Commonwealth Club Event: "How Legal Reformers Accidentally Broke America"

Join the Commonwealth Club of California on Dec. 7, 2026 to a discussion on Nicholas Bagley's new book, Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: How Legal Reformers Accidentally Broke America

HOW TO WATCH:
This event is $10 for online tickets, and you must register at the link below, at which point you'll be emailed a link to the online event - https://commonwealthclub.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0FVb00000HS9BRMA1

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
From the left, right and center, many Americans would agree that American government is broken. The country that built the national highway system and created Social Security and Medicare now seems to barely manage the basics. What went wrong?

University of Michigan Law professor Nicholas Bagley argues that the culprit is America’s obsessively legalistic approach to governance―our “procedure fetish.” He says it has strangled progress. Beginning in the late 1960s, reformers concerned about reckless postwar development crafted rules and procedures to minimize social and environmental harm from government action. These reformers had the best of intentions; their obsession, however, has now grown into a legal regime that prioritizes process over outcomes, stasis over progress, and lawsuits over results.

Bagley says it’s time to stop assuming that well-intentioned procedures are good because they’re well-intentioned, and instead to think hard about how to make our institutions genuinely effective. He explores these themes in his book Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, where he offers a potential way forward for addressing what he calls a fatal flaw in American governance.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER & MODERATOR:

• Nicholas Bagley is a Professor of Law at the University of Michigan and an expert in administrative law and health law. In 2020 and 2022, he served as special counsel and then chief legal counsel to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. His academic work has been published widely, including in the Harvard Law Review and the Columbia Law Review, and he contributes frequently to popular outlets, including The New York Times and The Atlantic.
• Jennifer Pahlka, the Moderator, is the Founder and Board Chair of the Recoding American Fund and Senior Advisor at the Abundance Network

ABOUT THE EVENT HOST:
The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. Every year, they present more than 450 forums on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Their stated mission is to be the leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. To learn more, go to: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/who-we-are
.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................