Events

Holding our presidents accountable

Scales with red and blue ropes pulling in opposite directions

Holding our presidents accountable

Monday, April 15, 2024
2:00PM - 3:00PM (EDT)
Event Details

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The executive branch has grown more powerful, and in recent years the nation has been forced to grapple again with the question of how and when we hold our presidents accountable.

Former President Donald Trump has been charged in four separate criminal cases, two of them in federal court, including an election interference case related to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s lawyers have denied any wrongdoing and have argued that the former president cannot be prosecuted. President Joe Biden has also faced some legal challenges, including for mishandling classified documents. In this event, a panel of experts will help us make sense of the various cases and examine the broader issue of executive power.

This event is co-sponsored by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

When
Monday, April 15, 2024
2:00PM - 3:00PM (EDT)
Where
The Miller Center
2201 Old Ivy Road
Charlottesville, VA
&
ONLINE
Speakers
Tim Heaphy headshot

Tim Heaphy

Tim Heaphy is partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He served as the lead investigator for the House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. He was previously the University counsel at the University of Virginia, and before that role, a partner with Hunton Andrews Kurth. In 2017, he authored a report, commissioned by the city of Charlottesville, on the city's handling of the events surrounding the Unite the Right rally on Aug. 11–12, 2017. He served as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2009–14. In 2016, Heaphy founded a nonprofit organization, the Fountain Fund, which provides low-interest loans to formerly incarcerated people. He was named to the National Law Journal's 40 important lawyers under 40 list in 2003. He holds a JD from the UVA School of Law and a BA from UVA.

Barbara Perry headshot

Barbara Perry

Barbara A. Perry is the Gerald L. Baliles Professor in Presidential Studies at the Miller Center, where she co-directs the Presidential Oral History Program. She has authored or edited 17 books on presidents, First Ladies, the Kennedy family, the Supreme Court, and civil rights and civil liberties. Perry has conducted more than 150 interviews for the George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama Presidential Oral History Projects; interviewed President Bill Clinton; and directed the Edward Kennedy Oral History Project's conclusion. She served as a U.S. Supreme Court fellow and has worked for both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate. Perry earned a BA in political science from the University of Louisville, an MA in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University, and a PhD in government from the University of Virginia.

Sai Prakash headshot

Saikrishna Prakash

Saikrishna Prakash, a Miller Center faculty senior fellow, is the James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law and Paul G. Mahoney Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School. His scholarship focuses on separation of powers, particularly executive powers. He teaches constitutional law, foreign relations law, and presidential powers. Prakash clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the author of The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument Against Its Ever-Expanding Powers (2020) and Imperial from the Beginning: The Constitution of the Original Executive (2015).

Micah Schwartzman headshot

Micah Schwartzman (moderator)

Micah Schwartzman is the Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law and director of the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy. His research and teaching areas include law and religion, jurisprudence, and political philosophy. Schwartzman clerked for Judge Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Prior to joining the UVA Law faculty, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University’s Society of Fellows in the Humanities. He holds a BA and JD from the University of Virginia and a DPhil in politics from the University of Oxford.

Bill Antholis headshot

William Antholis (introduction)

William J. Antholis has served as director and CEO of UVA's Miller Center of Public Affairs since January 2015. In that time, the Miller Center has strengthened its position as the leading nonpartisan research institution on the American presidency and worked with scholars across the University of Virginia to deliver vital research to policymakers and the public. Before coming to the Miller Center, Antholis served as managing director at the Brookings Institution from 2004 to 2014, working directly with Brookings's president and vice presidents. Antholis is the author of Inside Out India and China: Local Politics Go Global (2013) and co-author (with Strobe Talbott) of Fast Forward: Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming (2010). He has published articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces on U.S. politics, U.S. foreign policy, international organizations, the G8, climate change, and trade.

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