Wednesday, October 23
4:00 p.m.
Room 111
Professor Mark Kende
James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law at Drake Law School
The South African Constitutional Court has issued internationally prominent decisions abolishing the death penalty, enforcing socio-economic rights, allowing gay marriage and supporting substantive equality. These decisions are striking given the country’s apartheid past and the absence of a grand human rights tradition. By contrast, the U.S. Supreme Court has generally ruled more conservatively on similar questions. This presentation will examine the Constitutional Court and determine how it has functioned during South Africa’s transition, as well comparing its rulings to those of the U.S. Supreme Court on similar rights issues. The presentation will also address the arguments of those scholars who have suggested that constitutional courts cannot generally bring about social change. In the end, the presentation will highlight a transformative pragmatic method of constitutional interpretation – a method the U.S. Supreme Court could employ.
Kende’s writings have appeared in publications such as Constitutional Commentary, the South African Law Journal, the Hastings Law Journal, and the Notre Dame Law Journal. He is also the co-author of a casebook, Theater Law, and was one of the authors of Courting the Yankees, Legal Essays on the Bronx Bombers. Professor Kende's book, Constitutional Rights in Two Worlds, South Africa and the United States, was published by Cambridge University Press in Feb. 2009.