School of Law to Host 2026 United States Senator Dennis Chavez Endowed Lectureship on Law and Civil Rights
February 20, 2026
The UNM School of Law will be hosting the 2026 United States Senator Dennis Chavez Endowed Lectureship on Law and Civil Rights on March 4, 2026, featuring Professor Stephen I. Vladeck of Georgetown University Law Center.
Professor Vladeck will present “The Court We Need: Why the Supreme Court Is Worth Saving - Especially from Itself.” This talk will examine the growing divide between the public and the Supreme Court, how a decline in public faith affects the Court’s moral authority, and why restoring broad public confidence in the Court is essential.
The lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the School of Law Forum and is open to the UNM community and the public. Pre-lecture refreshments will begin at 5 p.m. The program has been approved for 1.5 General CLE credits.
Stephen I. Vladeck is the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts at Georgetown University Law Center and a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts, the Supreme Court, national security law, and military justice. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic. He is also a co-author of Aspen Publishers’ leading national security law and counterterrorism law casebooks. Vladeck is CNN’s Supreme Court analyst and the editor and author of “One First,” a popular weekly newsletter about the Supreme Court.
Vladeck graduated from Yale Law School in 2004 - where he was executive editor of the Yale Law Journal and won the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize for outstanding moot court oralist and shared the Potter Stewart Prize for best moot court team performance. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Marsha S. Berzon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Rosemary Barkett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He received his B.A. summa cum laude with Highest Distinction in History and Mathematics in 2001 from Amherst College.
The U.S. Senator Dennis Chavez Lectureship on Law and Civil Rights honors the legacy of Senator Chavez and fosters contemporary discourse on issues including civil rights and liberties, social justice, equal opportunity, and government and public service. The Lectureship was endowed by the Dennis Chavez Foundation in conjunction with the Chavez family.
After graduating from Georgetown University Law School and serving in the New Mexico Legislature, Senator Chavez represented New Mexico in Congress, first in the U.S. House and then in the U.S. Senate, from 1931 until his death in 1962. Chavez was a tireless champion for civil rights, equality, and fairness. In the aftermath of World War II, he introduced the Fair Employment Practices Bill, a precursor to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which sought to end racial discrimination in the workplace. In 1950, Senator Chavez, a staunch defender of the U.S. Constitution, was one of the first senators to denounce the tactics and actions of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. In 1966, New Mexico honored Chavez by presenting his statue to the U.S. Capitol, where it still stands. In 1991, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in his honor as part of its Great American Series.
The Lectureship was established by the Dennis Chavez Foundation and its representatives Gloria C. Tristani, Jorge E. Tristani, Jr., and Gloria Tristani (’90). It was designed to promote scholarly dialogue on issues central to Chavez’s life and work.
Registration for the 2026 event is available here.
