The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.

Mary Ziegler

Our Constitution has far-reaching effects on our democracy today—understanding it fully will equip us with the tools to rebuild trust and fight polarization.

Leading Authority on the American Constitution | Author of Roe: The History of a National Obsession | Guggenheim Fellow

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Fostering Dialogue in a Polarized World [1:35]

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“After Roe”

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Roe v. Wade to the present

Lavin Exclusive Speaker

This is a crucial moment in our democracy: our courts and politics are divided, and the binding trust that we place in our institutions is fast eroding. But historian Mary Ziegler says that, by understanding our Constitution and its effects on our lives, we can move beyond polarization to achieve a better dialogue and fairer future for all. Widely hailed as a nonpartisan authority on the Constitution and in particular the legal history of reproductive rights, Mary is a professor at UC Davis School of Law, the award-winning author of seven acclaimed books, and a frequent contributor to The New York Times and The Atlantic. She has advised governors and members of Congress, submitted congressional testimony, and been covered by outlets including PBS, CNN, MSNBC, and The Washington Post.

“One of our very best—and nonpartisan!—historians of post-1970 America.”— David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross

Mary Ziegler is Chancellor’s Leadership Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis. An expert on the law, history, and politics of reproduction, health care, and conservatism in the United States from 1945 to the present, Mary is a Guggenheim fellow, a member of the American Law Institute, and one of the world’s leading historians of debates in the United States over abortion, IVF, and reproduction. In 2026, she was the recipient of the second award for Contributions to Public Policy from the Organization of American Historians, which recognizes her significant contributions to U.S. public policy through historical research. She also received the 2026 John Lewis Prize for History and Social Justice from the American Historical Association, which recognizes her leadership at the intersection of historical work, public culture, and social justice.

Her critically acclaimed books include Personhood: The New Civil War Over Reproduction (Yale University Press, 2025), Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment (Yale University Press, 2022), Roe: The History of a National Obsession (Yale University Press, 2023), Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Beyond Abortion: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Privacy (Harvard University Press, 2018), Reproduction and the Constitution (Routledge, 2022), and the award-winning After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate (Harvard University Press, 2015), which won the Harvard University Press Thomas J. Wilson Prize for best first manuscript in any discipline. She is also the editor of a major international collection with Elgar Press about abortion law around the world.

Mary has advised governors and members of Congress, submitted congressional testimony on questions involving reproduction, served on the committee of scholars charged with helping to create a museum of U.S. Women’s History, organized a major exhibit and conference at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute on the 50th Anniversary of the Roe decision, and lectured on topics related to the history and law of reproduction to audiences around the world.

Her work has frequently appeared in or been covered by major national and international news outlets including ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and The Washington Post. She has held positions of leadership on the American Society for Legal History’s Board of Directors, the American Association of Law Schools Section on Legal History, and the American Bar Association’s Committee on Historic Commemorations.

Lavin Exclusive Speakers

Angela Duckworth

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Grit and Situated | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Power of Situation

Daron Acemoglu

Nobel Prize Winner | 3rd Most Cited Economist in the World | Author, What Happened to Liberal Democracy? | Bestselling Co-Author, Why Nations Fail

Clint Smith

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of How the Word Is Passed and Above Ground | The Atlantic Staff Writer

Chrystia Freeland

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada | Bestselling Author, Unreliable Boyfriend and Plutocrats | CEO of the Rhodes Trust

Derek Thompson

#1 New York Times Bestselling Co-Author of Abundance | Host of thePlain English Podcast | CBS News Contributor

Speech Topics

Gender

Our Constitutional StoryWomen and the American Constitution

For two hundred and fifty years, women have been central to America’s constitutional experiment. Their contributions have far-reaching implications for the story of our past—and of our future.

In this talk, constitutional scholar Mary Ziegler traces women’s contributions to our Constitution from 1776 to the present. It’s a story of rights gained and lost—and about how women mobilized to make sure the rights they gained applied to everyone, and delivered more than an empty promise. From women’s struggle for personhood in marriage and suffrage to the fights over sexual violence, equal pay, civil rights, and the loss of the right to abortion, Mary shows how women have been central to America’s constitutional story, and she reminds us what these women never forgot: that securing constitutional rights is only the first step to the equality that all women deserve.

Politics & Current Events

Canary in the CoalmineWhat It Means to Lose a Constitutional Right

The reversal of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision to protect the right to choose abortion, is about much more than reproductive rights. At its heart, it’s about the rise of a conservative legal movement, the transformation of Supreme Court nominations, the fundamental changes in the U.S. Republican Party, and the rise of extreme polarization. What does this decision mean for our democracy or the Court’s legitimacy?

As a preeminent expert on the legal and political history of our constitutional rights, lawyer and historian Mary Ziegler is uniquely situated to answer these questions and guide us through this turbulent topic. Understanding what happened to Roe v. Wade shines a light on broader issues of partisanship and the erosion of democratic norms in the United States—but it’s not too late to regain control of our democracy and restore our trust in the justice system.

Politics & Current Events

A Nation DividedWhat Can We Do About American Polarization?

Polls show that American voters are mostly in agreement about abortion, but legal and political debates continue to rage from the right to the left—and that’s just one of the many current issues that divide us. How did we get to this point, and how can we recover?

Legal historian Mary Ziegler points to the fact that we haven’t always been this divided, which means that we can still take responsibility for our conflicts and work together for a better future. With insights from her prominent legal history research, she investigates the causes and effects of our deepening political rifts. She guides us to an understanding of where our current debates come from, and how we can rebuild a kinder and more nuanced dialogue around the law, the justice system, and our fundamental rights.