Selected Events (2008 and Prior)

"Our Malleable and Rigid Constitutions
(or Why the First Amendment may well be less important than the Inauguration Day Clause)"

Sanford Levinson
November 20, 2008, 2-3:45pm
Wolf Law Building Colloquium Room

Sanford V Levinson is Professor of Government and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair, University of Texas. He is the author of over 250 articles and four books, including most recently Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong and How We the People Can Correct It (2006).


"Free Speech and Inquiry on Campus"

Donald Downs
March 14, 2008

Donald Downs is a Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism at the University of Wisconsin. His primary interests are constitutional law and civil liberty; criminal law and justice; law and society broadly defined; political theory and jurisprudence; and legal, normative, and political issues in higher education. Downs has taught a wide variety of courses related to law and politics. He has published four books, two of which have won national awards: Nazis in Skokie: Freedom, Community and the First Amendment; The New Politics of Pornography; More than Victims: Battered Women, the Syndrome Society, and the Law; and Cornell `69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American University. He is currently finishing a book on the politics and law of civil liberty struggles on campus, an area in which he has also been active.


"Equality and the Religion Clauses"

R. Kent Greenawalt
November 8, 2007
5:30pm, Old Main Chapel

Kent Greenawalt, University Professor, Columbia University School of Law will give a public lecture on "Equality and the Religion Clauses," November 8, 2007, 5:30 pm, Old Main Chapel. His lecture will be followed by a chance to ask him questions. Prof. Greenawalt will also be giving a faculty colloquium, November 9th 2007, at the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Law School, on topics in Religion and the Constitution, Vol. 1: Free Exercise and Fairness (2006).

Before joining the Columbia faculty, Prof. Greenawalt served as law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice John M. Harlan. He has worked in a variety of academic and nonacademic positions, including as attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in Jackson, Mississippi; Member of the Due Process Committee for the ACLU; Deputy US Solicitor General; Editor-in-Chief, Columbia Law Review; and as Fellow at various times at Cambridge, Oxford, the ACLS, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His main interests are in constitutional law and jurisprudence, with special emphasis on church and state, freedom of speech, civil disobedience and criminal responsibility. His publications include Conflicts of Law and Morality (1987); Religious Convictions and Political Choice (1988); Speech, Crime and the Uses of Language (1989); Law and Objectivity (1992); Fighting Words (1995); Private Consciences and Public Reasons (1995); Statutory Interpretation: Twenty Questions (1999); Does God Belong in the Public Schools? (2005); Religion and the Constitutions, Vol. 1: Free Exercise and Fairness (2006); Religion and the Constitution, Vol. 2: Establishment and Fairness (2007).


13th Rothgerber Conference
"Horowitz, Churchill, Columbia: What Next for Academic Freedom?"

February 3-4, 2006

Presented by:
The Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law
The Keller First Amendment Center
The University of Colorado Law Review

At the Thirteenth Ira C. Rothgerber, Jr. Conference, distinguished speakers such as Lawrence Alexander and Peter Byrne discuss the ancient idea of academic freedom in a modern context.

For further details, please .


"Freedom of Assembly: A Neglected First Amendment Freedom?"

James W. Nickel
March 12, 2005

Jim Nickel is Professor of Law at Arizona State University. He is an affiliate professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the School of Global Studies. During 2008-09 Nickel will be a Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law Center. Nickel teaches and writes in jurisprudence, constitutional law, political philosophy, and human rights law and theory. From 1982-2003 Nickel was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado where he served as Director of the Center for Values and Social Policy (1982-88) and as Chair of the Philosophy Department (1992-1996). He is best known for Making Sense of Human Rights (Blackwell, second edition 2006). Other recent articles include: "Who Needs Freedom of Religion?";"Are Human Rights Mainly Implemented by Intervention?";"Rethinking Indivisibility: Towards a Theory of Supporting Relations between Human Rights," (forthcoming in Human Rights Quarterly).


12th Rothgerber Conference:
"Conscience and the Free Exercise of Religion"

January 28, 2005

Co-Sponsored by the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law

The Constitution enshrines freedom of religion but says nothing about conscience. Yet the framers made many references to conscience in describing their aspirations for constitutional liberty, and religious duties are often articulated in terms of conscience. The Twelfth Rothgerber Conference brings together prominent scholars to probe this enduring enigma and to explore other issues about religious freedom.

For further details, please .


"Free Speech Theory - A Practical Application"

James Weinstein
November 12, 2004
11:30-1pm, Ketchum 116

James Weinstein clerked with the chief justice of the 9th circuit court of appeals, was in private practice for six years, and has been at Arizona State Law School since 1986. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on various legal and constitutional issues, including hate speech legislation, language rights, judicial jurisdiction, abortion access, campaign financing law, nude dancing and database protection. He is also the author of Hate Speech, Pornography and the Radical Attack on Free Speech Doctrine, published with Westview in 1999.


Balancing Liberty and Security after 9/11

Sep. 11-12, 2003

On the second anniversary of 9/11, distinguished scholars will examine clashes between the war on terrorism and traditional civil liberties. All events are free and open to the public.