Ethics@noon: Larry Kramer (Dean of the Law School) "Popular Constitutionalism: The Respective Roles of Court and Citizen in Interpreting the Constitution"

Date
Fri February 6th 2009, 12:00pm
Event Sponsor
The Bowen H. McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society
Location
Bldg 110, 1st floor seminar room (main quad)
Ethics@noon: Larry Kramer (Dean of the Law School) "Popular Constitutionalism:  The Respective Roles of Court and Citizen in Interpreting the Constitution"

What are the responsibilities of an ordinary citizen when it comes to the Constitution? Is this the special province of lawyers and judges, something too technical for lay people? In recent years, the public at large has come to assume a passive role when it comes to their Constitution. Everyone has opinions and is willing to express them, but the popular political culture accepts the idea that final authority over the meaning of the Constitution rests with the Supreme Court and is a matter for lawyers and legal argument. Protest continues, but it is directed to rather than against the Court. We see this in the heightened stakes attached to every judicial appointment and in the reaction to decisions like Bush v. Gore. Is this the right posture? Is it the posture expected in our Constitution and our democracy? How might it be otherwise?

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