Supreme Court Expert Erwin Chemerinsky Delivers Annual Sullivan Lecture

October 18, 2005

Constitutional Law and U.S. Supreme Court expert Erwin Chemerinsky presented Capital University Law Review’s 2005-06 John E. Sullivan Lecture on Fri., Oct. 14. Chemerinsky, the Alston & Bird Professor of Law at Duke University, delivered his address Entering a New Era? The Future of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chemerinsky’s lecture focused on shifts in ideology over the years Chief Justice William Rehnquist led the U.S. Supreme Court and how those shifts affected constitutional law. He discussed issues currently facing the court and mapped out how changes in the makeup of the court might influence trends in federal constitutional law. In particular, Chemerinsky discussed the new Chief Justice John Roberts and the newly-nominated Harriet Miers.

Approximately 250 people attended the program which was held at the Columbus Museum of Art Auditorium. For more than 20 years, Chemerinsky taught at the University of Southern California Law School. He was formerly an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and he previously worked at Dobrovir, Oakes, and Gebhardt, in Washington, DC.

Chemerinsky is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the author of numerous publications, including the treatise Federal Jurisdiction (Aspen Law & Business 4th ed. 2003). He has written more than one hundred law review articles that have appeared in publications such as Harvard Law Review, Northwestern Law Review, Stanford Law Review and Yale Law Journal.

The Capital University Law Review sponsored the lecture. Chemerinsky will publish an article from the lecture in the Law Review in late spring 2006. Law Review subscriptions are available for $36 per year for four issues, or $12.00 per issue. For more information about purchasing the Sullivan Lecture issue or a subscription, contact Mark Hatcher, the Law Review Business Editor at (614) 236-6789; or email him at lawreview@law.capital.edu.

The John E. Sullivan Lecture Series was established in honor of Professor Emeritus John Edward Sullivan, a dedicated teacher and scholar who was appointed to the Law School faculty in 1953 and who also served as acting dean and academic dean during his tenure. The Sullivan Lecture is presented each academic year by a distinguished legal scholar who addresses a matter of significance to the Law School and to the greater legal community. The Sullivan Lecture Series is made possible through an endowment established by Herbert and Margith Kunmann, friends and benefactors of Capital University Law School. Their son, Edmond J. Kunmann, is a 1985 graduate of the Law School.