Reasonably Speaking The American Law Institute

On the occasion of ALI’s anniversary, we brought together three of our project Reporters to talk about ALI’s history and a few of our most influential projects.

As part of ALI’s Oral History Series, in this episode we are joined by two former American Law Institute presidents, Michael Traynor and Roberta Cooper Ramo.

On this episode of Reasonably Speaking, ALI President David F. Levi is joined by constitutional law expert Geoffrey R. Stone to discuss speech on campus.

ALI President David F. Levi sits down with M. Margaret McKeown, senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, for a discussion on McKeown’s new book, Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas—Public Advocate and Conservation Champion.

The Supreme Court of the United States has historically received criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. However, recent Gallop polls suggest a significant loss in confidence by the American people in several institutions of government, including the Court. These ratings were from June 2022 before the last few controversial decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court were entered, including the abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the New York gun case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. This episode brings together U.S. federal judges in a conversation about judging, and the perception of the U.S. Supreme Court in particular, because of the loss of confidence by the American people in the Court.

In April 2022, at the invitation of the leadership of The American Law Institute, a group whose members span a range of legal and political views, came together to consider possible Electoral Count Act (ECA) reforms. Despite holding diverse legal, political, and ideological commitments, the group is united by the belief that Congress should reform the ECA before the 2024 presidential election. The group has agreed on several general principles that should guide ECA reform, as well as specific proposals as to what ECA reform should seek to accomplish.