we actually in the teaching that i do with jocelyn benson at wayne state law school, we are now in the middle of a course on legislation and our main focus in that course is on oversight. and some of the cases and the practices that are involved in oversight we use more to book as one of our texts in our course. i hope jocelyn gets here she until recently was the dean of wayne state law school, now she is taking on responsibilities but she's also going to continue at wayne law as the director of the levin center. i thank the pew center for their hospitality here today. i am tremendously indebted to linda who was my -- the director, my staff director, my -- the one who is also the staff director at the permanent subcommittee on investigations. and on an earlier oversight committee called the oversight of government management. when i walked in here, a number of people greeted me, i said "is linda here?" they said "linda's here, we all love her." everyone told me how much they love linda. with good reason, folks, she's an extraordinary, extraordinary human being. we have four students wi

i'm jocelyn benson. i'm the former dean of wayne state law school and now the director of the levin center at wayne law. very proud also, co-professor on this subject. i'm pleased to be the moderator of this important panel that is going to talk about the ways to reform and improve the current system, and we'll include an historical analysis of how we got to where we are, provided by our great panelists, beginning with josh chaffetz, professor of law at law school at cornell, and his research focusing on constitutional law, legislation and legislative procedure, and his second book, "congress constitution and the separation of powers" will be published by yale university press next spring. he has published widely and popular press and holds a law degree from oxford. after josh, we'll hear from david hayes, who is currently a distinguished visiting lecturer at stanford and consulting professor at stanford's wood institute for the environment. prior to that, served as deputy secretary and chief operating o

i'm jocelyn benson. i'm the former dean of wayne state law school and now levin wayne law. we have some of our students here today. i'm pleased to be the moderator of this important panel that's going to talk about the ways to reform and improve the current system and will include an historical analysis of how we got to where we are, provided by our great panelists, beginning with josh chafetz, a professor of law at cornell law school. his research focusing on constitutional law, british and american constitutional development, legislation and legislative procedure. his second book, entitled "congress's constitution," will be published by yale university press next spring. he's also published widely in scholarly journals and popular press. he holds a law degree from yale and doctorate and political science from oxford. after josh we'll hear from david hayes, who is currently a distinguished visiting lecturer at stanford and consulting professor at stanforstanford's institute. prior to that he served as deputy secretary of the office of the interior in the colin of any clint

the person who is supposed to be presenting these remarks is jocelyn benson, our executive director. she is flying in from new york this morning and has not made it yet. so i will assume her position here. we're here today to examine the struggle between the congress and the executive branch over access to information. we titled this conference a right to know, k.n.o.w., on the part of congress. and that is a right to documents and witnesses in the executive branch as part of i legitimate inquiry into congress into what the executive branch is doing and has done verses a right to no, n.o. we will have additional welcoming remarks from jenny sloan and opening comments from senator heavy in. from 9:15 to 10:30, we will hear from a panel of individuals personally involved in the case of house committee government oversight versus holder, fresh, lynch. it is now the lynch case, which involved the fast and furious program and the case involving harriet miers. we'll break at 10:30 for 15 minutes. we will give serious thought to how the congress and the executive branch can work through the

legislator in residents at the law school of the person whose supposed to be presenting remarks jocelyn benson, our executive director, but she's flying in from new york this morning and has not made it yet. so i will assume her position here. we're here today to examine the struggle between the congress and executive branch over access to information. we titled this conference, a right to know, k-n-o-w, on the part of congress, and that is a right to documents and witnesses in the executive branch as part avijit inquiry by congress into what the executive branch is doing or has done versus a right to no -- n-o -- on the part of the administration, fully respond to congressional request for information or access to a witness in order to protect its deliberative process and the president's right to confidentiality. we're joined by two panels of experienced practitioners and distinguished scholars who will help us grapple with this issue today. our pharmaceutical will be as follows. first we'll have additional welcoming remarks from jenny sloan and opening comments from senator levin. 9:15 to 10