Constitution Day Forum: Exploring Executive Power
A discussion by constitutional experts from political science, history and the law.
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM EDT
Fenwick Library, 1014
This timely and thought-provoking panel discussion features distinguished constitutional scholars from three adjacent disciplines—political science, history and the law. Professors Rosemarie Zagarri and Jennifer N. Victor, with appellate attorney Jonathan S. Massey, will address the evolving nature of U.S. executive power, including what role the founders imagined for their new republic’s chief executive, and how the judiciary, Congress, and public opinion have since shaped and responded to its changes, including the expansion of presidential immunity.
A question-and-answer session will follow. REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/ConstDay25
Rosemarie Zagarri is a Fellow of the Society of American Historians. As Distinguished University Professor, Department of History and Art History, she holds the university’s highest faculty rank. Her fifth book on Early American and political history, Liberty and Oppression: Thomas Law and the Problem of Empire in Colonial British India and the Early American Republic, will be published next year.
Jennifer Victor, Associate Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government, is a political scientist whostudies Congress, legislative behavior and social networks, campaign finance, and lobbying. She is currently working on Social Capitol: How Political Capital Emerges among Legislators in the US House of Representatives. Victor is a board member of the Center for Responsive Politics and OpenSecrets. She publishes frequently in scholarly journals as well as public sites including the blog she co-founded, Mischiefs of Faction, the New York Times, and others. On Bluesky, she’s @jenvictor.bsky.social.
Jonathan Massey is a founding partner in Massey & Gail LLP. Since clerking for the Hon. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in 1988, he has represented clients on complex legal matters before regulatory agencies and state and federal courts at all levels, including dozens of briefs and three arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.
