Ilya Shapiro

Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review, will discuss issues involving America’s campaign finance system at noon on April 10, 2014, at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. Shapiro, who has called the current system “unbalanced, unstable, and unworkable,” will address the topic “Stephen Colbert Is Right to Lampoon Our Campaign Finance System (And So Can You!)”

The program, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the IIT Chicago-Kent chapter of the Federalist Society. It will be held in room 570 of the law school at 565 W. Adams Street (between Clinton and Jefferson streets) in Chicago.

“Our campaign finance system has been the topic of both serious debate and lampooning by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert,” said Federalist Society president Vincenzo Chimera. “We are pleased to have Mr. Shapiro join us just days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision related to campaign financing in McCutcheon.”

Shapiro is coordinator of the Cato Institute’s amicus brief program and has filed more than 100 friend-of-the-court briefs in the Supreme Court. He has testified before Congress and state legislatures on a wide range of issues. Shapiro has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, and regularly provides commentary for various media outlets.

Prior to joining the Cato Institute, Shapiro served as a special assistant and advisor to the Multi-National Force in Iraq on rule of law issues and has practiced international, political, commercial, and antitrust litigation at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb.

Shapiro holds an A.B. from Princeton University, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law.