Professor Wildenthal to Lecture on Constitution Day
August 10, 2012
TJSL Professor Bryan Wildenthal will discuss several recent “hot button” Supreme Court decisions at the El Cajon Library on Constitution Day, September 17, celebrating the 225th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution at the conclusion of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.
“This talk will grow out of my lecture in June at the San Diego Public Library,” Professor Wildenthal explained, referring to his role as Project Scholar for the SDPL’s on-going series “Searching For Democracy: A Conversation About the Constitution.”
“My Constitution Day talk will build upon my earlier lecture by incorporating a discussion of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions closing out the 2011-12 Term,” Professor Wildenthal added, “including on the Arizona illegal-immigrant law, the federal Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), freedom of speech (striking down the ‘Stolen Valor” Act’), and related issues. I will discuss to what extent politics seems to guide the justices’ decisions in cases like these, and to what extent they seem guided by constitutional principles. Did the Framers foresee the modern-day role of the Supreme Court?”