The Federalist Society

Optional Login

Have an account?

Sign in

Email

Password


Forgot password?

Proceed as Guest

Continue
Our website is currently undergoing updates, some links may no longer work and content may change. Please check back soon.
The Federalist Society
  • Commentary
    • The Federalist Society Review
    • Videos
    • Publications
    • Podcasts
    • Blog
    • Briefcases
    • No. 86
  • Cases
  • Events
    • All Upcoming Events
    • FedSoc Forums
    • Webinars
    • Live Streams
    • Past Events
    • Event Photos
  • Divisions
    • Lawyers
    • Faculty
    • Student
    • Practice Groups
  • Chapters
  • Projects
    • The American History & Tradition Project
    • Structural Constitution Initiative
    • Family & Parental Rights Network
    • Armed Services Legal Network
    • In-House Counsel Network
    • A Seat at the Sitting
    • Freedom of Thought
    • Article I Initiative
    • Regulatory Transparency Project
    • State Attorneys General
    • State Courts
  • Store
    • On-Demand CLE
  • About
    • Membership
    • Jobs
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • Board of Visitors
    • Opportunities
    • FAQ
    • History
    • Press Inquiries
  • Login
  • Donate
  • Join
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Harvard Law School

  • Home
  • Harvard Law School
Jan 30 1987
Friday 4:15 p.m. EDT    

Panel II: Methods of Statutory Construction [Archive Collection]

First Annual National Lawyers Convention

Washington, DC
Speakers:
Frank H. Easterbrook • Orrin Hatch • Antonin Scalia • Laurence H. Silberman • Laurence H. Tribe
Topics:
Constitution • Federal Courts • Philosophy • State Courts • Supreme Court
Sponsors:
Washington DC Lawyer Chapter • Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group
  • In-Person Event
  • Previous
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
James Madison Portrait
© 2026 The Federalist Society
1776 I Street, NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
  • Phone(202) 822-8138
  • Fax(202) 296-8061
  • Emailinfo@fedsoc.org
  • Join
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Donate
  • Login
  • My FedSoc
    • My FedSoc
    • Logout
  • Commentary
    • The Federalist Society Review
    • Videos
    • Publications
    • Podcasts
    • Blog
    • Briefcases
    • No. 86
  • Cases
  • Events
    • All Upcoming Events
    • FedSoc Forums
    • Webinars
    • Live Streams
    • Past Events
    • Event Photos
  • Divisions
    • Lawyers
    • Faculty
    • Student
    • Practice Groups
  • Chapters
  • Projects
    • The American History & Tradition Project
    • Structural Constitution Initiative
    • Family & Parental Rights Network
    • Armed Services Legal Network
    • In-House Counsel Network
    • A Seat at the Sitting
    • Freedom of Thought
    • Article I Initiative
    • Regulatory Transparency Project
    • State Attorneys General
    • State Courts
  • Store
    • On-Demand CLE
  • About
    • Membership
    • Jobs
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • Board of Visitors
    • Opportunities
    • FAQ
    • History
    • Press Inquiries
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Speaker Information
Frank H. Easterbrook

Frank H. Easterbrook

U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

Biography

Frank H. Easterbrook is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a Senior Lecturer at the Law School of the University of Chicago. He was Chief Judge from 2006–2013. Before joining the court in 1985, he was the Lee andBrena Freeman Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, where he taught and wrote in antitrust, securities, corporate law, jurisprudence, and criminal procedure. He has published The Economic Structure of Corporate Law (with Daniel R. Fischel) and about 100 scholarly articles. He served as Co-Editor of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1982 to 1991 and as a member of the Judicial Conference’s Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure from 1991 to 1997. Before joining the faculty of the Law School in 1979, Judge Easterbrook was Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He holds degrees from Swarthmore College (B.A. with high honors, 1970) and the University of Chicago (J.D. cum laude, 1973), and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Law Institute, the Mont Pelerin Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Order of the Coif.



Read more...
View Full Profile
Speaker Information
Orrin Hatch

Orrin Hatch

Former United States Senator, Utah

Biography

Over nearly four decades of public service, Senator Orrin Hatch established himself as a leading conservative voice in the United States Senate. As the upper chamber’s most senior Republican, he served as President Pro Tempore and as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In this capacity, he fought to create jobs and strengthen the economy by repealing and replacing Obamacare, reforming the tax code, and opening up overseas markets to American exports.

As a long-time member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch also fought to check judicial activism and protect our liberties. He was instrumental in confirming conservative judges to the federal bench and played an indispensable role in confirming Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito as well as scores of district and circuit court judges.

One of Senator Hatch’s particularly noteworthy achievements on the Judiciary Committee is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993—a bill he co-authored with the late Senator Ted Kennedy. This landmark legislation prohibits substantial government burdens on the free exercise of religion, allowing all Americans to live, work, and worship in accordance with their beliefs.  

In addition to protecting our individual liberties, Senator Hatch was on the front lines of legislative battles to protect our free-market economy and system of limited government under the Constitution. His reputation as a statesman and his record of fiscal responsibility earned him the nickname “Mr. Balanced Budget” from President Reagan.

By virtually all measures, Senator Hatch was among the most effective and consequential legislators in history. Since he first came to Congress in 1977, no legislator alive today has authored more bills that have become law than Senator Hatch.

Of all Senator Hatch’s achievements, he is proudest of his family, and he credits the love of his wife and children as the key to his success. He and Elaine have been married for more than fifty years. Together, they are the parents of six children, twenty-three grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren.



Read more...
View Full Profile
Speaker Information
Antonin Scalia

Antonin Scalia

Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court

Biography

Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, March 11, 1936. He married Maureen McCarthy and has nine children- Ann Forrest, Eugene, John Francis, Catherine Elisabeth, Mary Clare, Paul David, Matthew, Christopher James, and Margaret Jane. He received his A.B. from Georgetown University and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School, and was a Sheldon Fellow of Harvard University from 1960-1961. He was in private practice in Cleveland, Ohio from 1961-1967, a Professor of Law at the University of Virginia from 1967-1971, and a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago from 1977-1982, and a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University and Stanford University. He was chairman of the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law, 1981-1982, and its Conference of Section Chairmen, 1982-1983. He served the federal government as General Counsel of the Office of Telecommunications Policy from 1971-1972, Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States from 1972-1974, and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel from 1974-1977. He was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1982. President Reagan nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat September 26, 1986.

 



Read more...
View Full Profile
Speaker Information
Laurence H. Silberman

Laurence H. Silberman

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit

Biography

LAURENCE HIRSCH SILBERMAN, senior circuit judge; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, June 19, 2008; born in York, PA, October 12, 1935; son of William Silberman and Anna (Hirsch); married to Rosalie G. Gaull on April 28, 1957 (deceased), married Patricia Winn on January 5, 2008; children: Robert Steven Silberman, Katherine DeBoer Fischer, and Anne Gaull Otis; B.A., Dartmouth College, 1957; LL.B., Harvard Law School, 1961; admitted to Hawaii Bar, 1962; District of Columbia Bar, 1973; associate, Moore, Torkildson and Rice, 1961–64; partner (Moore, Silberman and Schulze), Honolulu, 1964–67; attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Office of General Counsel, Appellate Division, 1967–69; Solicitor, Department of Labor, 1969–70; Under Secretary of Labor, 1970–73; partner, Steptoe and Johnson, 1973–74; Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 1974–75; Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1975–77; President’s Special Envoy on ILO Affairs, 1976; senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute, 1977–78; visiting fellow, 1978–85; managing partner, Morrison and Foerster, 1978–79 and 1983–85; executive vice president, Crocker National Bank, 1979–83; lecturer, University of Hawaii, 1962–63; board of directors, Commission on Present Danger, 1978–85, Institute for Educational Affairs, New York, NY, 1981–85, member: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, 1981–85; Defense Policy Board, 1981–85; vice chairman, State Department’s Commission on Security and Economic Assistance, 1983–84; American Bar Association (Labor Law Committee, 1965–72, Corporations and Banking Committee, 1973, Law and National Security Advisory Committee, 1981–85); Hawaii Bar Association Ethics Committee, 1965–67; Council on Foreign Relations, 1977–present; Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, 1994; member, U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court of Review, 1996–2003; Adjunct Professor of Law (Administrative Law and Labor Law) Georgetown Law Center, 1987–94; 1997; Adjunct Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, 1994-95, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University Law School, 1995–96; Distinguished Visitor from the Judiciary, Georgetown Law Center, 2003–2019; co-chairman of the President’s Commission on The Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, 2004–05; appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Reagan on October 28, 1985.

Read more...
View Full Profile
Speaker Information
Laurence H. Tribe

Laurence H. Tribe

Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School

Biography

Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard, has taught at its Law School since 1968 and was voted the best professor by the graduating class of 2000. The title “University Professor” is Harvard’s highest academic honor, awarded to just a handful of professors at any given time and to just 68 professors in all of Harvard University’s history. Born in China to Russian Jewish parents, Tribe entered Harvard in 1958 at 16; graduated summa cum laude in Mathematics (1962) and magna cum laude in Law (1966); clerked for the California and U.S. Supreme Courts(1966-68); received tenure at 30; was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at 38 and to the American Philosophical Society in 2010; helped write the constitutions of South Africa, the Czech Republic, and the Marshall Islands; has received eleven honorary degrees, most recently a degree honoris causa from the Government of Mexico in March 2011 that was never before awarded to an American and an honorary D. Litt. From Columbia University; has prevailed in three-fifths of the many appellate cases he has argued (including 35 in the U.S. Supreme Court); was appointed in 2010 by President Obama and Attorney General Holder to serve as the first Senior Counselor for Access to Justice; and has written 115 books and articles, including his treatise, American Constitutional Law, cited more than any other legal text since 1950. Former Solicitor General Erwin Griswold wrote: “[N]o book, and no lawyer not on the [Supreme] Court, has ever had a greater influence on the development of American constitutional law,” and the Northwestern Law Review opined that no-one else “in American history has… simultaneously achieved Tribe’s preeminence… as a practitioner and… scholar of constitutional law.”

Read more...
View Full Profile