Notre Dame Law Review & The Duke Center for Firearms Law Symposium: History, Tradition, & Analogical Reasoning

Notre Dame Law Review and  the Duke Center for Firearms Law will co-host a symposium at Notre Dame Law School on Friday, November 3 in Eck Hall of Law. The theme of the symposium is History, Tradition, and Analogical Reasoning.

The majority opinion in Bruen uses versions of the word “analogy” nearly 30 times and states that the Bruen test “will often involve reasoning by analogy—a commonplace task for any lawyer or judge.” Analogical reasoning is the core of Bruen’s approach, yet the opinion treats it as a self-explanatory concept requiring little guidance. The upcoming symposium will bring together legal experts on analogical reasoning and top Second Amendment scholars to examine Bruen’s specific brand of historical-analogical reasoning, how the test has worked in practice thus far, and how existing scholarship on analogical reasoning can guide the development of Second Amendment doctrine post-Bruen. The symposium will also seek to draw out lessons from the Second Amendment context to inform and enrich the ongoing scholarly conversation about how analogical reasoning works in practice and how to reason by analogy to history.

We have assembled a great group of scholars and commentators (listed below) who will provide important perspectives on historical-analogical reasoning as a legal methodology. The essays produced as part of the symposium will be published in the Notre Dame Law Review. For more details on the event and schedule, see the official flyer here.

Panel 1 – 9:00-10:15 am – Analogical Reasoning and Principles of Relevant Similarity

Moderator: William Kelley (Notre Dame)

Panelists: Fred Schauer (Virginia), Barbara Spellman (Virginia), Ryan Williams (Boston College), Kunal Parker (Miami)

Panel 2 – 10:30-11:45 am – The Challenges of Reasoning by Analogy to History

Moderator: Jeff Pojanowski (Notre Dame)

Panelists: Alexandra Filindra (Illinois-Chicago), Darrell Miller (Duke), Reva Siegel (Yale), Andrew Willinger (Duke)

Panel 3 – 12:15-1:45 pm – Litigating under Bruen

Moderator: Jimmy Gurulé (Notre Dame)

Panelists: Brandon Beck (Texas Tech), Jason Medinger (United States Attorney’s Office, Baltimore, MD), Kelly Roskam (Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions)

Panel 4 – 2:00-3:15 pm – Traditionalism and Historical Fluctuation

Moderator: Sherif Girgis (Notre Dame)

Panelists: William Baude (University of Chicago), Marc DeGirolami (St. John’s), Robert Leider (George Mason), Christina Mulligan (Brooklyn)