Presidential Transfer of Power

This program is intended for informational purposes and does not carry MCLE credit.

The New York State Bar Association Task Force on the Presidential Election, chaired by veteran election lawyer Jerry H. Goldfeder, is inviting reporters and lawyers to an information program on the laws that will determine how the winner of the November election is determined. The Task Force includes some of the most experienced election law scholars in the state. The experts have described laws governing the Electoral College and the role of Congress in the process. Liz Benjamin, Managing Director of Marathon Strategies in Albany, was the moderator.

In announcing the formation of the Task Force, Scott M. Karson, president of the New York State Bar Association, said: “The work of this task force is crucial to making sure that the law of the land is the winner on Election Day. We believe that fostering a deep understanding of how our democracy works ensures that the election will be civil and orderly and that we can all agree on the rightful winner who will assume the important task of moving the country forward at this difficult moment in our collective history.”

In addition to Goldfeder, special counsel at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP and an adjunct professor of election law at Fordham Law School, task force members that participated in the program are:

• Ava Ayers, director of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, who teaches classes in administrative law, law of government and professional responsibility.
• Wilfred U. Codrington III is a constitutional law scholar with a focus on constitutional reform, election law and voting rights. He is an assistant professor of law at Brooklyn Law School and is a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
• James A. Gardner, a SUNY distinguished professor, Bridget and Thomas Black professor and a research professor of political science at the University at Buffalo School of Law. His research focuses on election law, federalism and Democratic theory.
• John “Jack” Hardin Young was on the Democratic National Committee team that handled the Florida recount during the 2000 election and the Bush v. Gore case. Young, of counsel to Sandler Reiff, is the chair of the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyer Division.
• Deborah Pearlstein, professor of law and co-director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at Cardozo Law, specializes in constitutional law, international law, national security and terrorism, and U.S. foreign relations law.
• Richard H. Pildes, one of the nation’s leading scholars of constitutional law and a specialist in issues facing democracy. He is the Sudler Family professor of constitutional law at NYU School of Law.
• Jed Shugerman, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, is the author of a book that traces the rise of judicial elections, judicial review, and the influence of money and parties in American courts.