Dear friends,
It’s been a year of change for all of us. And here at the Gray Center, we’re happy to note that our year ended with some great new developments.
First and foremost, we presented our inaugural "Justice Clarence Thomas First Principles Award” to Judge Laurence Silberman. As The Wall Street Journal explained in a prominent editorial, Judge Silberman was an ideal pick for the first annual Thomas Award: “In a time when too many people think judges are politicians in robes, Judge Silberman has shown by example how to live and work by first principles.” We’re grateful to Justice Thomas, Judge Silberman, and all of our speakers that day, and to The Heritage Foundation for hosting the symposium and evening event.
Second, we welcomed Jeffrey Rosen as our newest Distinguished Senior Fellow. Throughout his service in government—as Acting Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, OMB General Counsel, and more—and in his private legal practice, and in his leadership of the ABA’s Administrative Law Section, he has been a tireless champion of constitutional principles and good government. We look forward to working with Jeff in a variety of future programs.
And the Center’s new Separation of Powers Clinic has begun its work under the direction of Trent McCotter. It soon will welcome its first Scalia Law students and file its first Supreme Court brief.
Throughout 2021, we’ve been excited to start the Gray Center’s next chapter. And through the year, the Center’s team has continued the hard, steady work of incubating scholarship and debate, in our roundtables, conferences, webinars, podcasts, and more. We’re lucky to have such a team—and we have a busy spring ahead of us. But until then, we wish you a very merry Christmas, and very happy holidays.
All the best,
Adam White & Jenn Mascott
Co-Executive Directors
The Gray Center
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A Word of Thanks
In October, Molly Doyle returned to the private sector for a new opportunity in public communications. In three years at the Gray Center, Molly was responsible for building all aspects of the Center's communications platforms: she revamped our website and created our newsletters, podcast, Working Papers, Policy Briefs, SSRN journal, event brochures, and everything else that brings the Center's ideas to you. We're grateful for all of her contributions to the Gray Center's work, and we wish her nothing but the best in the next chapter of her career.
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Now Hiring
The Gray Center's team continues to grow, as we add new positions and also fill some recently opened ones. If you are interested in this position, or if you know someone who might be, then please let us know.
Research Director: Research is the heart of the Gray Center's work, and we have created the new position of Research Director to help lead it. From the research roundtables where we help to incubate new papers, to the public conferences where we discuss them, our Research Director will manage all aspects of the Center's efforts to foster the next generation of ideas on the Constitution and the administrative state.
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Sign Up Below to Receive Our Event Invitations >>
More Gray Center events coming this spring!
If you don't already receive our email invitations in your inbox, click below to sign up so you'll be notified once registration goes live for each of our events.
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"Gray Matters":
Listen to our Most Recent
Podcast Episodes
When President Biden signed the new infrastructure law in mid-November, most attention was focused on the money it will spend, and the projects it might fund. But infrastructure expert DJ Gribbin was focused on a subtler part of the law: Title VIII’s provisions for “Federal Permitting Improvement,” which seek to streamline the infrastructure-approval process, making it more efficient and more effective. To discuss the new law, its antecedents in earlier laws and executive orders, and the road ahead (so to speak), DJ visits the show for a conversation with Adam White.
Listen to the full episode here.
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Now Streaming:
Recent Event Videos
Catch up by watching the videos from our latest events:
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October 21, 2021
The Gray Center and The Heritage Foundation co-hosted a special event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States. It brought together jurists, legal academics, and practitioners, including many of his former clerks, where we discussed the Justice’s jurisprudence and impact on the Court over the past three decades.
Video 1: "Safeguarding the Structural Constitution: Federalism & the Separation of Powers"
Video 2: "Constitutional Liberties: First Amendment, Religion, Race, & Natural Law"
Video 3: "Conversation with Michael Pack, producer & developer of the documentary, Created Equal: Justice Thomas in His Own Words"
Video 4: "Originalism, Constitutional Interpretation, & Stare Decisis"
Video 5: "Advocacy in the Thomas-era Court"
Video 6: "Evening Lecture: Including Concluding Thanks by Justice Clarence Thomas"
October 1, 2021
When Elena Kagan published her influential article on "Presidential Administration" twenty years ago, she analyzed history but also helped to shape constitutional doctrine and narrative in the years to come. Since then, debates over presidential power in the administrative state have become even more nuanced and interesting - and also more urgent. And as political polarization has increasingly exaggerated the pendulum swings of regulatory policy, we face new questions of presidential administration, alongside timeless questions of presidential power.
The twentieth anniversary of now-Justice Kagan's article was the natural time to look back at recent debates, and to look forward at possible paths for reform. To that end, the Gray Center hosted a conference to discuss seven new working papers and two new books on various aspects of presidential administration and power. The authors presented their papers and books on panels with commentary from other experts at this conference.
Video 1: "Presidential Administration & Political Polarization"
Video 2: "Kagan's 'Presidential Administration' After 20 Years" Watch it here >>
Video 3: "Conversation with D.C. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, Hosted by Jennifer Mascott"
Video 4: "Current Issues in Presidential Administration & Executive Power"
Video 5: "The Constitutional Presidency: Two New Books"
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Working Papers Series:
Read the Latest
The Future of the FTC
Lessons Learned From COVID-19
Administrative Law in the States: Laboratories of Democracy
Agency Independence After Seila and Collins
Regulatory Budgeting and Executive Order 13771
Presidential Administration in a Polarized Era
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"Notice and Comment"
Things Worth Reading
Changing Climate, Changing Regulatory Climate: The Financial Stability Oversight Council issued a new report arguing for significantly greater efforts by financial regulators to "address climate-related financial risks."
“The Cost-Benefit Fallacy"? A new article in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis questions "the assumption that cost and benefit estimates of public investments are accurate and unbiased."
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This newsletter is edited by Mike Tyrrell,
Communications Assistant for the Gray Center
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703.993.9556
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