Beginning this week, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy will present lectures and conversations spurring discussion about the power of voters to shape America’s future.

Among the speakers will be former Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith; Debora Cahn, showrunner of The Diplomat; The Bulwark host Tim Miller; political strategist Lis Smith ’05; and Dartmouth Trustee Neal Katyal ’91, who successfully argued a landmark tariffs case before the Supreme Court. 

“At Rocky, we strive to provide students and the entire campus community with a range of perspectives across a number of policy domains,” says Anna Mahoney, executive director of the Rockefeller Center. “The midterm elections present an opportunity to engage thought leaders on issues that are influencing campaigns across the country and will determine the working relationship between the president and the legislative branch ahead of the 2028 presidential election.”

The Rocky lineup includes:

• Thursday, Sept. 17, at 5 p.m. in Filene Auditorium, the Constitution Day Speaker and Roger S. Aaron ’64 Lecturer will be Jack Smith, former special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice, joined by his former DOJ colleague, John M. Pellettieri ’97, an attorney at Bredhoff & Kaiser, for a talk moderated by Brendan Nyhan, the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government. Smith investigated whether anyone unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on Jan. 6, 2021. The indictments brought against Donald Trump, who was then out of office, as a result of those investigations were dismissed pursuant to DOJ policy following the 2024 presidential election. Registration is required for both the live event and the livestream. 
• Thursday, Sept. 24, at 5 p.m. in Filene, From State to Screen will feature Debora Cahn, creator of the TV series The Diplomat, and Neal Katyal ’91, a partner at Milbank and former acting solicitor general of the United States. In addition to her current Netflix hit, Cahn has also worked on The West Wing, Homeland, and Grey’s Anatomy.
  Katyal represented the plaintiffs in a lawsuit opposing the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favor in February. He is also developing a show about the Supreme Court with writer John Mulaney.
  Their conversation will be moderated by Dafna Linzer, former editorial director and executive vice president at U.S. News & World Report, and Ambassador Erica Barks Ruggles, former U.S. ambassador to Rwanda and the Obenshain Family Visitor and Diplomat in Residence at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. Registration is advised.
• Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 5 p.m. in Filene, Sam Stein ’04, managing editor of The Bulwark; Tim Miller, host of The Bulwark podcast; and Lis Smith ’05, Democratic strategist and author of Any Given Tuesday, will gather for Strategy and Spin: the 2026 Midterms, a conversation moderated by Russell Muirhead, the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics. Registration is advised.
• Monday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Hinman Forum,The 2026 Midterms: Cinde Warmington, the former New Hampshire executive councilor will discuss her policy priorities as the Democratic candidate for governor. Registration is advised.
• Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 4:30 p.m. at the Hinman Forum, former New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Jim Bassett ’78, the 2026 Perkins Bass Speaker, will speak with moderator Kristin Smith, visiting associate professor of sociology and director of the Rockefeller Center Policy Research Shop. Registration is advised.
• Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 5:30 p.m. at the Hinman Forum, The 2026 Midterms: Lily Tang Williams, the Republican candidate in New Hampshire’s Second Congressional district will discuss her policy ideas. Rockefeller Center Director Jason Barabas ’93 will serve as moderator. Registration is advised.
• Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 5 p.m. at the Hinman Forum, the topic will be Elections and the Supreme Court. Sarah Isgur ’05, author of Last Branch Standing and editor of the SCOTUSblog, will talk with Devin Dwyer ’05, senior Washington reporter for ABC News. Julie Kalish, a lecturer in the School of Arts and Sciences, will serve as moderator. Registration is advised.

After Election Day, the focus will shift to impact and analysis. Events after the midterms include Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, on Nov. 12 discussing how the outcome might affect foreign policy, and CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten ’11, coming back to campus to dig into the numbers.

All the events in the series are co-sponsored by Dartmouth Dialogues, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the Associate Dean for the Social Sciences. In addition, the talk by Cahn and Katyal and the lecture by Haass are co-sponsored by the Dickey Center.

“Our programming comes at a critical time for the nation and the world, reinforcing the importance of learning about politics, policy, and rival perspectives,” says Professor of Government Jason Barabas ’93, the director of the Rockefeller Center. “While many of us are highly connected online, there is no substitute for hearing from policy and legal experts directly, whether you agree with them or not. Dartmouth aims to provide opportunities for intellectual exchanges and for challenging the views of others as well as our own.”