On Aug. 9, 2011 at NCSL's Legislative Summit in San Antonio, Texas, the Law and Criminal Justice Committee and the Legal Services Staff Section examined the role of state legislatures in a constitutional framework and heard an analysis of the recently filed healthcare lawsuits.  Participants also received a briefing on recent United States Supreme Court decisions rendered in the 2010 term that impacted state government, including Whiting v. Chamber of Commerce (immigration, e-verify) and Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (sale of violent video games to minors).    

Dean Lawrence Sager is one of the nation's preeminent constitutional theorists and scholars. Dean Sager came to Texas from New York University School of Law, where he was the Robert B. McKay Professor and Co-Founder of the Program in Law, Philosophy & Social Theory. He has also taught at Harvard, Princeton, Boston University, UCLA, and the University of Michigan. Dean Sager is the author or co-author of dozens of articles, many now classics in the canon of legal scholarship. Sager is the author of two books: "Justice in Plainclothes: a Theory of American Constitutional Practice"  (Yale Univ. Press), and "Religious Freedom and the Constitution"  (co-authored with Christopher Eisgruber) (Harvard Univ. Press). He received his LLB from Columbia University and his BA from Pomona College. 

Susan Parnas Frederick joined NCSL in 2000 and currently holds the title of Federal Affairs Counsel. She staffs NCSL’s Law and Criminal Justice Committee, Redistricting and Elections Committee and the Task Force on Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. She works to promote NCSL’s policy positions in the areas of criminal and civil justice, election and campaign finance reform and homeland security before the U.S. Congress and federal agencies. Before coming to NCSL, Ms. Parnas Frederick was a Senior Legislative Counsel at the National League of Cities and an attorney in private practice in Alexandria, Virginia. She received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her J.D. from the American University, Washington College of Law.