UNL to note first 'Constitution Day' with discussion Sept. 16

A constitutional law expert, a law college dean and a legal historian will put the U.S. Constitution to discussion to recognize the first "Constitution Day" at a discussion panel 1:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law.

On Sept. 17, 1787, the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention held their final meeting, to sign the Constitution of the United States of America. President George W. Bush signed into law in December 2004 the creation of Constitution Day, requiring all educational institutions receiving federal funding to have a program or activities on the constitution on Sept. 17. This year, because Sept. 17 is a Saturday, events are planned for the previous day.

At a discussion to begin at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at 117 McCollum Hall at UNL Law College, political science professor Michael Combs will moderate a discussion by Rick Duncan, UNL professor of law; Steve Willborn, Dean of the UNL College of Law, and John Wunder, professor of history. The panel discussion is free and open to the public, and questions are encouraged for discussion from the audience.

Duncan will speak on "Locke v. Davey and the Broken Promise of Equal Access," where the Supreme Court upheld a college scholarship program enacted by the state of Washington that could be used to fund any course of study except theology from a devotional perspective. The court held that states may discriminate on the basis of viewpoint in awarding scholarship programs to low income students. Duncan is critical of the decision and believes that it is not only religious students who have reason to fear the Court's holding in the case.

Willborn will speak on "Thinking About the Constitutionality of Constitution Day" and the irony of Constitution Day: Congress passing an unconstitutional law to celebrate the Constitution. Using the law requiring this event as a example, the talk will provide an introduction to important constitutional limitations on Congressional power.

Wunder will speak about "Dynamism, Definitions, and the U.S. Constitution." Historians have nearly universally been of the opinion that the greatness of the U.S. Constitution is its dynamism, its flexibility, and its dependability. Wunder will outline how each age has brought with it its own interpretive Constitutional framework, and how Supreme Courts have sought to balance this dynamism with stare decisis - the need to have predictability, and they have done so with great care. Wunder says that to say that we must go back to the Founders' vision is to deny modernity. But an even greater problem is that it would deny the very greatness of the document. Debate over whether to restrict the dynamic nature of the Constitution centers on some of today's flashpoint issues, such as strict constructionism, judicial activism, civil rights, rights to privacy, and religious toleration.

Contact: Jessica Coope, associate dean, Arts and Sciences, (402) 472-2891