The Levin Center at Wayne Law hosted Michael Botticelli, (now former) director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in September. Botticelli spoke about medication assisted treatment of opioid addiction at a community health clinic in Detroit and to students at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The Levin Center at Wayne Law and Wayne Law's Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights hosted a panel discussion in November about the outcome of the elections and anticipated policy changes under the new presidential administration and Congress. More than 200 people attended the event.

Levin Center endowment reaches $1.7 million

As the Levin Center at Wayne Law celebrates its second anniversary in March, it has also reached a fundraising milestone of $1.7 million in pledges and gifts to its endowment. You can support the Levin Center’s work to promote fact-based, bipartisan oversight at all levels of government by making a gift to our endowment here.

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, and seven other former members of Congress wrote congressional leadership in January urging them to “fully and faithfully” meet their constitutional responsibility in overseeing the executive branch in a bipartisan manner. Read the complete letter here. 

The Levin Center at Wayne Law and The Constitution Project presented "A Right to 'Know' or a Right to 'No'?" in Washington, D.C. in October. Nearly 100 people attended the event, which examined the congressional requests for information from the executive branch to conduct oversight. The program was broadcast live on C-SPAN. You can watch a recording of the conference here.

In October, the Levin Center at Wayne Law presented workshops on how to conduct better oversight investigations for a European Parliament investigative committee in Brussels. More than 55 committee members and staffs attended the two workshops, which the Levin Center presented at the invitation of the investigative committee. This was the second international training for the Levin Center.

Boot camp trains congressional staffers on investigations

In February, the Levin Center at Wayne Law, the Project on Government Oversight and The Lugar Center conducted a two-day "boot camp" for congressional staff, providing them with intensive training on how to conduct bipartisan, fact-based, in-depth oversight investigations. The audience consisted of Republican and Democratic staff from both the House and Senate. Leading the boot camp were four experienced congressional investigators from both parties.

Speaking to Congress on congressional oversight

Elise Bean, Washington co-director of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, and Andy Wheeler, former Republican staff director of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public works, made a one-hour presentation on congressional oversight issues at the Bipartisan Policy Center's Legislative Directors Retreat in January. The retreat was attended by legislative directors from Senate offices on both sides of the aisle. This month, Bean conducted oversight workshops for the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Spending and Emergency Management and for the House Foreign Affairs Committee Democratic staff. She also made a congressional oversight presentation to more than 50 federal agency executives at a Congressional Operations Seminar sponsored by the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University.

Levin Center presents oversight workshop at National Conference of State Legislatures

As part of the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit in Chicago in August, the Levin Center at Wayne Law presented a three-hour legislative oversight workshop. The interactive session on bipartisan, fact-based, in-depth oversight addressed how to conduct investigations and how better to work with people of opposing views, focus on the facts, and seek consensus. About 40 state legislative staff attended.

Levin writes columns for several publications

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, wrote, "Devin Nunes has jeopardized the oversight role of Congress" and "A package proposal for repatriation" for The Hill, and co-wrote with former U.S. Senator John Warner, "The Right Way to Investigate Russia's Election Meddling" for Politico Magazine. For The Washington Post, Levin wrote "The United States should fight against tax dodgers, not for them."

For the second consecutive year, Elise Bean, Washington co-director of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, was named to Global Tax 50, an international list of 50 people and organizations who influenced tax policy.