VABook 2010: Covering the Court

Barbara Perry (Image: Sweet Briar)

On Saturday March 20, 2010, three authors who have written biographies of Supreme Court Justices convened in Charlottesville City Council chambers for a discussion of their works.

The moderator is Barbara Perry, Director of the Center for Civic Renewal at Sweet Briar College, and an author of The Supremes: An Introduction to the U.S. Supreme Court Justices | Second Edition.

The panelists are:

The event was part of the 2010 Virginia Festival of the Book, presented by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

Supreme Court writer Dahlia Lithwick on Obama’s election, future of the court

The U.S. Supreme Court has been in its current term for just over a month now, and there have already been some interesting cases. Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor at Slate and legal commentator for National Public Radio, joined Coy Barefoot on the November 17, 2008 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” to discuss some of the highlights. She and Coy also discuss the end of the presidential campaign, the role Islamophobia played in the race, and why Virginia played such an important role.

VABook: A View from the Bench

On March 28, 2008, the Hon. J. Harvie Wilkinson, III, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit presented the Tenth Annual Henry J. Abraham Distinguished Lecture Series, hosted by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. The lecture was part of the Virginia Festival of the Book, and was moderated by Robert O’Neil.

J. Harvie Wilkinson, III, is the author of several works, including Serving Justice: A Supreme Court Clerk’s View and One Nation Indivisible: How Ethnic Separatism Threatens America. A former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, he serves as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Read more in the Daily Progress

VABook 2008: Legal Issues in Higher Education

Legal questions involving academic freedom, affirmative action, and student speech are but a few of the issues facing college administrators today. On March 29, 2008, a panel of experts was called together by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression at the 14th Annual Virginia Festival of the Book for a discussion of some of the legalities involved in providing a college education.

John C. Jeffries, is the author of Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and Civil Rights Actions: Enforcing the Constitution (with Pamela S. Karlan, Peter W. Low, & George A. Rutherglen), among others. He argued the case of Rosenberger v. University of Virginia before U.S. Supreme Court and is currently the Dean of the UVa School of Law.

Robert O’Neil is the author of Academic Freedom in the Wired World and Free Speech in the College Community. His books stem from his experiences as the former president of UVa and Wisconsin and his present position as the Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

Barbara Perry, Ph.D., is the author of The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases, Freedom and the Court (with Henry J. Abraham) and seven other books. She is Carter Glass Professor of Government at Sweet Briar College and is a former Supreme Court Fellow.

The moderator is Henry J. Abraham, the author of Freedom and the Court: Civil Rights and Liberties in the United States. A renowned Constitutional scholar, he has authored eleven additional books and is the winner of the 2007 DAR Americanism Medal. He is James Hart Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at UVa.