Aspen Ideas to Go

Alexander Hamilton called the U.S. Supreme Court the “weakest” branch of government, because it has no direct control over the military or budget. But the court’s recent cluster of decisions on hot-button issues has demonstrated that it can have an enormous impact on the American people and life in this country. Is the judiciary becoming more powerful, and therefore more dangerous? And what will be the consequences if the Court’s power is undermined by ongoing questions about its legitimacy? The 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival asked a panel of legal experts to address these questions and shed some light on the Court’s recent decisions. Law professor and writer Jeffrey Rosen, of the National Constitution Center, moderates the conversation between Melissa Murray of NYU School of Law, Sherif Girgis of Notre Dame Law School and Neal Katyal of Georgetown Law. This is the final episode of three about SCOTUS decisions and the future of the Court. aspenideas.org

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24, 2022, has clear consequences: abortion is no longer a protected federal right in the U.S, and many clinics are shutting down. But the legal arguments the decision relies upon are much more complex, and those details often get lost in the headlines. The 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival brought together a conservative and a liberal constitutional scholar to break down the ruling, explain the nuances and speculate about how Dobbs might impact the legal future of other federal rights, such as contraception access and same-sex marriage. Law professor and writer Jeffrey Rosen, of the National Constitution Center and Yamiche Alcindor, the Washington correspondent for NBC News, moderate the conversation between Sherif Girgis of Notre Dame Law School and Melissa Murray of NYU School of Law. This is the second of three episodes about SCOTUS decisions and the future of the Court. aspenideas.org

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, revoking the federal right to an abortion. The Aspen Ideas Festival kicked off the next day, so we quickly shifted gears for the Opening Session and pulled together a stellar panel discussion that centered this groundbreaking legal decision. Laws banning abortion have already gone effect in several states as a result of this decision, and some clinics have reduced services or shut down entirely. Questions remain about what other kinds of legislation this ruling has opened the door for, including criminalization of travel or assistance for abortion, prosecution of miscarriages, or the banning of contraception. Atlantic writer Jennifer Senior moderated a discussion between legal experts Steve Vladeck from the University of Texas School of Law and Katie Keith from Georgetown University Law Center, and writers Jane Coaston, host of “The Argument” podcast and an opinion writer at the New York Times, and David French, senior editor at The Dispatch and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. This is the first of three episodes about SCOTUS decisions and the future of the Court. aspenideas.org

The reversal of Roe v. Wade would make it difficult or impossible for millions of people to obtain abortions, but would also open the doors to criminally prosecute people who seek or obtain an abortion. And in our technological age, that criminalization brings new, frightening opportunities for digital surveillance by law enforcement agencies or anti-abortion vigilantes. In this panel from Aspen Digital, “Digital Surveillance and the Fight for Reproductive Rights,” three experts in digital privacy and civil rights walk us through the risks and existing practices, and share what can be done: Wafa Ben-Hassine from the Omidyar Network, Tiffany Li from University of New Hampshire School of Law and Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, and Cynthia Conti-Cook from the Ford Foundation. The panelists are also joined by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a longtime advocate for digital privacy, and Vivian Schiller, the Executive Director of Aspen Digital, moderates.  aspenideas.org

History is taught with textbooks and lectures, but it’s also passed down in more informal ways, within families from generation to generation. Different groups of people can become attached to varying stories of the same past, and some narratives are erased or distorted. Writer and scholar Clint Smith takes a close look at the mechanisms and consequences of those distortions in his new book, “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.” He visited historical sites around the U.S., such as Thomas Jefferson’s plantation, Monticello, and a Confederate cemetery, and talked with docents and descendents about how they explain and make sense of what happened in those places. Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and a poet and education scholar. As part of the Winter Words series from Aspen Words, he is interviewed by James Merle Thomas, a curator and art history professor, and the director of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies at the Aspen Institute. aspenideas.org

The Aspen Institute remembers and mourns Secretary Madeleine K. Albright, who passed away on March 23, 2022. She was a diplomat, professor, author, business leader, and the first woman to be the U.S. Secretary of State. In 2018, she raised the alarm on dangerous world leadership with her book “Fascism: A Warning,” calling out the regimes of Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, among others. In July of that year, Aspen Institute President and CEO, Dan Porterfield, interviewed her about the book in front of a live audience as part of the McCloskey Speaker Series. Among her many achievements and accomplishments, Secretary Albright served on the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees starting in 2002, and founded the Aspen Ministers Forum that same year, to strengthen diplomatic ties between the US and Europe. In 2012, she helped establish Aspen Central Europe based in Prague, and was recognized in 2011 as the recipient of the Institute’s Henry Crown Leadership Award. Secretary Albright leaves an enormous legacy as a longtime champion of freedom, justice, and equity around the world. aspenideas.org

The industrial revolution and consequent terrible labor conditions sparked a wave of revolutions in Europe, and then a string of laws and protections for workers. As author and innovation expert Alec Ross describes it, we “rewrote the social contract.” But, Ross says, we may be due for another rewrite, as we transition from an industrial economy to one based on information and knowledge. He writes in his book, “The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People – And the Fight For Our Future,” that some corporations have as much power as nations, government regulation is out of date, and workers have lost staggering amounts of wealth and agency. In this talk from the Society of Fellows at the Aspen Institute, Stephanie Mehta, editor in chief of Fast Company magazine, interviews Ross, a board partner at the venture capital firm Amplo and former innovation advisor for the State Department, about what went wrong and how we get back to equilibrium. aspenideas.org

Any organization, public or private, with any connection to Ukraine, should be exercising extreme technological vigilance, says cybersecurity expert Sandra Joyce, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Intelligence at Mandiant. In addition to the attacks on the ground, Russia could come at Ukraine virtually, with a wide range of targets and tactics and varying levels of sophistication. On February 18th, 2022, a few days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chris Krebs, the Senior Newmark Fellow in Cybersecurity Policy at Aspen Digital and former director of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, interviewed Joyce and Dr. Herb Lin, Senior Research Scholar for Cyber Policy and Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security at the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University. The panelists explore the potential outcomes of cyber attacks, and discuss how the U.S. government’s ability to detect and respond to such threats has evolved over the last few years. aspenideas.org

We may have moved from a time of reckoning on racial equity to a time of transformation, says business leader Dr. Rohini Anand, and that gives her hope. The author of “Leading Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: A Guide for Systemic Change in Multinational Organizations,” Anand advises leaders all over the world on how to get to work and make DEI improvements that stick. Each situation is unique, but the principles Anand has come up with help leaders adapt her expertise to their own organization. Miecha Ranea Forbes, the Aspen Institute’s Vice President of People and Culture, interviews Dr. Anand and shares some of her own expertise in this work. The talk is hosted by Ascend at the Aspen Institute; Ascend is a catalyst and convener for systems, policy, and social impact leaders working to create a society where every family passes a legacy of prosperity and well-being from one generation to the next. aspenideas.org

The cornerstone of democracy is the principle that all citizens have the right and ability to participate in their own governance, either directly or via representation. While many Americans today may believe that we’ve lost sight of that inclusive ideal, Rashad Robinson, racial justice activist and the president of Color of Change, points out that for some, the system has never worked as well as it was supposed to. He wants us to come together and look ahead to build a new, more inclusive, more functional version of democracy than what we had before, and be honest about what that requires. In this panel from the State of Democracy Summit, co-presented by the 92nd Street Y and Aspen Digital, Robinson is interviewed by Vivian Schiller, the Executive Director of Aspen Digital. aspenideas.org