Supreme Court Justice Breyer to speak at College of Law
Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court will speak on "Our Democratic Constitution" at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at the Great Hall in Armstrong Hall on the Tempe campus. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will introduce Justice Breyer, whose presentation, the annual Willard H. Pedrick Lecture, is free and open to the public. A public reception will follow. Justice Breyer will discuss his views that the Constitution's primary role is to preserve and encourage what he calls "active liberty," citizen participation in shaping government and its laws. Breyer was born in San Francisco in 1938, and is a graduate of Stanford, Oxford, and Harvard Law School. He taught law for many years as a professor at Harvard Law School and at the Kennedy School of Government. He has also worked as a Supreme Court law clerk (for Justice Arthur Goldberg), a Justice Department lawyer (antitrust division), an Assistant Watergate Special Prosecutor, and Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 1980 he was appointed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Carter, becoming Chief Judge in 1990. In 1994 he was appointed a Supreme Court Justice by President Clinton. He has written books and articles about administrative law, economic regulation, and the Constitution. Parking for the lecture is available in the Rural Road visitor's lot, at the southwest corner of Terrace and Rural roads (enter on Terrace Road). For more information about the event, call (480) 965-6405. The Willard H. Pedrick Lecture was established in 1997 by the Pedrick family in memory of the founding dean of the College of Law. The annual lecture brings to the law school outstanding legal scholars, jurists or practitioners to enrich the intellectual life of the College and the community.