Experts in the News | Miller Center

2 legal experts on Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearing

For a closer look at the legal questions raised during Tuesday’s confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Judy Woodruff talks to the University of Virginia’s Saikrishna Prakash, a former law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, and Georgetown University’s Victoria Nourse, who was chief counsel to Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 and 2016.

Saikrishna Prakash

Preview of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing

“This is a lifetime appointment and that will tilt the court to six conservatives and three liberals… Judge Barrett could sit on this court for 30 or 40 years and she will have an indelible mark on the rights of people in this country,” says Chris Lu.

Chris Lu

Here’s What Happens If a President Won’t Leave Office

Now that we are less than a month away from the election, such rhetoric is being taken more seriously. Russell Riley, PhD, professor and co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the Miller Center, a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, notes that questions of what happens if a president should refuse to leave office involves “an extraordinarily arcane area of presidential politics.”

Russell Riley

Is China shifting the world order?

While the United States spends 2020 drawing and quartering itself, China continues to solidify internally then view outward. It has thrown its weight around the South China Sea and poured plenty of capital into the Belt and Road Initiative, a multinational infrastructure project valued at seven times the Marshall Plan after the Second World War. It has subtly tried to remove the liberal democratic “bias” from international rules.

John M. Owen IV

First Ladies

Jackie Kennedy’s time in the White House was short – thirty-five tumultuous months that promised a new dawn for America but were marked by private betrayal and public tragedy. Using rarely seen personal letters, photographs and intimate audio recordings, the episode reveals how Jackie took control of JFK’s legacy in the days following his assassination. Barbara Perry, the Miller Center's director of presidential studies, is a featured expert.

Barbara Perry

Decoupling or Recoupling US-China Relations

With no resolution to the fractured US-China relationship in sight, the United States faces a choice between continued decoupling and cautious re-engagement. Either path is fraught with risks for America’s national interests, against a backdrop of increasing public concern. Which direction should the United States take in its relationship with China over the next decade and what economic, military, and technological considerations will drive policymaking? This fall, the Council on Global Affairs and the Financial Times are hosting a series of discussions on foreign policy topics central to the 2020 United States presidential election. As voters confront starkly different foreign policy worldviews, the America in 2020 series convenes influential voices with distinct perspectives to examine issues with far-reaching implications for America’s future.

Evan Feigenbaum