MILWAUKEE — Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia University, will deliver the 2026 Hallows Lecture, titled “’Unstated’: How Three Implicit Legal Ideas Have Sidelined Congress and Empowered the President and the Courts,” on Monday, March 2, at 5 p.m. at Eckstein Hall, 1215 W. Michigan Ave.
Merrill will set forth several implicit legal ideas whose effect has been to shift power away from Congress. The lecture will explain how recognizing and debating these topics is a first step toward restoring a proper constitutional balance among the branches of the federal government.
Registration for the event is closed. Media interested in attending must contact Kevin Conway at kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu in advance.
Merrill is among the nation’s most widely cited legal scholars, with expertise spanning constitutional, administrative, environmental, and property law. His recent books include “The Chevron Doctrine: Its Rise and Fall, and the Future of the Administrative State.” He previously served as deputy solicitor general of the United States from 1987–90, arguing 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Hallows Lecture honors E. Harold Hallows, a Milwaukee lawyer who taught at Marquette Law School from 1930–58 and served as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1958–74, including his final six years as chief justice.
