On September 18, 2024, the James Madison Program in American Ideals and
Institutions hosted its annual Antonin Scalia Constitution Day Lecture
with Julia Mahoney, John S. Battle Professor of Law and the Joseph C.
Carter, Jr. Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia
School of Law. The event was titled, "Government Corruption and Private
Power."
The founding generation sought to build a new nation free of old world
“corruption.” Americans used that term broadly to denote the use of
government power to promote private interests rather than the general
welfare. But constraining the political power of special interests has
proved to be a hard task. In the 2024 Antonin Scalia Constitution Day
Lecture, Professor Julia D. Mahoney will examine how the Constitution
does and does not inhibit the powerful few from undermining the common
good. Among the current constitutional controversies she will discuss
are government pressure on social media companies to censor content, the
scope of the administrative state, campaign finance regulation, and
occupational freedom.
Julia D. Mahoney is the John S. Battle Professor of Law and the Joseph
C. Carter, Jr. Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia
School of Law, where she teaches courses in Constitutional Law and
Property Law. Her recent scholarship include articles on government
takings of property, the classical legal tradition in education, and
feminism and common good constitutionalism. A graduate of the Yale Law
School, she is a member of the American Law Institute and serves on the
Board of Advisors of the New Civil Liberties Alliance.
This event was supported by the Bouton Law Lecture Fund and co-sponsored
by Princeton University Public Lectures and the Jack Miller Center.