Dear friends,
 
As we come to the end of the year, the Gray Center is as busy as always.
 
Back in October, we hosted two major conferences. The first, on “The Future of Financial Regulation,” was for a special symposium issue of The Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy. Second, we hosted a conference on “The Future of Chevron Deference,” for a special symposium issue of The George Mason Law Review. Each featured an extraordinary lineup of experts and you can find videos and podcasts from the conferences below and on our website.
 
Our Separation of Powers Clinic filed briefs in cases involving criminal law, executive power, and more.
 
On our website, you can find new papers from Paul J. Ray on the expertise rationale for Chevron; Ronald A. Cass on the relationship between deference, delegation, and discretion; and Jonathan Adler on standing without injury. We hope that each paper contributes significantly to academic and judicial discussions.
 
As always, we thank you for your support. Please keep an eye out for more announcements of events, legal scholarship, and other Gray Center projects.
 
All the best,
The Gray Center Team
Recent Center Events

  • Jenn Mascott and Adam White joined Supreme Court reporters Jess Bravin and Greg Stohr to preview some of the cases before the court at an event co-hosted by the Gray Center and AEI

  • Jenn Mascott gave the inaugural Paul Clement Lecture, addressing the institutional integrity of the Supreme Court, at Georgetown

  • On October 6, the Gray Center, the Mercatus Center, and the Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy (JLEP) hosted a symposium conference on the future of financial regulation. Visit our website for videos and podcasts from the event.

  • On October 20, the Gray Center and the George Mason Law Review (GMLR) hosted a symposium conference about the future of Chevron deference. Visit our website for videos and podcasts from the event.



  • Jenn Mascott and Adam White participated in a symposium event at AEI to honor the intellectual legacy of Judge Laurence Silberman
Separation of Powers Clinic

The Gray Center's Separation of Powers Clinic is pleased to announce that Harry Graver of Jones Day has joined the clinic as its Deputy Director, on a pro bono basis.

Mr. Graver is an associate at Jones Day, where he focuses on appeals and motions practice. He clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. He graduated first in his class from Harvard Law in 2019.
Since our last newsletter in September, the Separation of Powers Clinic also made filings in the following litigation:

  • For the U.S. Supreme Court, in Lewis County, Kentucky v. Helphenstine, a petition for a writ of certiorari arguing that prison officials must have actual knowledge of a significant risk of harm to a detainee before that detainee should be able to bring a claim of deliberate indifference. This case is also the first time our clinic is representing its own client as the lead legal representation

  • For the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in Hopkins v. Watson, a brief arguing that the court should reject an Eighth Amendment challenge to a provision of the Mississippi Constitution that establishes lifetime disenfranchisement following conviction of certain crimes

  • For the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, in Garfield County, Utah v. Biden, a brief on behalf of Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, arguing that the court should reject claims that the President has unlimited discretion to designate federal property as a monument without judicial review

To see all of the briefs filed by the clinic, click here.
Marketplace of Ideas
Working papers now available on our website:



Prior working papers published in law reviews or other journals since our last newsletter:








Recent major citations of Gray Center-supported scholarship
Making Our Case

  • Jenn Mascott became a Supreme Court contributor for NBC News in September


  • Former Attorney General William Barr and Adam White argued against attempts to use lawsuits in state courts to set national energy policy in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal

  • Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal quoted Jenn Mascott saying the justices are weighing whether there needs to be a correction regarding the breadth of power being exercised by administrative agencies

  • Adam White argued that a Supreme Court ruling against the CFPB in the case challenging its funding mechanism would not harm the Federal Reserve in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal

  • Melissa Quinn of CBS News quoted Jenn Mascott saying this term is an administrative law professor's dream in an article previewing the cases before the Supreme Court

  • Zach Schonfeld of The Hill quoted Jenn Mascott saying that it is unusual for the Supreme Court to have taken so many cases involving significant questions about the constitutional structure of agencies

  • Jenn Mascott analyzed the appropriations clause and the CFPB at the Supreme Court on the National Constitution Center's "We the People" podcast


  • Adam White wrote about the oral arguments in SEC v. Jarkesy in an article for The Dispatch
Gray Center Podcasts

  • Jace Lington and Adam White spoke with Jonathan Wolfson about the Cicero Institute's new report tracking the progress of regulatory process reform in the states on Gray Matters

  • Jace Lington and Adam White spoke with Noah Rosenblum and Josh Chafetz about the current Supreme Court term on Gray Matters

  • Adam White spoke with Richard Epstein and Allyson Ho about the current Supreme Court term on Gray Matters
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This newsletter is edited by Jace Lington, Research Director