Constitutional law expert Sanford V. Levinson is the
featured speaker at Johns Hopkins' 2006 Constitutional
Forum, a discussion of important legal issues held in
conjunction with the annual observance of Constitution
Day.
Levinson's forthcoming book, Our Undemocratic
Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We
the People Can Correct It), will be the basis of his
lecture at 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18, in Hodson Hall
Auditorium on the Homewood campus.
Levinson is the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John
Garwood Jr. Centennial Professor of Law and a professor of
government at the University of Texas at Austin, where he
has taught since 1980. This semester, he is also visiting
at both Harvard and Yale law schools. He received his
bachelor's degree from Duke in 1962, his doctorate in
political science from Harvard in 1969 and his law degree
from Stanford in 1973. The author of more than 200
professional articles, Levinson is also the author of
numerous books, including Constitutional Faith
(1988), Responding to Imperfection: Constitutional
Amendment in Theory and Practice (1995),
Constitutional Stupidities, Constitutional Tragedies
(1998) and Wrestling with Diversity (2003). He has
just edited Torture: A Collection (2004), a compendium of
perspectives on the morality, law and politics of
torture.
The 2006 Constitutional Forum is supported by the
George Huntington Williams Memorial Lectureship, which
honors a pioneer in the microscopic study of rocks and
minerals. Williams was Johns Hopkins' first professor of
petrology and in the late 1880s founded the Department of
Geology, which is now Earth and Planetary Sciences. In
1917, his family created an endowment in his memory for
lectures by distinguished public figures on topics of
widespread contemporary interest. Speakers have included
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
and U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim.
The forum will also celebrate Constitution Day,
officially Sept.17, the day in 1787 when delegates convened
for the final time to sign the U.S. Constitution.
The 2006 Constitutional Forum at Johns Hopkins is
sponsored by the Department of
Political Science, the Institute for
Policy Studies and the Office of Government, Community
and Public Affairs.