Hartman Hotz Lecture to Present 'The Role of Higher Education in Democracy'

The 2026 Hartman Hotz Lectures in Law and Liberal Arts will feature "The Role of Higher Education in Democracy," a fireside chat with law school deans Roscoe Jones Jr., Drake University Law School, and David Moore, J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.

Each year the lecture series brings notable scholars from across the nation and around the world to share their experiences with students and the university community. The lecture will take place at 3 p.m. Monday, March 30, in the E.J. Ball Courtroom at the School of Law, with a reception immediately following. The lecture is free and open to the public.

ROSCOE JONES JR.

Jones has served as dean of Drake University Law School since 2024. An experienced educator, he has taught courses on mass incarceration, civil rights policy and administrative law at institutions including Yale, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, Georgetown, George Washington University, the University of Washington and the Harvard Kennedy School.

Before joining academia, Jones was a partner and co‑chair of the Public Policy Group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Washington, D.C., advising clients on governmental relations and congressional investigations. He spent 10 years on Capitol Hill, serving in senior roles for then‑Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Cory Booker and the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee under then‑Chairman Patrick Leahy.

Jones also served in multiple positions at the U.S. Department of Justice, including special counsel in the Civil Rights Division, appellate attorney, special assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia and assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Washington (Seattle). He previously clerked for Judge Carl E. Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Alexander Williams Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He was a Murnaghan Fellow at the Public Justice Center in Baltimore, Maryland. 

He is active in national legal education leadership and serves on the Association of American Law Schools Deans' Steering Committee and co-chairs the national board of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He is the past chair of the board of the American Constitution Society. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at the Harvard Law School, and he has been published in the Harvard Law & Policy Review.

Jones earned his B.A. from Stanford University with high honors and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

DAVID H. MOORE

Moore joined BYU Law in 2008 and holds the Sterling and Eleanor Colton Endowed Chair in Law. A leading scholar in foreign relations law, international law, human rights and international development, his work has appeared in top journals, including the Harvard, Virginia, Columbia, NYU and Northwestern Law Reviews. He has taught courses ranging from international law and human rights to U.S. foreign relations law and civil procedure. He is a member of the American Law Institute and an adviser on the Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States.

Moore is recognized internationally for his expertise in human rights. He has served on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Moscow Mechanism roster of experts and, in 2020, was elected to a brief term on the United Nations Human Rights Committee. From 2019 to 2023, he was associate director of BYU's International Center for Law and Religion Studies.

His federal service includes roles as acting deputy administrator and general counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2017 to 2019, and previously as an Honors Program trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division. He also served as associate dean for Research and Academic Affairs at BYU Law and was a visiting professor at George Washington University Law School.

Earlier in his career, Moore clerked twice for Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.— on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 2000-2001 and on the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2007 term. He taught at the University of Chicago Law School as an Olin Fellow and later served on the faculty of the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Moore graduated summa cum laude from BYU Law School and holds a B.A. from Brigham Young University.

About the Hartman Hotz Lectures in Law and Liberal Arts: Palmer and Marie Brase Hotz of Foster City, California, established the University of Arkansas Hartman Hotz Lectures in Law and the Liberal Arts to honor the memory of Palmer's brother, Hartman Hotz (1928-1981). Hotz earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Fulbright College. After graduating from Yale University Law School, he joined the faculty of the U of A School of Law, where he made significant contributions to the study of law. All lectures in the Hotz series are sponsored by the U of A School of Law, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the Hartman Hotz Trust Committee.