Fall 2024 Fellow
Jeff Blattner is a special assistant attorney general with the Colorado Department of Justice and a senior fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship of the University of Colorado.
Jeff has had a rich history with the Supreme Court, where he was a law clerk for Associate Justice Potter Stewart (retired) of the U.S.Supreme Court (1982-1983), and also worked for Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, William Brennan, Harry Blackmun, and Lewis Powell during that period.
From 1987 through 1995, Jeff was on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff of Senator Edward Kennedy, serving as Senator Kennedy’s chief counsel from 1992-95. He worked on six Supreme Court nominations (Bork, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsberg and Breyer), and was the staff lead on two major civil rights laws, the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
Jeff has discussed Supreme Court nominations in many forums, including the the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate and PBS Frontline. Jeff’s essay on nominees’ appearances before the Judiciary Committee, The Nominee’s Fifth Amendment, was cited in testimony before the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. Jeff also served on the presidential transitions of Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
From 1998 through January 2001, Jeff was deputy assistant attorney general and special counsel for information technology in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he oversaw the landmark Microsoft antitrust case for Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein. From 2001 to 2019, Jeff provided legal advice and strategic consulting services to technology companies and other businesses, government agencies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations.
Jeff has served as a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Colorado Law School, the Georgetown University Law Center, and the American University Washington College of Law, where for six years he taught a course with Rep. Jamie Raskin.
A Pittsburgh native and graduate of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Law School, Jeff recently concluded his term as Board Chair of HIAS, a Jewish humanitarian organization that works in the United States and 20 other countries, providing vital services to refugees and asylum seekers of all faiths.
Study Group: The Supreme Court In American Politics
Chief Justice John Roberts famously claimed that a Supreme Court Justice’s job is “to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat.” Yet today, the Supreme Court is seen less as an umpire, and more as an active player in the game of American politics, with decisions shaping American elections and touching the most personal decisions in Americans’ lives. At a time when the Court’s approval ratings are near historic lows, this study group will explore the Court’s powerful role in American politics and the role of politics in the decisions of the Supreme Court.
Wednesdays, 2PM – 4PM PT
October 9
October 16
October 23
October 30
November 6
November 13