Making Climate History at the Supreme Court: A Book Talk with Richard Lazarus, Harvard Law

When the Supreme Court announced its ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA the decision was hailed as a landmark, leading EPA to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions as pollutants and making possible important environmental safeguards which the Trump administration now seeks to unravel. The case has been recognized as the most important environmental law decision made by the Supreme Court.

At a UCLA Emmett Institute book talk, Richard Lazarus, Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law at Harvard Law School will share insights from his new book, The Rule of Five: Making Climate History at the Supreme Court, which reveals the personal dynamics of the justices and dramatizes the workings of the Court during the Massachusetts v. EPA arguments. Ann Carlson, Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute at UCLA Law will moderate the conversation.

The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP here by March 12, 2020.

Richard Lazarus is the Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches courses on environmental law and Supreme Court decision-making. He has represented the government and environmental groups in forty Supreme Court cases and has presented oral argument in fourteen. For ten years he has been co-teaching, with Chief Justice John Roberts, a course on the history of the Supreme Court. Lazarus was the founding Director of the Supreme Court Institute, which prepares attorneys for oral argument in over 90 percent of the cases brought before the Supreme Court.