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2025 Connecticut Legal Conference

Connecticut Bar Association | Speaking Engagements

June 13, 2025

WHEN:

June 13, 2025

WHERE:

Joette Katz moderates this keynote panel discussion which explores recent and upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and is presented as part of the CBA's 2025 Connecticut Legal Conference.

In recent years, several of the Roberts Court decisions have overturned or significantly changed Supreme Court precedent. This seminar will analyze some of the notable decisions from the Roberts Court and where the court may be headed in light of the new presidential administration that has also begun to make aggressive changes in the federal government. Moderated by retired Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz, presenters G. Eric Brunstad, Jr. (Yale Law School Visiting Lecturer and Senior Research Scholar) and Ilya Somin (George Mason University Professor of Law and Cato Institute B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies) will explore these topics and more.

Presenters

G. Eric Brunstad, Jr. is a Yale Law School Visiting Lecturer and Senior Research Scholar currently serving as a partner at Dechert LLP. He has argued 11 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including matters involving the First Amendment, bankruptcy, taxation, the Commerce Clause, statutory interpretation, jurisdiction and arbitration.

Ilya Somin is a professor of law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. He has authored several publications including 2016's Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Better.

Moderator

Justice Joette Katz is a retired Connecticut Supreme Court Justice currently serving as a partner in Shipman & Goodwin's Business Litigation Practice Group. With over 18 years as an Associate Justice on the Connecticut Supreme Court, Justice Katz has heard approximately 2,500 cases and authored nearly 500 opinions.

At a later session of the 2025 Connecticut Legal Conference, Joette will also moderate the session “Kelo 20th Anniversary: Views from the Bench, Bar and Academia,” an exciting presentation about the Kelo v. City of New London decision featuring Justices who sat on the Connecticut Supreme Court panel that decided the case, the litigant who argued and prevailed in both the Connecticut Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court and an esteemed academic who has written a book about the events. The speakers also examine what has happened since the United States Supreme Court and the Connecticut Supreme Court decided the case, and what the future might hold for the controversial decision.