Stranahan National Issues Forum
Constitutional Rights in a Democracy
Tuesday, Nov. 3 | Noon-1 p.m.
Law Center, McQuade Law Auditorium
Stephanie Barclay
How can courts protect constitutional rights in a democracy without excessive discretion or inflexibility? In her forthcoming book, Professor Stephanie Barclay proposes understanding rights as “protected reasons”: first-order reasons for government to protect an interest and exclusionary reasons that bar certain justifications for interference.
Grounded in Aristotelian democratic theory and human flourishing, this framework offers an alternative to both judicial balancing and categorical absolutes. The lecture examines six points where adjudication intersects with democratic principles: competence, input ratios, post-hoc control, discretion, constitutional construction, and democratic provenance. Barclay’s model also reconfigures strict scrutiny and proportionality, suggesting they should operate differently in facial and as-applied cases. The result is a more constrained and defensible judicial role that sheds new light on recent Supreme Court constitutional rights decisions.
Stephanie Barclay
Stephanie Barclay is Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution at Georgetown Law. Her scholarship examines constitutional rights and democratic governance, particularly religious liberty, free speech, and minority communities. Her work has appeared in leading law journals, has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, and has been featured in national media. Her forthcoming book, Constitutional Rights in a Democracy, is under contract with Oxford University Press.
Barclay has litigated constitutional cases at the trial and appellate levels, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. She clerked for Judge N. Randy Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch of the U.S. Supreme Court. A summa cum laude graduate of BYU Law School, she is completing a Ph.D. in Law at Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar and Tang Scholar.
About the lecture
This free, public lecture is part of the Stranahan National Issues Forum and is sponsored by The University of Toledo College of Law and the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership. For a list of guest speakers and lecture videos from previous years, please visit our past speakers page. To view photos from last year's lecture, visit our Flickr album. Food and drink will be provided.
Parking
McQuade Law Auditorium is on the main level of the Law Center — located at 1825 West Rocket Drive, immediately inside the UToledo West Entrance off of Secor Road and south of Bancroft Street. Free guest parking is available for this event, but only in designated spaces within Parking Area 12W. Look for the cones and parking attendant for the designated area. Metered parking is also available within marked spaces facing the Center for Performing Arts. Metered rates can be found at the payment kiosk or the ParkUToledo website.