17th Annual FCBA/ABA Privacy and Data Security Symposium: Session II – Privacy at the Supreme Court

17th Annual FCBA/ABA Privacy and Data Security Symposium

Session II: Privacy at the Supreme Court

Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Time: 3:45 – 4:45 p.m. ET
Location: Virtual via Zoom

In one of the most controversial opinions of the term, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which held that abortion was part of a right to privacy. In his concurrence, Justice Thomas even questioned what he deemed the “facial absurdity” of Griswold v. Connecticut, which declared a right of privacy being implicit in the Constitution, leaving privacy advocates concerned about privacy-based precedent beyond Roe and Casey. Along with Dobbs, the powers of federal agencies to enact potential privacy-based regulation has been called into question this past term. In West Virginia v. EPA, the Court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate gas emissions in the power sector. Applying the major questions doctrine, the Court required Congress to provide clear direction in its delegation of authority to agencies. Analysts suggest this decision may have ripple effects that may apply to any policymaking efforts, including privacy, by federal agencies. This session will examine the impacts that Dobbs and West Virginia will have on consumer and employee privacy issues, and explore where the Court may turn next.

Speakers:

• Diane Soubly, Professor Chicago-Kent Law School
• Cody Venzke, Senior Counsel, Center for Democracy and Technology
• Megan Iorio, Senior Counsel, EPIC
• Florian Schaum, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan School of Information

Moderator:

• Jennifer Dukarski, Shareholder, Butzel Long

About the conference:

The FCBA Privacy and Data Security Committee and the American Bar Association’s Forum on Communications Law will hold the 17th Annual Privacy & Data Security Symposium on Wednesday, November 16 from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET. This program will be held virtually via the Zoom platform.

This year has seen major developments across the federal privacy landscape. At the agency level, in the continued absence of comprehensive federal privacy legislation, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently launched a federal privacy rulemaking, which—if it results in federal privacy rules—will mark a sea-change in the U.S. approach to consumer privacy. There have been major developments in the courts as well, including the Supreme Court’s recent decisions that implicate personal privacy issues and agency rulemaking authority, as well as growing privacy litigation stemming from both state and federal privacy laws. This event will take a deeper dive into this evolving landscape, examining these and other developments at the federal level, and discussing how these developments relate to parallel activity at the international and state level.