UF program celebrates Constitution Day

September 8, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As part of the nation’s Constitution Day celebrations, the University of Florida will host a program at the Levin College of Law on Sept. 15 to examine the need for judicial independence.

The program, to be held in the law school’s Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, is open to the public and will begin at noon with a 32-minute video featuring a recent discussion with Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer, and former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who share their thoughts on the need for an independent judiciary.

A panel discussion on the “The Doctrine of Judicial Review and Its Influence upon Constitutional Law in the United States” will follow. Panelists will include Judge Stephan Mickle, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida; Chief Judge Frederick D. Smith, 8th Judicial Circuit of Florida; and Fletcher N. Baldwin Jr., Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law and director, Centre for International Financial Crime Studies. Sharon E. Rush, Irving Cypen Professor of Law and associate director, Center on Children & the Law, will moderate the discussion, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Constitution Day commemorates Sept. 17, 1787, the day when delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created.

For more information, contact the Levin College of Law Communications Office at 352-273-0651.