27th Annual John P. Frank Memorial Lecture with Jason Stanley
What: "Is it Fascism Yet?"
When: Monday, April 13, 2026
Where: Armstrong Hall and ASU Live (Lecture recording available for internal educational use only)
Jason Stanley is an American expert on fascism and a descendant of holocaust survivors. Last year he left the United States to live and work in Canada. You won’t want to miss this timely and chilling discussion.
How do we even begin to understand what is happening in America right now? Every day a new attack on the Constitution. People are routinely abducted by masked men and stuffed into vans. The military has been deployed against protesters. Universities and law firms are punished for not toeing the line and every day there is a new assertion of unitary presidential power. And yet the daily headlines barely make a dent in our consciousness. Are we ill-equipped to understand what is playing out before our eyes? How far has the US shifted to authoritarianism and is there any way back?
This year's event was held in partnership with The Watts College.
The John P Frank Lecture is the School of Social Transformation's signature annual event. The endowed lecture series honors the memory of attorney John P. Frank (1917-2002), a leader in the Arizona legal community and one of our nation's great legal minds.
The series, which focuses on pressing justice issues of our time, honors Frank's life-long commitments to justice, scholarship and law. Justice Studies is proud to host the John P. Frank Lecture, which has been made possible through the generosity of Womble Bond Dickinson (formerly Lewis and Roca)”, which Frank joined in 1954, and Frank's many friends and admirers.
Read the edited collection of the first 12 lectures in Law and the Quest for Justice.
About John P. Frank
John P. Frank is recognized as part of the team that represented Ernesto Miranda before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966 – the case in which the High Court ruled that suspects must be advised of their right to legal counsel. Frank wrote or delivered arguments for numerous First Amendment and desegregation cases and made important contributions to the historical brief for Brown v. Board of Education. He is remembered as well for his expertise in civil procedure and standards for judicial disqualification. A lawyer, constitutional scholar, historian, author and mentor, his opinion was sought by presidents and Supreme Court justices and he was influential in shaping public policy in Arizona and the nation.
Lifetime Donors
Womble Bond Dickinson (formerly Lewis and Roca)
Dr. Mary Margaret Fonow and Ms. Corinne Dillon
Mr. Jerome Hirsch
Whiteman Foundation / Jack Whiteman
Mr. Jose A. Cardenas
Mr. Joseph E. and Mrs. Sarah McGarry
Hon. Patricia K. Norris and Dr. Geoffrey W. Gates
Mr. James P. and Mrs. Judith Walsh
Hon. Dawn M. Bergin
Ms. Uta Behrens
Coppersmith Brockelman PLC
Mr. John P. and Mrs. Lorraine W. Frank
The Family of John P. Frank
Ms. Susan M. Freeman
Mr. Richard and Mrs. Susan Goldsmith
Mr. Marty and Mrs. Kathy Harper
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
Dr. Marjorie S. Zatz
Hon. Charles G. Case, II & Ms. Pamela J. Culwell
Ms. Amy Gittler & Mr. Michael Sillyman
Mr. Andrew S. Gordon
Hon. Janet Napolitano
Mrs. Karen C. & Mr. Steve Owens
Mr. Randall & Ms. Gina Papetti
Dr. Doris Marie Provine & Mr. J. Michael Shelton
Hon. Mary M. Schroeder & Prof. Milton R. Schroeder
Past Lecturers
Dahlia Lithwick
"Between Law and Justice: The John Roberts Court in the Trump Era(s)."
March 4, 2025
Matthew Desmond
"Poverty, by America"
March 25, 2024
Michele Bratcher Goodwin
"The Long Arc of Reproductive Freedom"
March 13, 2023
Masha Gessen
"The State of Democracy and the Pursuit of Justice"
April 11, 2022
Neal Katyal
"Above the Law? Seeking Justice and the 21st Century Supreme Court"
April 13, 2021
Emily Bazelon
"The New Movement to End Mass Incarceration in the U.S."
January 28, 2020
Janet Murguía
"The Quest for Latino Educational Equity"
April 23, 2019
Anita Hill
"Reimagining Leadership: New Models for Combatting Workplace Sexual Harassment and Assault"
February 5, 2018
Sonya Sotomayor
"An Evening with Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor"
January 23, 2017
Non Aron
"The Battle Over the Supreme Court: Politics or Justice"
April 19, 2016
Jose Antonio Vargas
"An Evening with Jose Antonio Vargas"
April 6, 2015
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"A Conversation with Ruth Bader Ginsburg"
May 6, 2014
Gail Collins
"When Everything Changed: the Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present"
February 25, 2013
Erwin Chemerinsky
"States' Rights in the 21st Century: Immigration, Health Care, and Gay Marriage"
February 20, 2012
Nina Totenberg
"A Conversation with Nina Totenberg"
February 11, 2011
Janet Napolitano
"Meeting New and Evolving Threats to our National Security"
March 25, 2010
Robert Reich
"Will Our Children Live As Well?"
March 19, 2009
Judith Resnik
"Representing Justice, from Renaissance Iconography to 21st Century Courthouses"
March 20, 2008
Linda Greenhouse
"Change and Continuity on the Supreme Court"
February 15, 2007
Geoffrey Stone
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime, from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism"
February 9, 2006
Jack Greenberg
"Brown v. Board at 50: Still Contested, Still Right"
February 3, 2005
Anthony Lewis
"Guarding Our Freedoms"
February 5, 2004
John Echohawk
"Native American Rights in the 21st Century"
February 12, 2003
Antonia Hernández
"American Citizenship Post 9/11"
February 26, 2002
Charles J. Ogletree Jr.
"The Challenge of Achieving Racial Justice in the New Millenium"
February 15, 2001
Lani Guinier
Inaugural John P. Frank Lecture
February 18, 2000