University of New Hampshire Law Professor John Greabe '85, former Rep. Paul Hodes '72, D-N.H., and United States Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr. discussed each of the three branches of government's role with respect to constitutional law in a packed panel discussion held at the Rockefeller Center on Friday.
The panel, titled "The Separation of Powers: A Debate," was one of the concluding events of "Law Day," designed to commemorate the importance of law to the Dartmouth community.
Each panelist spoke from the perspective of one of the three branches of the U.S. government. Greabe spoke from the perspective of the judicial branch, Hodes represented the legislative branch and Verrilli spoke on behalf of the executive branch.
The panelists debated the extent to which their respective branches uphold and enforce the constitutionality of the law.
Hodes discussed how "political polarization" has affected the nature of the legislative's branch approach to issues of constitutionality. He spoke specifically of the 2010 Affordable Care Act because of its relevance to current court battles.
Hodes said that members of Congress and congressional leaders have recently focused more on sending political messages than on advancing legislation. This means that Congress failed to provide "guideposts" to how laws like the Affordable Care Act should be interpreted by those enforcing and judging them, Hodes said.
"We've got a congress whose job it is to make law and should be setting the guideposts, and with this law in particular it seems that Congress's role was abdicated," he said.
Greabe discussed the case of Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review, allowing courts to strike down both legislative and executive acts. Greabe said that this decision essentially affirmed the judiciary's role as having the final word on constitutional matters.
Greabe sought to "outline the range of views" of how federal judges should exercise the power of judicial review, he said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"There always has been, and always will be, a disagreement over how much deference the judiciary should show to the other two branches of the federal government in exercising the power to say what the law is," Greabe said.
Verrilli said that a great deal of friction persists between the three branches of government. He highlighted the issues that arise when the legislative and judicial branches attempt to exercise power that those of the executive branch believe to belong exclusively to the president.
"There are times when the justice department will actually do something that might seem quite contrary to your notion of separation of power," he said. "And the executive branch will actually go into the Supreme Court and challenge the laws that Congress has enacted."
Verrilli added that these issues are "very difficult to resolve" because courts can rarely "resolve them on the basis of a clear plan." He added, however, that discussing these issues is valuable because it involves discussing fundamental questions about the Constitution's structure.
A career panel, "How Do You Combine Public Service with a Law Career," was held in the same room immediately following the event. This event featured Verrilli, Nixon Peabody associate Lea Threatte Bojnowski '01, Patton Boggs of counsel Todd Cranford '85 and Vermont Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nolan '90.
The attorneys discussed their experiences working in the public sector of law.
"I became a prosecutor because I wanted to try cases regularly and because I wanted to have a positive impact on the community rather than fight over money through civil litigation," Nolan said in an email to The Dartmouth. "All other lawyers must as required by our code of ethics zealously represent their clients within ethical boundaries even to the detriment of society."
Bojnowski said the panel was a great opportunity to both hear other attorneys' stories as well as interact with students by answering their questions about law.
Students interviewed by The Dartmouth also said they enjoyed the event.
"I thought the panel was pretty useful and interesting," Ryan Tincher '12 said. "It touched on a number of different areas of law."
Parker Hinman '13 said the speakers were "insightful."
"It was interesting to hear how the view of the law and Constitution varied so much depending on which branch of government you come from," Hinman said.
Both panels were sponsored by the Rockefeller Center, the Dartmouth Legal Studies Faculty Group and the Dartmouth Lawyers Association as part of a series of Law Day events that are hosted each spring term, Joanne Needham, the coordinator of public and special events for the Rockefeller Center, said.
Needham said she was satisfied with the turnout for both events.
"The panels were quite successful," Needham said. "The first panel was full, even overflowing, and there were great questions from the audience. The second panel was targeted to a smaller audience and was well-attended for the intended audience."
