Reasonably Speaking

This episode addresses the alarming surge of attacks on judges and courts.

Is America’s governing framework hindering our ability to make simple choices in daily life? In this episode of Reasonably Speaking, ALI President David F. Levi sits down with author and lawyer Philip Howard to discuss his new book, Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society.

On the occasion of ALI’s anniversary, we brought together three of our project Reporters to talk about ALI’s history and a few of our most influential projects.

As part of ALI’s Oral History Series, in this episode we are joined by two former American Law Institute presidents, Michael Traynor and Roberta Cooper Ramo.

On this episode of Reasonably Speaking, ALI President David F. Levi is joined by constitutional law expert Geoffrey R. Stone to discuss speech on campus.

ALI President David F. Levi sits down with M. Margaret McKeown, senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, for a discussion on McKeown’s new book, Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas—Public Advocate and Conservation Champion.

The Supreme Court of the United States has historically received criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. However, recent Gallop polls suggest a significant loss in confidence by the American people in several institutions of government, including the Court. These ratings were from June 2022 before the last few controversial decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court were entered, including the abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the New York gun case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. This episode brings together U.S. federal judges in a conversation about judging, and the perception of the U.S. Supreme Court in particular, because of the loss of confidence by the American people in the Court.

In April 2022, at the invitation of the leadership of The American Law Institute, a group whose members span a range of legal and political views, came together to consider possible Electoral Count Act (ECA) reforms. Despite holding diverse legal, political, and ideological commitments, the group is united by the belief that Congress should reform the ECA before the 2024 presidential election. The group has agreed on several general principles that should guide ECA reform, as well as specific proposals as to what ECA reform should seek to accomplish.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer spoke about his new book, The Authority of the Court and the Perils of Politics, and his views on judicial decision-making with David F. Levi, director of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School and president of The American Law Institute. During the hour-long conversation, Breyer reflects on his 27 years on the Court and discusses the roots of the Court’s authority and its relationship to the political branches of government.

Have you ever wondered what exactly goes into completing an ALI project? There’s nobody better to talk about the ALI process than four veteran Reporters whose projects may be completed at the 2021 Annual Meeting. In this episode of Reasonably Speaking, Reporter on one of our newest projects, Lyrissa Lidsky from Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Defamation and Privacy will moderate the panel of Matthew L.M. Fletcher (American Indian Law), Geoffrey P. Miller (Compliance and Enforcement for Organizations), Kenneth W. Simons (Intentional Torts), and Christiane C. Wendehorst (Principles for a Data Economy), as they discuss their journey from project conception to ALI member approval and completion. They will discuss how they came to be an ALI Reporter, how they work with project Advisers and ALI members, the draft approval process, surprises they learned along the way, and more.