Politicians, judges, and citizens commonly use the phrase “rule of law” to describe some good that flows from a legal system. But what precisely is that good? Even in Aristotle’s time, there was no agreement on either its nature, and on whether it counted as an unqualified good. Even now, a core rule-of-law aspiration is that law can constrain how power is flexed. But how or when? Disagreement persists as to whether the rule of law is a matter of how law is used or why it is deployed. In consequence, the World Bank, the leaders of Singapore’s one-party state, and the Communist Party in China can all offer their own spins on the concept.

By charting these disagreements and showing the overlap and the conflicts between different understandings of the concept, Aziz Z. Huq shows how the rule of law can still be used as an important tool for framing and evaluating the goals and functions of a legal system. He traces the idea’s historical origins from ancient Greece to the constitutional theorist Albert Venn Dicey to the economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek.

Aziz Z. Huq is a scholar of US and comparative constitutional law. His recent work concerns democratic backsliding and the regulation of AI. His award-winning scholarship is published in several books and in leading law, social science, and political science journals. He also writes for Politico, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and many other non-specialist publications. In 2015, he received the Graduating Students Award for Teaching Excellence. He has an active pro bono practice, and is on the board of the American Constitution Society, the Seminary Coop, the New Press, and the ACLU of Illinois.

Before joining the Law School faculty, Professor Huq was counsel and then director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Project, litigating cases in both the US Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court. As a Senior Consultant Analyst for the International Crisis Group, he researched and wrote on constitutional design and implementation in Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. He was a law clerk for Judge Robert D. Sack of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is also a 1996 summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a 2001 graduate of Columbia Law School where he was awarded the John Ordronaux Prize (for the student graduating first in their class).

This event is sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School's International Programs, Human Rights Law Society, and International Law Society.

Lunch will be provided to registered participants of the 2024 ASIL Midyear Meeting. Please visit the site to register for free using the code APSTUDENT and submit dietary requests eight business days prior to the program to Aican Nguyen at aican@uchicago.edu. Although we will try to accommodate dietary needs, it is not guaranteed.