Message from Levin Center Director Jim Townsend

In these trying times, I would like to start by extending my best wishes to all our readers and supporters in the hope that you, your families, and your loved ones remain healthy and well. It is not an exaggeration to say that every aspect of life has changed over the last six months, and our thoughts are with everyone who has been directly affected by the pandemic and its consequences. In line with our mission, the coronavirus has brought a new focus on oversight in emergency settings. While decisions need to be taken swiftly in response to such a devastating crisis, oversight still plays an essential role in good governance – particularly government actions involving trillions of taxpayer dollars, critical services, and public health. It turns out that in these tough times oversight is as important as ever. As for so many others, our activities and events moved online since March 2020. We are pleased to still attract significant audiences and would like to thank everyone who joined us virtually. For more details on our activities over the last six months, I wish you an enjoyable read.

We are honored to welcome four new members to our Advisory Board: Portia Bamiduro, Elizabeth Hardy, Bud Liebler, and Rhonda Welburn. We are excited to benefit from the ideas, energy, and support they bring to us. We would also like to thank Dennis Archer for the five years of guidance he generously gave to the Levin Center while on our Board. You can view a full list of our Advisory board members here. 

We are also pleased to welcome two new staff members at the Levin Center. Margaux Laspeyres started as our new Program Manager in July 2020, joining us from the University of Oxford (UK), where she coordinated academic research programs in medical sciences. Ben Eikey is our new State Training and Communications Manager and will lead development of our state-level oversight training program as well as our communications efforts. Ben’s past work has included serving in Lansing as a staff member in the Michigan House of Representatives, in Washington as a Congressional Fellow on Capitol Hill and as a graduate student instructor at the University of Michigan. Learn more about Margaux and Ben on our staff pages.

In March 2020, the Levin Center secured a $1 million, 3-year grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. A major milestone in our efforts to develop new funding, the grant is allowing us to expand our team and portfolio of training, research, and public service activities. To find out more, please read our press release. 

The Levin Center selected five Wayne Law students to work as legal interns this summer at congressional committees engaged in oversight. The internship program, which provides a $6,000 stipend, gives legal interns the opportunity to work in Congress and substantively engage in investigatory and oversight work. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the legal interns were required to work remotely this year. Despite the unprecedented situation, the experience still proved meaningful as Katelyn Maddock, who served in the House Oversight Committee said, “Despite never going into an office, I was able to make valuable contributions to the work and learn about both myself and the legal profession in the process.” Another intern, Jacob Stropes, wrote that the internship “provided me with a very unique summer experience that I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to any law student interested in Congress and/or congressional oversight.” We were delighted to hear that our interns had a productive and rewarding experience. We were also delighted to learn that a 2019 summer intern and law school graduate secured a job working on the special House subcommittee conducting oversight related to the pandemic.

Our Model Oversight Program for high schoolers is growing in Michigan and gaining interest from other states. Led by Wayne Law student and Levin Center consultant Emily VanBarr, the program enables high school students participating in a statewide model legislature to simulate the experience of conducting a legislative oversight investigation, complete with depositions, hearings and committee reports. The program is part of a model state legislature experience provided by the YMCA’s Michigan Youth in Government program.  We are delighted that Florida may become the second state to join our program for the academic year 2020/21. For more information, please click here. 

In the last six months, important court cases have reaffirmed the right of Congress to subpoena information needed to conduct oversight of the federal government and act as a check on executive abuses.  In July, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, affirmed the right of Congress to subpoena third party financial records related to President Trump.  In addition, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 7-2 en banc decision holding that Congress has standing to seek court enforcement of subpoenas directed to executive branch officials.  In both cases, the Levin Center led the drafting of a bipartisan amicus brief supporting Congress’ right to obtain information as part of its oversight function.  Both briefs were co-signed by the Lugar Center.  The U.S. House of Representatives General Counsel’s Office expressed appreciation for the filings. For more information about these and other cases adjudicating congressional oversight issues, please see the Levin Center’s Emerging Case Law website.

This year, the 2020 oversight conference jointly planned by the Levin Center and Wayne Law Review had to move from the law school campus to an online format. The conference focus was congressional oversight of science and technology with three panels addressing different aspects of this complex topic. One panel, on May 27, examined how researchers can use three new online databases to analyze congressional oversight efforts. The second panel, on June 24, “Battling Cybersecurity Threats: The Role of Congressional Oversight,” heard from four panelists. A third panel on “Congressional Oversight of Digital Companies” is planned for the fall. For more details, please check our events. 

Since our last newsletter, the Levin Center has gone online to offer two unique workshops for congressional investigators. On June 18, at the request of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Levin Center's Elise Bean led a bipartisan, two-hour zoom session on how to conduct better interviews. Twenty-one staffers from both sides of the aisle attended. On Sept. 3, Ms. Bean teamed up with the Republican staff director of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Andy Dockham, to hold a Docs & Deps workshop with expert tips on document requests and depositions. This virtual workshop, cosponsored by the Lugar Center and Project on Government Oversight, attracted 63 House and Senate staffers from both political parties. For more information, visit our training pages.  

In April, Wayne Political Science Associate Prof. Kristin Taylor was appointed a 2020 Levin Center Scholar to complete a research project on congressional and state-level oversight related to disaster remediation and recovery, a topic of increasing importance. In her new role, Prof. Taylor and Levin Center Director Jim Townsend authored an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press (June 30) calling for better oversight related to the recent Edenville dam failure. Read the op-ed. 

Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center, and Elise Bean, Director of the Levin Center Washington Office, co-authored an article on ways to strengthen congressional oversight which was included in a Federalist Society Article I series on modernizing Congress (July 19). Read the full piece here. 

Elise Bean, Director of the Levin Center Washington Office, and Dan Lips, Director of cyber and national security with the Lincoln Network, co-authored a bipartisan op-ed in The Hill (Aug. 5) on the need to protect the independence of inspectors general to ensure effective oversight. Read the op-ed here.