Hon. William Wagner to Deliver Keynote at St. John’s University Law School

On March 30, Hon. William Wagner (Ret.) will deliver the keynote address at St. John’s University School of Law in New York City. Hosted by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, the lecture is titled “Federalism, the Constitution, and Physician Assisted Killing” and begins at 6 PM in the PDR.

The address takes on one of the most consequential legal and moral questions in America today. As state legislatures across the country continue to debate physician-assisted killing, the constitutional questions surrounding who decides, and how, have never been more pressing. Hon. Wagner will bring both judicial experience and constitutional scholarship to bear on the issue, examining where federal authority ends and state authority begins, and what the Constitution actually demands in cases touching the most basic of human rights.

William Wagner serves as Distinguished Chair of the Wagner Faith & Freedom Center and brings a background that spans all three branches of the federal government. That experience gives him a distinctive vantage point on questions of constitutional structure, federalism, and the limits of government power.

He framed the stakes of the lecture this way:

“Questions surrounding physician-assisted killing strike at the heart of our constitutional order—testing the proper balance of federal and state authority while confronting the most fundamental question of all: the value and protection of human life. This event invites a thoughtful and principled examination of both.”

The Wagner Faith & Freedom Center is committed to engaging the pressing legal and moral questions of the day from a foundation of faith, constitutional fidelity, and respect for human dignity. This lecture is one more expression of that mission.