Michael Dorf to Deliver Miller Lecture
Michael C. Dorf, distinguished professor of law at Cornell University Law School and U.S. constitutional scholar, will deliver the 52nd Henry J. Miller Distinguished Lecture at noon Thursday, March 7, in the Georgia State University Student Center State Ballroom.
Dorf's presentation, "Commerce, Death Panels and Broccoli: Or Why the Activity/Inactivity Distinction in the Health Care Case Was Really About the Right to Bodily Integrity," will explore the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sibelius. Dorf will explain how affirmative mandates that infringe the substantive due process right to bodily integrity can be more intrusive than prohibitions.
Dorf has written dozens of law review articles on constitutional law and related subjects. He co-wrote On Reading the Constitution and The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Constitutional Law. He is the editor of Constitutional Law Stories and wrote No Litmus Test: Law Versus Politics in the 21st Century.
A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Dorf clerked for for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and then for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court. He has represented clients in several notable cases including a constitutional challenge to North American Free Trade Agreement in the D.C. Circuit.
Dorf also represented the Association of American Law Schools in an amicus curiae in in Fisher v. Univerity of Texas and Grutter v. Bollinger before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was the main author of the AALS amicus brief in support of the winning side in the 2010 Supreme Court case of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez.
Before joining the Cornell faculty, Dorf taught at Rutgers-Camden Law School for three years and at Columbia Law School for 13 years. At Columbia, he was vice dean from 1998-2002. He was the Isidor & Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law when he left.
The Henry J. Miller Distinguished Lecture Series is supported by the Charles Loridans Foundation Inc. and named for Henry J. Miller, a partner in the law firm of Alston & Bird for more than 50 years. Miller's legacy continues to live in his role as mentor to generations of Atlanta's professional community.
This event is free and open to the public though reservations have closed. Business attire is required.