Happy New Year, and welcome to the first Keeping Up With Atiba installment of 2017! This month I am presenting at two conferences, and I hope you will be able to join me.
Association of American Law Schools (AALS)
This weekend I will be moderating the Minority Groups section’s panel, “Presidential Politics and the Future of the Supreme Court: Post-Election Reflections and Forecasts for the ‘Post-Racial’ Post-Obama White House” (Co-Sponsored by Constitutional Law & Election Law). This promises to be a lively and important discussion. 
Description
The 2016 presidential campaign has been characterized as one of the most contentious and surprising in history. This program explores how the landscape of presidential politics has uncovered deep divides among the American population. According to some, the gender, class, and racial representation of the presidential candidates added multidimensional complexity to the task of deciphering the contemporary effects of this divisiveness. The long battle to the White House has ignited heated national conversations on race, immigration, and counterterrorism policy, as well as debates on gun, voting, and reproductive rights. Moreover, Justice Scalia’s death at the height of the campaign season opened the door to an examination of the role of campaign and identity politics in the Supreme Court nomination process. Distinguished experts on race and the law, election law, national security, constitutional law, and immigration, among other areas, offer their reflections on the 2016 presidential election and the new administration, particularly Supreme Court nomination process and what we might expect (or hope for) under the new administration.
Location
Saturday, January 7, 10:30 am – 12:15 pm
Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Continental Ballroom 6, Ballroom Level, Hilton
Speakers
Jennifer M. Chacon, University of California, Irvine School of Law
Guy-Uriel E. Charles, Duke University School of Law
Bertrall Ross, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Shirin Sinnar, Stanford Law School
Franita Tolson, Florida State University College of Law
Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
For the second year in a row, I will participate in Washington and Lee University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events. I will be part of a panel on voting rights entitled “The 2016 Presidential Election: Voting Rights in a ‘Post-Racial’/’Post-Civil Rights’ Era.”
Location
Monday, January 16, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Millhiser Moot Courtroom, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Speakers
Chris Seaman (Moderator), Associate Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Atiba Ellis, Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Professor of Law and Harry T. Ice Faculty Fellow, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Mark Rush, Director of International Education and Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Mid-Atlantic People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference (MAPOC)
Later this month I will participate in this year’s MAPOC conference “Legal and Political Change During the Obama Era.” I will speak as part of the panel “Election 2016: Revelations and Responses” where I am looking 
forward to reflecting on the open, online class discussion I held at West Virginia University the day
after the the presidential
election.
Location
Saturday, January 28, 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
The George Washington University Law School, Washington DC
Atiba Ellis 