Judge Douglas Ginsburg – A More or Less Perfect Union: Liberty & the U.S. Constitution
About The Event
“A More or Less Perfect Union, A Personal Exploration” by Judge Douglas Ginsburg explores the foundational document that governs those who govern us – the American Constitution. Hosted by Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, a constitutional expert with 30 years of experience on the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, this thought-provoking, the presentation looks at past, present, and future struggles for liberty through the lens of the U.S. Constitution. Firsthand perspectives, including those of direct descendants of slaves and of those involved in pivotal civil rights cases, historians, legal scholars, small business owners, judges, and ordinary American citizens, provide captivating context to the shaping of American governance.
Judge Ginsburg skillfully weaves the story of how the Framers put freedom in writing in the summer of 1787; how freedom spread over more than two centuries to all of “we the people;” and how we may risk freedom today by ignoring the words of the Framers. Real-life stories from descendants and the director at Whitney Plantation, the Dred Scott Foundation, and The Plessy and Ferguson Foundation bring meaningful illustrations to the Constitution as past intentions come into conflict with present realities; business owners and American citizens relate stories both of protection and of overreach by the government – as with the USDA regulating the care of Hemingway’s cats! The Bill of Rights is explored with stories showing how our rights affect our everyday lives as well as the momentous issues surrounding the freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly, the Second Amendment, eminent domain, the separation of powers, and civil rights.
About the Moderator
Alan Crain has served as chair of the board of directors of the World Affairs Council of Greater Houston and is currently on the advisory board. He is also chairman of the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Additionally, Crain is chairman of the board of directors of EP Energy. He teaches at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and chairs the governance committee of the board of the Texas Tri-Cities chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Crain has been General Counsel of three Fortune 500 multinationals, most recently Baker Hughes. He is an independent arbitrator with experience in more than 70 cases and is the Vice Chairman of the Institute for Transnational. Crain holds BS and MS degrees in Engineering, a J.D., and an MBA.
About The Speaker
Senior Circuit Judge Douglas Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1986; he served as Chief Judge from 2001 to 2008. After receiving his BS from Cornell University in 1970, and his JD from the University of Chicago Law School in 1973, he clerked for Judge Carl McGowan on the D.C. Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall on the United States Supreme Court.
Thereafter, Judge Ginsburg was a professor at the Harvard Law School, the Deputy Assistant and then Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, as well as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. Concurrent with his service on the federal bench, Judge Ginsburg has taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the New York University School of Law. Judge Ginsburg is currently a Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, and a visiting professor at the University College London, Faculty of Laws.
Judge Ginsburg is the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Global Antitrust Institute at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of: Competition Policy International; the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy; the Journal of Competition Law and Economics; the Journal of Law, Economics and Policy; the Supreme Court Economic Review; the University of Chicago Law Review; The New York University Journal of Law and Liberty; and, at University College London, both the Center for Law, Economics and Society and the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics.
*Event cancellations require 24-hours advanced notice.
Organizer
