Court, issues like abortion, gun control and affirmative action can now be further challenged due to having more conservative members. In previous years, controversial cases dealing with these issues were brought to the Supreme Court, ending with the vote split between right and left, and Epstein emphasized that it all came down to Kennedy’s vote.
The audience listened as Epstein reiterated Kennedy’s pivotal role as a part of the Supreme Court. She discussed crucial court cases from years prior dealing with these important issues. Planned Parenthood v. Casey, an abortion case brought to the Supreme Court in 1992, Kennedy sided with Democrats and upheld Roe in Roe v. Wade, protecting a woman’s right to have an abortion.
Sophomore Larry Czeponis attended the lecture and explained why he thought that Epstein’s discussion was important for other Susquehanna students and faculty to attend.
“It is a very important institution that goes a long way in protecting the civil rights and liberties of us as the citizenry.”
“They are the ones that decide if what Congress passes or what the president signs is constitutional and does not infringe on our rights. It is important to realize that the Supreme Court Justices are our main protectors when it comes to our civil rights,” Czeponis continued.
The conversation transitioned into how the future will look as Kavanaugh takes the place of Kennedy, now leaving controversial topics in the hands of a more right-wing Supreme Court lineup than ever before.
As the new director of the Adams Center, Alison Merrill, assistant professor of political science shared more about Epstein.
“Lee Epstein has had a long and distinguished career in both political science and legal theory,” Merrill said.
“She is coming to talk about how the U.S. Supreme Court is evolving jurisprudentially, which means how they are going to decide cases now that the composition of the court has changed with President Trump’s two new additions to the court. It begs the question, is Supreme Court precedent going to change on these issues that we have talked about in the press.”
Epstein left the audience with a resonating quote, “In a democracy, we the people, we remain the ultimate deciders.”