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Nationally renowned legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky -- named one of the top 20 legal thinkers in America -- will speak on the U.S. president's executive powers and the war on terror at the University of California, Davis, on Thursday, Feb. 16.

Chemerinsky's lecture, free and open to the public, is presented by the School of Law.

The Duke University law professor says the Bush administration's claims to broad executive authority as part of the war on terrorism are not backed by the history and functions of the Constitution and its separation of powers.

He says the administration's security policies since the September 2001 terrorist attacks have impaired constitutional freedoms without making Americans any safer. And before Samuel Alito became the newest U.S. Supreme Court justice, Chemerinsky told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Alito has a "very troubling deference toward executive authority."

Last year, the publication Legal Affairs named Chemerinsky one of "the top 20 legal thinkers in America."

Chemerinsky frequently argues appellate cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and he has testified many times before congressional and state legislative committees.

A frequent commentator on a wide range of legal issues for the national media, Chemerinsky has written four books on constitutional issues and more than 100 law review articles.

His lecture is part of the Edward L. Barrett Jr. Lectureship on Constitutional Law, which brings prominent legal scholars to the law school. It will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Moot Courtroom of the law school.