Two distinguished speakers with extensive ties to the School of Law delivered Sibley Lectures during the academic year. University Professor & Caldwell Chair in Constitutional Law Dan T. Coenen took the podium in October and former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson, who also holds the school’s Sibley Professorship in Corporate and Business Law, spoke to the law school community in March.

Coenen’s lecture, titled “Mystery, History, and the Dormant Commerce Clause Rule,” framed a conversation on constitutional law around the Dormant Commerce Clause Rule.

“Put simply, the Dormant Commerce Clause Rule has to do with making the United States genuinely united, and united in a way that was of the highest importance to our nation’s founders,” Coenen explained.

He argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ability to strike down state laws that run counter to or alter the nation’s ability to operate as a single economic market is crucial to the function of the federal government. Displaying the academic rigor that has marked his classes for nearly four decades, Coenen took the time to discuss how differing critical lenses support his point despite historical and contemporary arguments to the contrary.

“It’s the very depth of the dive into the historical materials that has convinced me that the textualist and originalist case in support of the Dormant Commerce Clause Rule is extremely strong, and it simply takes a lot of explaining,” Coenen elaborated.

A professor at the School of Law since 1987, Coenen retired at the end of the academic year.

His scholarship in constitutional law has brought Coenen a great deal of renown, but it is his gravitas and reputation among his former students that have made perhaps the most lasting impression. In her introduction of the lecture, 1995 alumna Julia A. Houston made sure to mention how Coenen’s class was the one where she “most dreaded getting called on.” As difficult as her experience was during one particular moment, Houston went on to say that, “The sun still came up the next day. My law career was not over. I remember it to this day … because the lessons Professor Coenen taught me were more important than contracts.”

In the spring of 2024, Houston created the Dan T. Coenen Scholarship Fund in his honor.

Thompson spoke on his life experiences, with special attention given to his time working in the upper echelon of the American justice system as the U.S. deputy attorney general. Delivering remarks and memories that are also featured in his book, Quiet Counsel: Looking Back on a Life of Service to the Law, Thompson made mention of his unique relationship to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, which occurred just five months into his service in the Bush administration.

“I felt like I had failed,” Thompson said, recounting his feelings after the attacks. “I felt like my job … was to protect citizens.”

With an emphasis on the rule of law and the civil rights of the American people, Thompson discussed how crucial it is for the government to defend citizens from acts of terrorism without succumbing to the temptation toward absolute power.

“I do not want to give the government … a blank check to do anything they want,” Thompson noted frequently throughout his speech, mentioning his previously proposed plan for a national security court within the federal government.

Though the bulk of his presentation centered around national security and his time in public service, Thompson also discussed corporate responsibility while remembering his work in the wake of Enron and other prominent corporate fraud cases.

During a meeting with then-President George W. Bush, Thompson took the lead in explaining how corporations were taking advantage of people and defrauding investors.

“We gave President Bush examples of that, and I will never forget this,” Thompson said. “President Bush then turned to one of his economic advisors and said, ‘We can’t let people get away with this, can we?’”

Thompson also recalled the encouraging words he heard from the president at the end of their meeting that day: “L.T. … good job. Keep up the good work.”

The Sibley Lecture Series, established in 1964 by the Charles Loridans Foundation of Atlanta in tribute to the late John A. Sibley, is designed to attract outstanding legal scholars of national prominence to the School of Law. Sibley was a 1911 graduate of the law school.