The Department of Political Science with Program in Legal Studies is hosting the 17th annual Dean Alfange Jr. Lecture in American Constitutionalism with Professor Lee Epstein, Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University.

The Constitution in the Contemporary Supreme Court

Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court justices are often contentious because Americans understand that who serves on the Court matters. Especially in highly salient constitutional cases, the justices often divide along partisan and ideological grounds. What (if any) reforms should be implemented to tame politics in the Senate and on the Court is a question of contemporary importance—and one that the Alfange lecture will address.