Location

University of California – DC Center

About

The Law and Criminal Justice and Political Leadership Programs are co-hosting a panel on the Affordable Care Act and the Recent Supreme Court Oral Arguments focusing on the Act. We've lined up some fantastic speakers, including one of the definitive experts on the Supreme Court, Steve Wermiel.

We will be holding the panel at the University of California's DC Center Auditorium. The UC DC Center is a short walk from TWC HQ, at 1608 Rhode Island Ave NW.

Speakers

Thomas Kerr-Vanderslice

Thomas Kerr-Vanderslice is the Advocacy and Legislative Coordinator for Washington Strategic Consulting (WSC), a federal government relations firm that works with non-profit health systems, disease advocacy groups, public universities, corporations and local governments across the nation.

Thomas graduated from the University of New Hampshire in December of 2010 with a B.A. in Political Science and History. During his time there, Thomas worked with the New Hampshire Democratic Party for the 2008 elections and participated in TWC's Spring 2010 semester as a Legislative Intern with WSC.

After graduation, Thomas worked as a researcher for Common Cause Rhode Island, working extensively on redistricting, separation of powers, and election reform.

He began working with WSC again upon returning to DC in June of 2011.

Emily Martin

Emily Martin is Vice President and General Counsel at the National Women's Law Center, where she undertakes cross-cutting projects addressing women's health, economic security, and education and employment opportunities. She also provides in-house legal advice and representation to the Center.

Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Martin served as Deputy Director of the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, where she spearheaded litigation, policy, and public education initiatives to advance the rights of women and girls, with a particular emphasis on the needs of low-income women and women of color.

She also served as a law clerk for Senior Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge T.S. Ellis, III, of the Eastern District of Virginia and previously worked for the Center as a recipient of the Georgetown Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship.

She has served as Vice President and President of the Fair Housing Justice Center, a non-profit organization in New York City.

She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Yale Law School.

Steve Wermiel

Stephen Wermiel is a Fellow in Law and Government and associate director of the Summer Institute on Law and Government at American University Washington College of Law. He is chair-elect of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities (IRR) and author of a bi-weekly column on SCOTUSblog aimed at explaining the Supreme Court to law students.

He is co-author of Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion, the definitive biography of the late Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., published in October 2010.

He remains involved with and served previously as associate director of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, in which Washington College of Law students teach constitutional law in the public high schools of Washington, DC.

Wermiel holds expertise in the U.S. Supreme Court, having covered the court for the Wall Street Journal from 1979 until 1991. During his 12-year tenure at the Journal, he covered and interpreted more than 1,300 Supreme Court decisions and analyzed trends on a broad array of legal issues.

Wermiel teaches Constitutional Law and a seminar on the workings of the Supreme Court.

Early in his career, Wermiel was a Washington correspondent for the Boston Globe.

He has also served on the board of directors and on the legal committee of the ACLU of Georgia.

He is currently chairman of the editorial board of Human Rights, the magazine of the ABA’s Individual Rights Section, and a member of the editorial board of Communications Lawyer, the journal of the ABA's Forum on Communications Law.

He has previously served as co-chair of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section’s First Amendment Committee.

MSNBC Clips featuring Steve Wermiel

• Deep Dive: Supreme Showdown
• How much power does Congress have in the health care debate?
• Deep Dive: Day three of the Supreme Showdown