EVENTS & PROGRAMS
The National Constitution Center hosted its annual Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution, March 7 through 9, 2008. The Peter Jennings Project provided a unique opportunity for participants to explore the constitutional dimensions in the news today through dynamic workshops with leading journalists, jurists, scholars, and political leaders. Through a variety of programs, participants – named Jennings Fellows – experienced how the constitutional discussion is not limited to the domain of the court system, academic exchange, and high school civics classes; it reaches into the fabric of daily life and therefore affects so much of what journalists write, broadcast, edit, and produce.
Featuring the theme “The Constitution in Our Midst: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties”, this year’s conference included the following components:
- A moot court with two distinguished lawyers, Charles Ogletree and Kathleen Sullivan, who argued a case about who qualifies for racial preferences as America becomes increasingly multiracial;
-A panel discussion moderated by Lynn Sherr addressing the continued challenges and emerging issues faced by women in the legal profession with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sherrilyn Ifill, Elena Kagan, and Gene Pratter;
- An off the record conversation about the Interrogation and Geneva Accords moderated by Nina Totenberg, featuring John Yoo, Larry Thompson, Rear Admiral John Hutson, and Brigadier General David R. Irvine;
-Case analysis workshops, led by distinguished faculty;
-A lunchtime conversation with 2007 Jennings Fellows about creating a Peter Jennings Project legacy.
