The “First Monday in October” is not only the title of the American movie starring Walter Matthau, but it also symbolizes the official beginning of the new term at the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court has been the center of attention in American politics after the previous tumultuous term that was not without unprecedented scandals. An eight-foot-tall security barrier, an attempted murder and the fall of important precedents, including the symbolic Roe v. Wade abortion decision all signal a paradigm shift in the Court’s life. This is indeed a watershed time for the federal judiciary as originalism has become the controlling method of constitutional interpretation. The Supreme Court now seems to be determined and consequential in pursuing a broader social conservative agenda. What are the stakes of the battle between the different interpretative theories and what is the role of “judicial politics” of Presidents in it? How has originalism emerged and become victorious? What challenges does the Supreme Court face? Does the Supreme Court need to be reformed? This episode of the Budapest Lecture will explore these and similar timely questions with Ilya Shapiro, Director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute in New York. The moderator of the event will be Lénárd Sándor, Head of Center for International of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium.

Registration: https://feliratkozas.mcc.hu/hu/registration-first-monday-in-october

We welcome all those interested!