Today at noon I will be speaking about "Constitutional Cliches: Does Trite Make Right?" at the Vanderbilt School of Law in Nashville.

On Saturday morning, I will be speaking at a conference on unenumerated rights at Drake Law School in Des Moines. In formation about what looks like a very interesting conference is here.

Law symposium to explore forgotten Constitutional Amendments

Drake Law School's Constitutional Law Center will hold its 2008 symposium, Saturday, April 5, in room 213 in Cartwright Hall. The topic will be "The Forgotten Constitutional Amendments."

Scholars will discuss how and why the Ninth and 14th Amendments are considered to be largely forgotten amendments.

They will also explore how the Supreme Court has rarely addressed these amendments when deciding cases.

"The Supreme Court has issued rulings declaring that there is a right to privacy that includes a right for women to have abortions, and that includes a right for homosexuals to engage in sexual activity," said Mark Kende, director of the Constitutional Law Center. "Yet these rulings are based on a part of the Constitution that has to do with due process.

"The Ninth Amendment and 14th Amendment Privileges or Immunities Clause seem, by their language, to be possible provisions that make sense for the court to use in discussing individual rights. Mysteriously, however, the court has rarely discussed those clauses.

"This conference will explore the reasons why the court has hesitated to rely on those provisions, and whether anything is likely to change in the future. The conference will therefore shed light on some of the most important and controversial political issues of our time such as abortion and homosexuality," he added.

Other speakers include: Daniel Farber, Kurt Lash, Michael Kent Curtis, Rebecca Zietlow, and David Bogen.


On Monday afternoon at 4pm, I will again be speaking on "Constitutional Cliches" at the University of Virginia College of Law in Charlottesville.