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Constitution Day To Highlight Controversy Of Court Interpretation
Sept. 10, 2014
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have made a case for themselves as one of the most controversial courts in recent history, issuing decisions that have shocked and led to blistering dissent, even amongst themselves.
During Sam Houston State University’s celebration of the document those justices have sworn to uphold, Sept. 17-18, professors will continue to dissect, question and provide historical basis for some of those decisions.
The 2014 Constitution Day celebration will include a Wednesday afternoon keynote address and a full day of SHSU faculty-led discussions.
The event will “call to order” on Wednesday, when Houston Baptist University professor of government John Tyler will address the Supreme Court’s 2014 Hobby Lobby and 2010 Citizens United decisions, from 4-6 p.m. in the Academic Building IV Olson Auditorium.
“Should We Fear the Supreme Court? Hobby Lobby and Citizens United” will explore the “significant controversy” that arose from, and the implications of, these landmark decisions, which ruled that corporations have First Amendment rights.
In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the court struck down, in a 5-4 vote, the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act.
With five Catholic, male justices in the majority, the decision was immediately questioned not only by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg but by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who said of the ruling, “We should be afraid for this court, that five guys are determining which contraceptives are legal or not.”
In Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the court struck down, also in a 5-4 ruling, federal provisions that prohibited corporations and unions from making independent expenditures to political campaigns, thus, the majority argued protecting the right to free speech.
Demanding a constitutional amendment to reverse the decision, President Barack Obama, in the wake of Citizens United, said, “the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limits in our elections.”
Constitution Day Events Wednesday, Sept. 17 John Tyler Keynote Address
Thursday, Sept. 18 9:30-10:50 a.m. 11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. 12:30-1:50 p.m. 2-3:20 p.m. |
“We live in incredibly important constitutional times,” said Thomas Cox, chair of the SHSU Constitution Day celebration day committee. “As Professor Tyler’s presentation reveals, in the past few years the high court has ruled on issues that lie at the foundations of our society. Who can influence elections? Can companies make medical decisions for their employees? Regardless of our political beliefs, we need to understand these issues that influence our daily lives.”
On Thursday, two SHSU history professors, an SHSU political science professor and an SHSU philosophy professor will explore the changing views and interpretation of the constitution, as well as two other landmark Supreme Court cases in LSC Room 320, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
“Drawing on themes laid down in the keynote address, these talks examine the ways that not just judges and attorneys but ordinary Americans have used the Constitution as a crucible for addressing the moral and political controversies that inform our lives,” Cox said.
First, Cox, an associate professor of history, will discuss “From the Founders to the Tea Party: Changing Views of the U.S. Constitution,” examining the ways in which different generations of Americans—from the Revolutionary generation to the Tea Party movement—have invoked the Constitution to promote their goals.
At 11 a.m., associate professor of history Jeffrey Littlejohn will explore “Civil Rights Landmarks: Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
At 12:30 p.m., Kenneth McIntyre, assistant chair of the political science department, will explain how “The Constitution Doesn’t Interpret Itself: Written Constitutions and Proceduralism.”
“In my presentation, I will first examine a distinction between the English usage of the term ‘constitution’ and the American usage,” said McIntyre, an associate professor of political science. “The primary contrast here is connected with the difference between traditionalist politics—understood as pursuing the intimations of a particular political culture or milieu according to changing conditions—and ideological politics—understood as attempting to apply a set of abstract principles or ideas to set of specific circumstances.
“I will then contrast the conception of a constitution as a set of authorizing procedures, meant to define what is and is not legitimate government action, and the conception of a constitution as a holistic set of aspirational statements setting out the substantive goals or purposes of a political community,” he said. “These contrasts will bring out several different dimensions of disagreements which Americans have had and continue to have about the character of politics and about the nature of the American political community.”
Finally, at 2 p.m., philosophy professor Frank Fair will question “Roe v. Wade—A Conservative Decision?,” examining two “surprising” reasons why the 1973 contentious, landmark abortion decision “can be viewed as a conservative decision.”
Each Constitution Day attendee will receive a copy of the “The Hip Guide to the United States Constitution,” a pocket sized copy of the Constitution with commentary on the history and meaning of the document.
The Constitution Day celebration is sponsored by the SHSU American Democracy Project, the departments of history and political science, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
For more information, contact Cox at 936.294.4804.
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