The ninth annual Ira C. Rothgerber, Jr. Conference titled "Conservative Judicial Activism" will be held Oct. 19-20 at the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law.
According to Professor Robert Nagel, director of the Byron R. White Center, judicial activism is used to depict decisions that use weak or even indefensible interpretations of the Constitution in order to achieve the political or moral purposes favored by the judges rendering the decision. The conference, sponsored by the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law, will explore the forms conservative judicial activism takes, its causes and its legal and political significance.
"One of the most surprising phenomenon in modern constitutional law is the growth and consolidation of the ambitious use of judicial power, despite three decades of domination of the Supreme Court by conservatives who were appointed as part of a campaign to restore a more restrained role to the court," said Nagel.
"The conference will bring together a wide range of insightful scholars to examine, evaluate and try to explain this phenomenon."
Distinguished legal scholars, lawyers and judges will debate the issue from all viewpoints and consider judicial activism issues to be faced in upcoming years.
Speakers include Randy Barnett, Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Law at Boston University; Rebecca Brown, professor of law at Vanderbilt University; and Ernest Young, assistant professor of law at the University of Texas, among others.
The Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law was founded in 1990 through the generous bequest of one of the law school's most outstanding graduates and patrons, Ira C. Rothgerber Jr.
Named in honor of the retired Supreme Court justice and CU alumnus, the White center's goals are to enhance the study and teaching of constitutional law and to stimulate public debate and understanding of our constitutional system.
The conference is free for CU alumni and $55 for others, and includes eight continuing legal education credits. For more information call (303) 492-3084 or visit .