The Hoover Institution Center for Revitalizing American Institutions webinar series features speakers who are developing innovative ideas, conducting groundbreaking research, and taking important actions to improve trust and efficacy in American institutions. Speaker expertise and topics span governmental institutions, civic organizations and practice, and the role of public opinion and culture in shaping our democracy. The webinar series builds awareness about how we can individually and collectively revitalize American institutions to ensure our country’s democracy delivers on its promise.
The Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) invites you to join us for the next webinar—co-sponsored by the Stanford Constitutional Law Center--in our series to discuss Judicial Importance, Independence, and Legitimacy in Polarized Times with Michael McConnell, Tom Clark, Genevieve Lakier, and Eugene Volokh on March 4, 2026, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. PT.
Have federal courts been too permissive—or too obstructive—of President Trump’s agenda? The answer often depends on one’s political perspective. Yet across the spectrum, there’s broad agreement that the courts have come under intense pressure and scrutiny in recent years. As the country has grown more politically sorted, the judiciary’s role in our system of self-governance has evolved and, for some, grown more contested.
Join us for a timely and thought-provoking webinar featuring scholars with diverse viewpoints who will explore how the federal courts are functioning—and perceived—amid today’s polarized political landscape. Panelists will examine questions such as: What is the judiciary’s role in safeguarding democracy? How can courts maintain legitimacy in a divided society? And how should we interpret recent high-profile rulings in the broader context of American constitutionalism?
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Tom Clark is a senior fellow (courtesy) at the Hoover Institution and a professor in the Department of Political Science at Stanford. An expert on the American judicial system, criminal justice, and public safety, Clark’s current research focuses on agenda setting and lawmaking in appellate courts and prosecutorial discretion in American cities. He has published four books on topics such as judicial independence, the history of constitutional law, and police shootings in American cities.
Genevieve Lakier is a scholar of American constitutional law whose teaching and research are focused on freedom of speech. Her work explores the evolving meaning of free speech in the United States, the role of legislatures in protecting expressive freedoms, and contemporary conflicts over speech on social media platforms. She holds an AB from Princeton University, a JD from New York University School of Law, and an MA and PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago. She was an Academy Scholar at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and previously served as a judicial clerk in the Southern District of New York and the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Michael W. McConnell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution as well as the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law and the director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School. From 2002 to 2009, he served as a circuit judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and confirmed by a Democratic-majority Senate by unanimous consent. McConnell has held professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah and visiting professorships at Harvard and New York University. He teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional history, the First Amendment, and interpretive theory. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially on matters relating to church and state, equal protection, and the separation of powers.
Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Before coming to Hoover, Volokh spent thirty years as a professor at UCLA School of Law, where he taught First Amendment law, copyright law, criminal law, tort law, and firearms regulation policy. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel and is the founder and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog. His work has been cited in more than 350 court opinions, including ten Supreme Court cases, as well as over five thousand academic articles. He has also filed briefs (mostly amicus briefs) in over two hundred cases and has argued in over forty appellate cases in state and federal courts throughout the country.
