Peter Jennings Project: Debating the Future of Race

Please Note: This program is being held at the Ceremonial Courthouse at 601 Market Street. For security reasons, a photo ID is required to enter the Courthouse. Allow additional time to get through security.

Update: This program is sold out.

The National Constitution Center is hosting its second annual Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution, from March 7 through March 9, 2008. Named in honor of the late, award- winning news anchor and friend of the National Constitution Center, this annual gathering for professional and student journalists at the Center is intended to foster a deeper understanding of the Constitution and its role in American life.

As part of the Peter Jennings Project, distinguished lawyers Charles Ogletree and Kathleen Sullivan will argue a case before a panel of equally distinguished “judges,” examining the possible debate over exactly who qualifies for racial preferences as America becomes increasingly multiracial. Students at Yale Law School, under the supervision of Professor Akhil Amar, are developing a case which raises fascinating questions about identity, race, and equal protection under the law, and is bound to stir provocative and meaningful debate. Confirmed judges include Michael Fitts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Kent Jordan, Judith Kaye, Charisse Lillie, Jane Roth, Ted Shaw, and Dolores Sloviter.

Charles Ogletree, the Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Founding and Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, is a prominent legal theorist who has made an international reputation by taking a hard look at complex issues of law and by working to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution for everyone equally under the law. Ogletree has examined these issues not only in the classroom, on the Internet, and in the pages of prestigious law journals, but also in the everyday world of the public defender in the courtroom and in public television forums where these issues can be dramatically revealed. He promotes dialogue by insisting that the justice system protect rights guaranteed to those citizens by law.

Kathleen M. Sullivan is a nationally prominent scholar and teacher of constitutional law. Author of the nation’s leading casebook in constitutional law, she has published articles on federalism, religion, speech, equality, and constitutional theory. A professor of law at Harvard Law School before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1993, she is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Also an outstanding litigator who has argued before numerous appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, she has been named by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America. From 2004-2005, Sullivan served as a National Constitution Center Visiting Scholar.

Ronald Castille is the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Ida Chen is a judge for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

Michael Fitts is Dean and the Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. She is on the Advisory Board of the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution.

Kent Jordan is a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Judith Kaye is the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York. She is on the Advisory Board of the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution.

Jane Roth is a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Ted Shaw is the outgoing Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and a Visiting Scholar at the National Constitution Center.

Dolores Sloviter is a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Parking for this event is available for $7 at the National Constitution Center garage located at the rear of the building on Race Street between 5th and 6th Streets. Parking availability is subject to change. Please call the Constitution Center on the day of the program for more information.

For reservations please call: 215.409.6700. Programs of the National Constitution Center begin promptly and latecomers may not be admitted to the program. Please note that the program is subject to change.