Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

The Supreme Court’s 2007 Term is over, but the serious analysis has just begun.  Was this term a victory for the conservative block, or did Justice Kennedy again prove a spoiler in the most important cases?

When the ink is barely dry on the major opinions of the term, it’s time for The Heritage Foundation’s “Scholars & Scribes” annual review.  As usual, this year’s decisions raise as many questions as they answer.  What regulations of firearms are reasonable after Heller?  Will citizens’ exercise of Second Amendment rights create war zones in American cities, or will guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens reduce the threat of gang violence?  How will the Bush Administration, Congress and the courts deal with the constitutional claims of detainees now that constitutional protections extend to parts of Cuba—and perhaps beyond?  Will this lead to the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo?  Was the Supreme Court right in its ruling or only politically correct?

The High Court also issued key decisions upholding the Indiana voter identification law (Crawford) that may affect the 2008 elections, the death penalty (Baze and Kennedy), punitive damages involving the Valdez oil spill (Exxon), and the applicability of international law in the United States (Medellin).  There’s lots to talk about and Heritage has assembled the scholars who argued the term’s biggest cases and several of the scribes who write the most interesting reviews of them.  Please join us as our distinguished panels of scholars and scribes analyze the latest term of the Court, the justices’ performance, and what it all means for America.