Seattle U Law to host Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck on Oct. 29

Seattle University School of Law will bring Supreme Court scholar Stephen Vladeck to Sullivan Hall on Oct. 29 for a free Luminaries in Law conversation focused on the court’s current state, the shadow docket and the federal judiciary. The event is aimed at students, faculty and the broader legal community.

Why it matters: - Seattle University School of Law is using its Luminaries in Law series to put a leading Supreme Court commentator in front of students and the legal community. - The discussion will focus on issues shaping the current court, including the shadow docket, the federal courts and the court’s response to the Trump administration. - The event is free and open to students, faculty and the broader legal community, which broadens access to a high-profile legal conversation.

What happened: - Seattle University School of Law will host Stephen Vladeck at noon on Thursday, Oct. 29, at Sullivan Hall in Seattle. - Vladeck will headline the next Dean’s Luminaries in Law Lecture and Conversation series event. - Seattle U Law Professor Andrew Siegel will interview Vladeck. - The event is billed as a special, free lunchtime program.

The details: - Vladeck is a nationally recognized expert on the Supreme Court, the federal courts, national security law and military justice. - The conversation will cover the current Supreme Court, what problems it faces and what needs to change. - Siegel and Vladeck also will discuss the Supreme Court and lower federal courts’ response to the Trump administration. - The program will address the court’s use and misuse of the shadow docket. - The event will include discussion of what it is like to argue before the current court, along with Supreme Court culture, personalities and trivia. - Vladeck is the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts at Georgetown University Law Center. - Vladeck wrote the New York Times bestseller "The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic." - Vladeck has argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and more than 20 before lower federal civilian and military courts. - Vladeck has testified before congressional panels including the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. - Vladeck has also served as an expert witness in U.S. and foreign tribunals. - Honors for Vladeck’s work include the 2024 University of Texas President’s Research Impact Award and selection by the Order of the Coif as its Distinguished Visiting Professor for 2025. - Vladeck is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the inaugural holder of the National Institute of Military Justice’s Professor Edmund Morgan Chair in Military Justice. - Vladeck serves as CNN’s Supreme Court analyst and writes the weekly Substack newsletter One First. - His scholarship has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal and the Supreme Court Review. - His popular writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate and TIME. - Vladeck is co-author of Aspen Publishers’ national security law and counterterrorism law casebooks. - Vladeck graduated from Yale Law School in 2004, where he served as an executive editor of the Yale Law Journal. - At Yale, Vladeck won the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize for outstanding moot court oralist and shared the Potter Stewart Prize for best moot court team performance. - He earned a B.A. summa cum laude with highest distinction in history and mathematics from Amherst College in 2001. - Vladeck clerked for Judge Marsha S. Berzon on the Ninth Circuit and Judge Rosemary Barkett on the Eleventh Circuit. - Before joining Georgetown, Vladeck taught at the University of Texas School of Law from 2016 to 2024. - Vladeck also taught at the University of Miami School of Law from 2005 to 2007 and at American University Washington College of Law from 2007 to 2016. - Vladeck’s next book, "The Court We Need: What's Really Wrong with the Supreme Court - And How to Fix It," is set for release in May 2027. - "The Shadow Docket" won the 2024 Order of the Coif Book Award and the 2023 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award for Non-Fiction. - "The Shadow Docket" was also a finalist for the 2024 ABA Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts.

Between the lines: - Seattle University Law is leaning into a timely debate over Supreme Court legitimacy, procedure and institutional change. - Vladeck’s mix of academic, media and courtroom experience makes him a recognizable voice for audiences trying to understand the court beyond headline rulings. - The series appears designed to connect legal theory with current judicial politics and practical lawyering.

What's next: - The conversation is scheduled for Oct. 29 at noon. - Seattle University School of Law is positioning the event as part of an ongoing series that brings prominent voices from law, government and business to campus. - Vladeck’s book on the Supreme Court is due out in May 2027.

The bottom line: - Seattle U Law is offering a free, public forum on one of the most contested institutions in American life, with a leading Supreme Court scholar as the draw.