2026 Chicago-Kent Law Review Online Live Symposium
Chicago–Kent College of Law
October 16, 2026 | 9:30 am – 4:00 pm (CST)
Contact: Mariya Khan | mkhan163@hawk.illinoistech.edu
The Chicago-Kent Law Review invites you to attend its upcoming symposium, “Who Belongs? The Contested History of Birthright Citizenship.” Bringing together leading scholars of constitutional law and legal history, the symposium situates the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Trump v. Barbara within the nation’s long history of battles over birthright citizenship. Panelists will explore what American citizenship was, what it has become, and where it may be headed, offering practitioners, judges, and scholars essentials tools and perspectives for navigating one of the defining constitutional debates of our era.
The Symposium is free. Please register here.
Schedule
Friday, October 16, 2026 | 9:30 am – 4:00 pm CST | On Zoom
All times are listed in Central Standard Time. Each panel will consist of three 10-minute presentations, after which there will be time for questions and discussion.
9:30 – 10:00 am – Opening Remarks
10:00 – 11:00 am – Origin Stories in the Birthright Citizenship Case
Lucien Ferguson, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Douglass in Barbara: The Black Constitutional Origins of Birthright Citizenship
Anthony Michael Kreis, Georgia State University College of Law, Rules for a Recidivist Republic
Mark D. Rosen, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Fragmentation, Consensus, Stickiness
11:00 – 11:15 am – Break
12:00 – 1:15 pm – Panel II: Struggles over Birthright Citizenship Within and Beyond the Nation State
Sam Erman, University of Michigan Law School, TBD
Eladio Bobadilla, University of Pittsburgh Department of History, “To Get Rights Back for the Majority”: Litigation as a Blunt Force Nativist Tactic
Erin Delaney, University College of London, TBD
12:15 – 1:15 pm – Lunch
1:15 – 2:15 pm – Panel III: The Constitutional Politics of the Birthright Citizenship Case
Evan Bernick, Northern Illinois University College of Law, No Regrets: Reactionary Constitutionalism and the Limits of Collegiality
Paul Gowder, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, The Worst Anti-Citizenship Arguments
Carolyn Shapiro, Chicago-Kent College of Law, TBD
2:15 – 2:30 pm – Break
2:30 – 3:30 pm – Panel IV: Putting the Birthright Citizenship Case in Historical Perspective
Allison Brownell Tirres, University of San Francisco School of Law, Memory Games and “Misbegotten Aims”: The Uses of History in Trump v. Barbara
Christopher W. Schmidt, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Persons, Plyler, and Birthright Citizenship: The Fourteenth Amendment’s Other Jurisdiction Problem
Rachel Rosenbloom, Northeastern University School of Law, Making Sense of the Barbara Dissents: The Long View
3:30 – 4:00 pm – Concluding Remarks
Presenters
Evan Bernick, Associate Professor of Law, Northern Illinois University College of Law, No Regrets: Reactionary Constitutionalism and the Limits of Collegiality
Eladio Bobadilla, Assistant Professor of History, University of Pittsburgh, “To Get Rights Back for the Majority”: Litigation as a Blunt Force Nativist Tactic
Allison Brownell Tirres, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco School of Law, Memory Games and “Misbegotten Aims”: The Uses of History in Trump v. Barbara
Erin Delaney, Leverhulme Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law, University College of London, TBD
Sam Erman, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School, TBD
Lucien Ferguson, Assistant Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Douglass in Barbara: The Black Constitutional Origins of Birthright Citizenship
Paul Gowder, Frederic P. Vose Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, The Worst Anti-Citizenship Arguments
Anthony Michael Kreis, Associate Professor, Georgia State University College of Law, Rules for a Recidivist Republic
Mark D. Rosen, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Fragmentation, Consensus, Stickiness
Rachel Rosenbloom, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law, Making Sense of the Barbara Dissents: The Long View
Christopher W. Schmidt, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Persons, Plyler, and Birthright Citizenship: The Fourteenth Amendment’s Other Jurisdiction Problem
Carolyn Shapiro, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, TBD
