Join Pepperdine FedSoc on October 6th!

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Supreme Court Round-Up

Giddy-up to this round-up! Everything you need to know about the cases and opinions from the latest Supreme Court term.  

Jon Eastman, former clerk of Justice Thomas and the former Dean of Chapman Law, will be presenting a summary of the Supreme Court decisions from the past term. Commentary provided by Pepperdine's Professor Muller.


Round-up will be held on 9/27/11 in room B at 12:30 pm. Lunch will be provided.


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Here are some photos from our well-attended and lively debate on the Brown v. EMA case with Professor McDonald and UVA's Lillian BeVier.

A full-house for the debate!

Delivering her opening thoughts, BeVier targets Justice Breyer's opinion. 

Professor McDonald uses case comparison to drive home his points. 

It takes two to tango: McDonald and BeVier discussing their opposing opinions. 

Question and Answer session after the debate.

Honoring the Heroes of 9/11 10th Anniversary Remembrance

                                                        Alumni Park, 9/11/11               photo credit: A. Lawson       

             The Pepperdine University 9/11 10^th Anniversary Ceremony was an extraordinary event.  The planning and coordination were both extensive and thoughtful.  The stage and seating layout were well placed with a clear view over the Pacific Ocean towards the Catalina Islands.  The University laid out, in neat order, nearly 3,000 national flags to represent the nationality of each person who was killed on 9/11.  The ceremony began with a procession of military and various first responders, all in full dress uniform.   A moving invocation, crisp honor guard presentation of the flag, recital of the Pledge of Allegiance, and a welcoming by Pepperdine University President Benton began the official ceremony.  Special guests included former Governor Gray Davis, L.A. County Third District Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and Deena Burnett, widow of Pepperdine alumnus and Flight 93 “let’s roll” leader Tom Burnett.  Each of the special guests spoke thoughtfully at the ceremony.  Deena Burnett’s was particularly moving as she spoke of her husband, the nation, and even presented her three daughters.  To cap off the ceremony, two Navy aircraft conducted a fly over in close formation.  They looked fantastic against a cloudless sky.  It was a great ceremony to honor the victims of the 9/11 attack and the nation’s resolve to give them justice.
Written and photos by Raymond Areshenko

Game Over for CA Regulators: Does the SCOTUS Brown v. EMA Decision Deserve the High Score?

Join us for a debate between Pepperdine's Professor McDonald and UVA's Lillian BeVier! 

Deroy Murdock Speaks at Pepperdine SOL

On taxes and the wealthy, Deroy Murdock speaks to Pepperdine Law students.

The Federalist Society kicked-off its first event of the year on September 1st with a speaker event featuring Deroy Murdock. Titled, "The Rich: Under Taxed or Under Appreciated?" Murdock shared with students his take on taxes and "fairness" of the code as applied to the wealthy. In many ways, it was a response to the recent Warren Buffet New York Times Op-Ed, in which Murdock asked Congress to stop "coddling the rich" and insisted that the wealthy needed to contribute their "fair share." Murdock highlighted statistics that revealed how generous wealthy citizens were with their incomes by donating to charities, schools, and other community projects. He also demonstrated the heavy contribution the wealthy make to the overall tax income percentage with charts showing that the wealthy accounted for more than 90% of the tax income. Murdock closed with thoughts on how Congress could work towards balancing the budget and urged that it is finding a balance between spending and taxing, not solely taxing the wealthy more. 

Professor Anderson delivered brief commentary. 

Welcome from President Lana Harfoush

Welcome to the new blog of the Federalist Society at Pepperdine School of Law! We are all looking forward to the 2011-2012 school year and have many great events planned.  This blog will be the one-stop shop to learn about upcoming and past events for our student chapter.  Though we are a non-partisan group of conservative and libertarian students, we encourage everyone to come to our events as we discuss Constitutional issues, limited government and modern policy debates.  The best defense in any war of ideas is being informed and we offer a forum to hear perspectives, which students might not otherwise be exposed to through their coursework.

C.J. Holds down the fort at the Federalist Society Welcome Table (1L Orientation Activity Fair)

We will also be announcing events through our Facebook group, which I encourage you to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/205723489491627/

Check back often for updates!

In liberty,

Lana Harfoush

President, Federalist Society

Pepperdine School of Law