USU to Host President's Forum on Conflict Transformation With Special Guest Judge Thomas B. Griffith

LOGAN — USU will host retired Judge Thomas B. Griffith as part of the university’s second annual President’s Forum on Conflict and Conflict Transformation on March 25.

As division and conflict grows across our communities and our nation, Griffith will discuss the profound crisis of U.S. political polarization, characterized by an alarming erosion of trust within our democracy, and will illuminate ways that the U.S. Constitution can offer a path to unity.

Joseph Ward, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Services, will moderate a discussion with Griffith, Lord Hastings, and Jeannie Johnson following Griffith’s keynote address.

“Our nation’s founding principles should guide us towards civil dialogue, negotiation and compromise rather than division,” said USU’s Interim President Alan L. Smith. “I look forward to hosting Judge Griffith and hearing him sharing his insights with our community.”

The President’s Forum on Conflict and Conflict Transformation will be from 2-3 p.m. March 25 on USU’s Logan Campus in the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall. A reception for attendees will follow. Admission is free, but tickets are required for in-person attendance. Due to limited seating, reservations are strongly encouraged and available at usu.edu/presidents-forum.

Those unable to attend in person may watch the forum online via Aggiecast.

Griffith served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — often called “the second most important court in the nation” from 2005 to 2020.

His prior legal experience included service as the chief legal officer of the U.S. Senate and as general counsel of Brigham Young University. Griffith is currently a lecturer on law at the law schools at Harvard and Stanford, a fellow at the Wheatley Institute at BYU, and special counsel at the international law firm of Hunton Andrews Kurth, LLP.

In 2021, President Joe Biden appointed Griffith to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, and he has appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the confirmation of both Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

In 2021, along with other former federal appeals court judges who had been appointed by Republican presidents, he authored a report on the 2020 presidential election.

Griffith has long been active in rule of law projects in Eastern Europe and has been appointed by the government of Ukraine to help vet applicants for its constitutional court.