YLDems
Weekly Update & Upcoming Events
Dear Democrats,
We hope you're doing well. We have a bunch of great events coming up in the next couple weeks. Here's what's on tap!
Upcoming YLDems Events
- A Conversation with Zephyr Teachout - Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 12:10 pm in SLB 124.
- Join the Yale Law Democrats, American Constitution Society, and the Law & Political Economy Student Group for a conversation with Zephyr Teachout: a lawyer, politician, and professor. Professor Teachout pioneered internet fundraising as the Director of Internet Organizing for Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, paving the way for Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008. In 2014, she co-authored Lina Khan’s first paper, “Market Structure and Political Law: A Taxonomy of Power.” That same year, she earned 34% of the vote in the democratic primary for Governor of New York against incumbent Andrew Cuomo. In recent years, she has run for congress and Attorney General of New York (while pregnant). She is an Associate Professor of Law at Fordham University, where she teaches courses on corruption, antitrust, and constitutional law. Lunch will be provided. Register here!
- CT. Voter Protection Project
- This week, we'll be meeting with a legal team from the Connecticut Democratic Party to explore ways to assist the party with state voter protection work in the 2024 election cycle, as well as the prospect of a standing Voter Protection Project at the law school to train students in VoPro work across the country.
- Dinner with Daniel Hornung - Monday, Feb. 5 at 6:30 pm.
- Daniel Hornung serves as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council and Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the NEC. In this role, he coordinated efforts within the NEC to develop and secure passage of the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act. He leads macroeconomic analysis and policy development. He oversees housing policy across the Administration, including development and implementation of the Administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan. Before the NEC, Hornung served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Merrick Garland on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Hornung served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Policy Advisor, focused on climate policy, economic policy, and judicial nominations. Prior to that, he worked in the Office of Management and Budget. A native of Chicago, Hornung has also been a fellow at Chicago CRED, an organization focused on increasing economic opportunity in Chicago neighborhoods. Location TBD.
Upcoming External Events
- The Politics of History and Records: A Conversation with Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan - Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 2 pm.
- Yale's Center for the Study of American Politics is hosting an event with Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States, to discuss, among other things, the workings of the National Archives, the challenges of running a federal agency, the role of the presidential library system, the importance of record-keeping in a democracy, and America's semiquincentennial in 2026. Learn more and register here!
- Land Use and the Energy Transition - Thursday, Feb. 1 from 12 pm to 1:30 pm in SLB 122.
- The rapid build-out of solar and wind energy is underway, and land use law is where the rubber meets the road. Siting, permitting, zoning, agricultural use requirements, and conservation easements are often what determine whether renewable energy projects get built. Come learn about the intersection of land use law and energy policy. The panelists are Lee Hoffman, a leading energy law practitioner in Connecticut, and Matthew Eisenson '15, who leads the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Professor Anika Singh Lemar will moderate the conversation. Non-pizza lunch will be served. Sponsored by the Yale Law School Center for Private Law.
- Making Bureaucracy Work for Democracy: A Conversation with Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, K. Sabeel Rahman, and Cristina Rodriguez - Thursday, Feb. 1 from 12 pm to 1:30 pm.
- Three leading scholars—two fresh from the Biden Administration—discuss a pressing question: How can the American administrative state better place issues of equity, distribution, sustainability, and dignity at the center of U.S. policymaking? Major shifts in federal bureaucratic practices that were sparked in part by the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated during the Biden Administration. These changes range from an increased emphasis on racial equity to changing protocols for data gathering to new standards for regulatory impact analysis to new procedures for ensuring citizen access to valued public services. How should we understand these shifts? How well are they working? What are the greatest political and judicial threats to them? How can they be built on and improved? And how can they be grounded in a deeper philosophy of public administration for the twenty-first century?
To add yourself to the waiting list for the event, please email Pamela Greene at pamela.greene@yale.edu. This event is being sponsored by the American Political Economy eXchange (APEX) at Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS). The event will be held at 77 Prospect St.
- Three leading scholars—two fresh from the Biden Administration—discuss a pressing question: How can the American administrative state better place issues of equity, distribution, sustainability, and dignity at the center of U.S. policymaking? Major shifts in federal bureaucratic practices that were sparked in part by the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated during the Biden Administration. These changes range from an increased emphasis on racial equity to changing protocols for data gathering to new standards for regulatory impact analysis to new procedures for ensuring citizen access to valued public services. How should we understand these shifts? How well are they working? What are the greatest political and judicial threats to them? How can they be built on and improved? And how can they be grounded in a deeper philosophy of public administration for the twenty-first century?
- DisOrientation - Friday, Feb. 2 from 10:15 to 4:30 pm.
- YLS Disorientation has been rescheduled to take place on Friday, February 2, from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm (on-campus and Zoom). You are welcome to attend as much or as little of the day as you’d like. We’ll be serving a delicious Caribbean lunch from Ninth Square Market (vegan & gluten-free options available). Please register on YaleConnect! Disorientation is a time-honored tradition organized by the YLS Chapter of National Lawyers Guild. Law school can be a disconcerting place. Many of us came to law school excited to pursue social justice, but end up unsure of how to do so, unsupported in these goals by the traditional law school curriculum, and pushed towards areas of law that hinder these goals, rather than furthering them. Dis-O is a space for students of all class years to come together to push back on this process by connecting with each other on a deeper level, learning from local organizers in New Haven, and challenging law school orthodoxy. We’ll also be hosting a Legal Observer training and a Protest Safety training as part of Dis-O for interested students. The itinerary for the day is as follows: 10:30 -11:30 am: Student Panel on the Hidden Curriculum of YLS 11:45 am -12:45 pm: Local New Haven Organizer Panel 1:00 - 1:45 pm: Lunch! 2:00 - 3:30 pm: Protest Safety Training with the Street Medic Collective 3:30 - 4:30 pm: Legal Observer Training with National Lawyers Guild
- Administering a Democratic Political Economy - Friday, Feb. 2 at 10 am to 5:15 pm in SLB 120.
- Please join the LPE Project for a one-day conference titled “Administering a Democratic Political Economy.” This convening brings together scholars in administrative law, racial and gender equity, and democracy for an in-depth exploration of the evolving landscape of administrative law scholarship and practice. The conference will feature three panels, including discussions on “Structural Injustice in the Administrative State,” “The Administrative Construction of an Inclusive Economy and Society,” and “The Administration of the Macro Political Economy, Industrial Policy, and Climate Change.” This convening will take place in a hybrid format at Yale Law School (SLB 120). Lunch and refreshments will be provided throughout the day. Those wishing to attend in person can register here. For virtual attendance, please register at this link.
- Public Defense Conference - Friday, Feb. 9 from 9:30 am - 4:30 pm.
- Def Soc is thrilled to announce its panelists and speakers for the Def Con 2024 public defense conference on Friday, Feb. 9. Make sure to RSVP here now to secure your lunch and spot at the keynote address! The conference will include the following panels: "Why Public Defense & Why Now?", "Putting Humanity First: A Conversation About Capital Defense," "Family Matters: A Holistic Approach to Family Defense," and "Beyond Bruen: Perspectives on Criminal Defense and the 2nd Amendment in the Leadup to Rahimi." There will also be a keynote address by Jonathan Rapping, Founder of Gideon’s Promise. Sign up here.
Volunteer Opportunities
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Volunteer for the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago! The DNC is seeking volunteers to work at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, to be held from August 19-22, 2024. You can learn more by watching this video info session and express your interest in volunteering by following this link!
Organizational Updates
- Last Week's Event with David Pepper '99
- Thanks so much to everyone who came out to our event with David Pepper last week, and thank you especially to David for coming to YLS and Professor Emily Bazelon '00 for moderating. Thank you also to our event co-sponsors, If/When/How and ACS!
- New Board Members
- Please join us in welcoming our newest YLDems Board Members. They're already making incredible strides for our organization, the greater YLS community, and our local, state, and national political landscape. Thank you to everyone who applied.
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Michael Nachman - Policy Committee
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Victor Agbafe - Policy Committee
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Hannah Terrapin - 1L Representative
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Eli Sabin - 1L Representative
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Gevin Reynolds - 1L Representative
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Jake Reagan - 1L Representative
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Raymond Perez - 1L Representative
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Mariko Lewis - 1L Representative
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- Please join us in welcoming our newest YLDems Board Members. They're already making incredible strides for our organization, the greater YLS community, and our local, state, and national political landscape. Thank you to everyone who applied.
- Yale College Democrats mentorship program.
- Our mentorship program with the undergrads was a huge success last semester. Please reach back out to meet with your mentees again this semester and continue building those relationships. YLDems will again reimburse up to $20 for the semester for mentors and mentees to get coffee. Please use this google form to submit your reimbursement request (and don't forget your itemized receipt).
- Website Upgrade
- We're in the process of improving our website. Check out some recent changes at YLDems.org.
See you soon,
The YLDems Board
Please join us on GroupMe and Yale Connect!