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Introduction by Evan Chesler ’75, Cravath Swaine & Moore, Chair of the NYU Board of Trustees,
NYU Law Board Trustee, and IJA Advisory Board President
Welcoming remarks: Samuel Estreicher, Dwight D. Opperman Professor of Law, NYU Law
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
NYU School of Law, Vanderbilt Hall
Greenberg Lounge, 40 Washington Square Park South, NY, NY
Doors open 6:00pm, Lecture 6:15-7:30 pm
Light refreshments will be served until 8:00pm
This event is seeking approval to offer one New York State CLE credit. Click here for financial hardship requests.
This event is in-person and will not be live streamed.
A recording may be made available a few weeks after the program via NYU Law media platforms.
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Register Here!
Pre-registration is required.
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The New York Constitution, like many state constitutions, has a feature unfamiliar to many Americans: it is far easier to amend than the Constitution of the United States. New Yorkers can amend the State Constitution via two mechanisms—a popular referendum proposed by the legislature or a constitutional convention. Both avenues have been the source of scores of amendments to New York’s Constitution. Other states—via ballot measures, legislative mechanisms, or constitutional conventions—have their own modes of extrajudicial constitutional change. Those processes have allowed states to address state-specific matters while also maintaining the flexibility to respond to developments in federal law. Thus, although the Constitution of the United States has been amended only 17 times since the Bill of Rights, since the original New York Constitution of 1777, New York State has held eight constitutional conventions and amended the constitution over 200 times.
A constitution’s amendability has a tremendous impact on the political process writ large and the adjudicative process in particular. In New York, when the Court of Appeals approaches disputes of all kinds—including constitutional ones—it does so against the backdrop of a legislature (and a citizenry) equipped and capable of changing the baseline rules set in the state constitution. A constitution’s amendability also changes the political process more generally—our courts need not be home to political disputes that can be aired out in the refreshing sphere of public constitutional debate.
This lecture will focus on how the relative ease of amending state constitutions alters the political process, with an eye toward its effect on the role of the judiciary and the consequences for democracy.
For questions or to request a link to any lecture recording after the event, email ija.admin@nyu.edu. |
