Supreme Court Review 2021

ADL’s Supreme Court Review 2021

Leading legal scholars discuss the most important cases of the term at ADL’s 22nd Annual Supreme Court Review. The live event took place virtually on Thursday, July 8. You can watch the full recording below.

With significant changes in the composition of the Supreme Court and challenges to COVID-19 safety measures raising unexpected legal questions, what are the most important takeaways from this Term’s rulings?

Our 22nd annual Supreme Court Review program, presented in partnership with the National Constitution Center, features Dahlia Lithwick of Slate moderating a discussion among distinguished legal scholars Erwin Chemerinsky, Frederick Lawrence, Melissa Murray and Paul Clement about the most important cases of the Term, including voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, church-state separation, and immigration. They also discuss the changing dynamics of the Court and what to expect at the Supreme Court next year.

CLE Information

This program offered an opportunity for CLE credits during the live viewing of the Supreme Court Review, subject to the relevant state’s approval and rules. Viewers of the recorded version of the event are not eligible for these CLE credits.

If you attended the live event and have questions about CLE credit in your state, contact cle@adl.org.

Program Materials

Find companion resources here, including agenda, speaker bios, info about cases discussed and ADL's latest amicus update.

Get Info

ADL’s Supreme Court Review 2020

Watch last year’s program.

Watch Now

Religion and Politics Separate Street Signs

Take Action

Ask your Senators to provide comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people by supporting the Equality Act.

Act Now

Our Featured Speakers

Dahlia Lithwick

Dahlia Lithwick is a Senior Editor at Slate.com. She was Newsweek’s legal columnist from 2008 until 2011. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, and others. She is a regular guest on MSNBC, CNN, ABC, Dan Rather Reports, and The Rachel Maddow Show. She has testified before Congress and briefed Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Lithwick has held visiting faculty positions at the University of Georgia Law School, The University of Virginia School of Law, and The Hebrew University Law School in Jerusalem. She earned her BA from Yale University and her JD degree from Stanford University. Her work has been featured in numerous anthologies and she is co-author of Me Versus Everybody and I Will Sing Life.

Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky is the current Dean of Berkeley Law. Prior to assuming this position he was the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law, and has taught at Duke University, USC Law School and UCLA Law School. He is the author of fourteen books, more than 200 law reviews and numerous op-eds in newspapers across the country. He frequently argues appellate cases, including in the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2017, National Jurist again named him as the most influential person in legal education in the U.S. In January 2021, he was chosen as the President-elect of the Association of American Law Schools.

Frederick Lawrence

Frederick M. Lawrence is Secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Lawrence is also Distinguished Lecturer at the Georgetown Law Center, and has previously served as president of Brandeis University, Dean of the George Washington University Law School, and Visiting Professor and Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law School. He is the author of Punishing Hate: Bias Crimes Under American Law. He has testified before Congress, appeared as a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, among others, and has frequently contributed op-eds to major news sources. Lawrence received a bachelor’s degree from Williams College magna cum laude where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a law degree from Yale Law School where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Melissa Murray

Melissa Murray is a professor at NYU School of Law. Her writing has appeared in a range of publications including the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Nation. Previously, she taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received several awards and, from March 2016 to June 2017, served as interim Dean of the law school. Murray serves as a legal analyst for MSNBC and is a co-host of Strict Scrutiny, a podcast about the Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it. A graduate of the University of Virginia and Yale Law School, Murray clerked for Sonia Sotomayor, then a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Paul Clement

Paul Clement is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Paul served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States. Before his confirmation as Solicitor General, he served as Acting Solicitor General and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General. He has argued over 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing more Supreme Court cases since 2000 than any lawyer in or out of government. Paul clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. Paul is a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and a Distinguished Lecturer in Government at Georgetown University. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute.