The Peter and Sharon Murphy Kissel Fund for the Study of Civil Liberties has been established at the Maxwell School to advance the “public understanding of civil rights and liberties through academic study and knowledge, student learning, and public discourse.”  Working with Political Science Professor Tom Keck, IJPM Director Keith Bybee will organize events in the Kissel Fund’s areas of interest.  The first such event will be a lecture by Gene Koo, Executive Director of iCivics, an organization founded by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to promote broader knowledge of the U.S. constitutional system. Koo’s lecture is entitled “Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Public Knowledge” and will be held on April 17, 2013, 2:00pm-3:00pm in 100 Eggers Hall.

Working with College of Law Dean Hannah Arterian, IJPM Director Keith Bybee organizes the 1L Convocation Lecture Series.   Five lectures are held each year and the entire 1L class attends each one.  The final two lectures of the 2012-13 year are:  “Law, Lawyering and Citizenship: Developing Excellent Lawyers and Even Better Citizens” by Pauline Schneider of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (to be held on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, at 12:00 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel) and “The Work of the Judiciary: Perspectives on Being a State and Federal Judge” by Judge James E. Graves, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (to be held on Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel).

IJPM Director Keith Bybee is part of the three-person faculty team that organizes the Tanner Lectures.  Run through the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and endowed by Dr. W. Lynn Tanner, the lectures seek to expand horizons and spark new conversations about the problems and opportunities we collectively face as citizens of nations and of the world. The lectures are delivered annually and the most recent lecture was given in October 2012 by Professor Michael Sandel of Harvard University.

As part of IJPM’s Faculty Fellow Lecture Series, Ian Gallacher will present, “Magic Language: The Testimonial Oath in the Twenty-First Century.” Professor Gallacher is the director of Legal Communication and Research a the College of Law.

Date: October 25, 2012
Time: 11:45 – 1:00
Location: Heritage Lounge, College of Law

Constitution Day will be observed on September 13 this year and to mark the occasion, IJPM is bringing Victoria Saker Woeste to the Syracuse University campus to present on her new book, “Henry Ford’s War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech.” A short abstract of her book follows below.

This presentation will also serve as a one of the scheduled 1L Convocation speeches. As such the entire 1L class will be in attendance at the lecture. The lecture will be held at Hendricks Chapel at the center of Syracuse University. This event is open to the public and we encourage you to attend.

Book Abstract:

Henry Ford’s War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech
Stanford University Press (2012)
Victoria Saker Woeste

This book provides a startling new interpretation of a scandalous episode in the life of Henry Ford: his side career as a publisher of antisemitic literature and propaganda. Using never-before discovered evidence from the Ford archives as well as private collections from lawyers and civil rights leaders involved in trying to stop Ford’s libelous newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, this book shows how deeply involved Ford was in the operation of his newspaper, how he invited the libel lawsuit that was filed against him in 1925, and how he maneuvered to end the litigation out of court. These newly discovered sources also reveal deep divisions among Jewish civil rights lawyers and religious leaders over how to handle the Ford matter and why they disagreed on the usefulness of resorting to law to answer hateful publications. Throughout the twentieth century, American courts have generally declined to recognize the category of hate speech as an exception to free speech rights under the First Amendment. Yet in order to end the embarrassing litigation, Henry Ford apologized to American Jews for the one thing he would never have lost on in court: the offense of hate speech against all Jews as a group. The case and its ambiguous resolution reveal the tensions in law and culture between individual freedoms and the status of those seeking equality on the basis of group identity.

As part of IJPM’s Faculty Fellows Colloquia, Professor Jeremy Blumenthal will present “Supreme Court Justices’ Leadership Styles” on February 9, 2012 at the College of Law Heritage Lounge. Professor Blumenthal received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard and his Juris Doctorate from University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated cum laude. He is widely published on the topics of law and psychology and this is sure to be an engaging event.

Andrew Cohen is an Associate Professor of History at the Maxwell School and a Faculty Fellow at IJPM. The presentation is part of the College of Law colloquium series and will be held in the Heritage Lounge at the College of Law from 11:45 to 1:00 on April 26, 2012.

Moderated by IJPM Director Keith Bybee, this discussion features distinguished alumna and sitting judge, Hon. Joanne  Alper, and Professor Charles Gardner Geyh, one of the nation’s leading experts on judicial ethics, as they explore the the virtues and vices of allowing judges to advocate controversial views. The event is November 12th from 9:30am – 10:30am in Newhouse 3, room 250.