Mr. Clement has the distinction of arguing over 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, more than any other litigator in this century. He received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, a master’s in economics from Cambridge, and his juris doctor from Harvard. After finishing law school, he clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and later for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. From 2001 to 2008, he served as deputy solicitor general and solicitor general under President George W. Bush. Mr. Clement is a founding partner of Clement & Murphy and a distinguished lecturer in Law at Georgetown University.
“They didn’t think that the federal government would handle all manner of local issues, but they did think that the federal government would have a distinct role in stitching together the Republic.”
In his lecture, “The Framers’ Vision and the Modern Administrative State,” Mr. Clement looked to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to judge what the men who structured the American government would think of the massive bureaucratic infrastructure that predominates today. “As that title may suggest, there may be a little disconnect between what the framers had in mind and what we’ve arrived upon in 2025,” he told his audience.
Mr. Clement illustrated the vision of the framers by highlighting several of the grievances listed against the British monarchy in the Declaration of Independence and pointing out some of the provisions of power built into the Constitution. In his lecture, he contended that the administrative state has produced some of the same abuses that the founders originally sought to guard against. “They didn’t think that the federal government would handle all manner of local issues, but they did think that the federal government would have a distinct role in stitching together the Republic,” he said.
Despite his emphasis on the corruption of the framers’ vision resulting from the increase of administrative government agencies, Mr. Clement ended his lecture on an optimistic note, sharing his hope of returning closer to the original vision of government outlined in the Constitution. After his presentation, he joined his audience in a more casual setting for a discussion period, where he answered questions and expanded upon the themes of his lecture.
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