Events

In January 1976, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Buckley v. Valeo, a landmark decision on the extent to which the First Amendment’s free speech clause protects contributions to political campaigns and their expenditures. Fifty years later, the Supreme Court is set to rule in another case on campaign finance and free speech, but the Court’s jurisprudential makeup is considerably different. While a majority of Supreme Court justices identify as originalists, little legal scholarship has been dedicated to understanding the free speech clause according to its original public meaning. Please join AEI for an event cohosted with the Catholic University of America’s Center for the Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on the original meaning of the First Amendment’s free speech guarantees.

Citizens’ assemblies have moved from experimental tools to proven methods for solving complex public problems and strengthening trust—between residents and their government, within communities, and in people’s own capacity to engage with hard issues. The next frontier is shifting from one-off, ad hoc assemblies to models of repeated use. This public event explores what it takes and what it means for governments to meaningfully absorb and act on assemblies’ recommendations as a matter of routine, rather than an exceptional break from conventional politics.

We will examine how ideas travel from participants to staff, across departments, and ultimately to elected officials. We’ll also consider why a government might commit to holding an assembly on a regular basis (such as every year), and what benefits, opportunities, risks, and challenges arise from that commitment. In addition, the discussion will surface the structures, skills, and resources needed to make recurring assemblies possible—and, time permitting, what a fully institutionalized assembly might look like in the United States.

This panel brings together on-the-ground leaders across the country including government representatives and civic organizers to share practical lessons with an audience of citizens’ assembly implementers from across the United States and Canada. This event is sponsored by FIDE North America, the National Civic League, and New America’s Political Reform program. The panel discussion will take place from 4:00–5:00 p.m., with a reception to follow.