A conversation with Judge Jed Rakoff, moderated by Professor Karthik Ramanna

Although the Judicial Branch of the U.S. Government enjoys a power and independence greater than the judiciary of virtually any other nation, its record in serving as a check to excessive or even unconstitutional actions by the executive branch of the U.S. Government is spotty at best. This public lecture will explore the most prominent past cases in which the willingness of the U.S. judiciary to contain the U.S. executive within constitutional bounds was put to the test, as well as the judicial precedents that arose as a result of those cases, and will speculate as to how this all bodes for challenges to the exercise of American executive power that are likely to arise in the future.