Are We a United States? Perpetual Tensions in Our Constitutional System
The Public Policy Center is proud to support this League of Women Voters of Johnson County (LWVJC) virtual program, Are We a United States? Perpetual Tensions in Our Constitutional System by professor Todd Pettys of the UI College of Law, on Thursday, March 3, at 7pm. The program is the second in a series planned by the LWVJC Education Committee.
Professor Pettys will explain the increasing tension between states and the federal government’s struggle for power in his presentation, and explore the questions: Is broad federal intervention about questions of ballot access and voter fraud needed, or should states take the lead in those areas? Are COVID-19 vaccine rules a responsibility of state and local governments, or should Congress and regulatory agencies in Washington, D.C. be in charge? Should national rules govern abortion or should abortion regulation be left to state legislatures? What about K-12 education standards — local control, federal regulation, or a blend of the two?
No matter the issue, questions like these about American federalism are raised. Taking a broad-ranging historical perspective, Professor Pettys will address important ways the state v. federal debate has played out at key moments in our nation’s history, and how important principles help frame the debate today.
Professor Pettys joined the UI College of Law faculty in 1999. Previously, he served as a law clerk for Judge Francis Murnaghan, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, before entering private practice with the Perkins Coie law firm in Seattle. He writes and teaches on a wide range of constitutional issues. His recent publications include Hostile Learning Environments, the First Amendment, and Public Higher Education, 54 Connecticut Law Review 1 (2022), A View from the Recount Room, 106 Iowa Law Review Online 37 (2021), Judging Hypocrisy, 70 Emory Law Journal 251 (2020), The N.R.A.’s Strict-Scrutiny Amendments, 104 Iowa Law Review 1455 (2019), and The Iowa State Constitution (Oxford University Press 2018). Prof. Pettys is a frequent guest on Iowa Public Radio’s River to River.
LWVJC Education Committee chair Barb Stein will introduce the program.
Iowa City's City Channel 4 will live stream the presentation on the League’s website, lwvjc.org and Facebook page, and the City Channel 4 YouTube channel. Rebroadcasts of the forums will be offered on City Channel 4 on Mediacom cable, as well as on their website at citychannel4.com. Check their website for program schedules.
Founded in 1920, the League of Women Voters Johnson County is a nonpartisan political organization that is dedicated to keeping an informed electorate through advocacy and education via community events. The local League is a member of the National League of Women Voters, consisting of 50 state Leagues and 803 local chapters, and a member of the Iowa League of Women Voters. The League celebrated the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the League of Women Voters in 2020-2021.