News Release

Constitutional law expert Sanford V. Levinson is the featured speaker at The Johns Hopkins University s 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, Room 110, on the Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St. in Baltimore. For information, the general public may call 443-287-9900.

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. He received his bachelor s degree from Duke University in 1962, his doctorate in political science at Harvard University in 1969, and his law degree from the Stanford Law School in 1973. This semester, he is visiting at both Harvard and Yale law schools. 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. A bio of Levinson is available online at www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/profile.php?id=svl55.

The 2006 Constitutional Forum is supported by the George Huntington Williams Memorial Lectureship, established to honor the memory of George Huntington Williams, a pioneer in the microscopic study of rocks and minerals. He was the university s first professor of petrology and founded what was then called the Department of Geology (now Earth and Planetary Sciences) in the late 1880s. In 1917, his family created an endowment in his memory for lectures by distinguished public figures on topics of widespread contemporary interest. Past speakers have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim.

The Sept. 18 forum will also celebrate Constitution Day, officially Sunday, Sept.17. That is the day in 1787 when delegates convened for the final time to sign the U.S. Constitution. Additional information about Constitution Day may be found by searching the Web site of The National Archives, http://www.archives.gov/.

The 2006 Constitutional Forum at Johns Hopkins is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Department of Political Science, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.