FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 26, 2005

CONTACT: Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833 or daniel.finney@drake.edu

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BREYER TO SPEAK AT DRAKE OCT. 6

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will deliver the Dwight D. Opperman Lecture in Constitutional Law at 3 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 6 at the Drake University Knapp Center, 26th Street and Forest Avenue. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled "Reflections of a Junior Justice."

Since his 1994 appointment by President Clinton, when he received bipartisan support for his confirmation, Breyer has developed a reputation as a political moderate, a supporter of abortion rights and an advocate of using international law to shape court decisions.

In January, Breyer debated fellow Justice Antonin Scalia about the issue of using foreign laws and decisions as guideposts for Supreme Court issues at the law school of American University in Washington, D.C.

“If here I have a human being called a judge in a different country dealing with a similar problem, why don’t I read what he says, if it’s similar enough,” “The New Yorker” magazine quoted Breyer as saying at the event. “Maybe I’ll learn something.”
In 1999, Breyer objected to the court refusing to hear the appeal of a prisoner who had spent two decades on death row. The convict argued such status violated his Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Breyer, “The New Yorker” reported, quoted opinions from Jamaica, India, Zimbabwe and the European Court of Human Rights on the subject.
Breyer’s new book, “Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution,” spells out his philosophy regarding Constitutional interpretation, which is in stark contrast to the views of some of his colleagues on the high court.

Justice Scalia, for example, adheres to “originalism” and the view that the court should follow the original intentions and strict text of the document. Breyer's approach to Constitutional issues, however, argues “judges can undercut the democratic system the Constitution’s Framers sought to build if they adhere too literally to legal text and disregard the ‘real world’ consequences of the decisions they render,” a Wall Street Journal review of Breyer’s book said.

“Active Liberty” will be on sale at the lecture with proceeds benefiting the Drake Student Bar Association.
Named to honor its donor, Dwight D. Opperman, a 1951 Drake Law School graduate, chairman of Key Investments Inc. in Minneapolis, and one Drake’s most generous benefactors, the Opperman Lecture is one of the most prestigious events in legal education in the United States. Since 1988, eight justices of the Supreme Court have delivered this distinguished lecture. This impressive and unmatched record demonstrates Drake Law School's special emphasis on the study of constitutional law.

Besides the formal lecture – always well attended by students, legal dignitaries, the university community and members of the public – this event presents remarkable opportunities for students to contemplate the Constitution with a member of the nation's highest tribunal. Justices interact directly with students by engaging in an off-the-record question-and-answer session and meeting with student leaders.

Past lecturers include: Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Justice Lewis F. Powell and Justice Harry A. Blackmun.

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