Panel discussion to consider religion and the Supreme Court

Author: Michael O. Garvey

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A panel discussion onThe Religious Commitments of Judicial Nominees: Appropriate Questioning and Acceptable Answerswill be held at4:30 p.m.Wednesday (Nov. 9) in the University of Notre DamesEckCenterauditorium.

Panelists for the discussion will be Judge DArmy Bailey, of the Tennessee Circuit Courts 30th District; Matthew J. Franck, professor and chairman of political science atRadfordUniversity; and Francis J. Beckwith, associate director ofBaylorUniversitys J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies.The discussion moderator will be Gerard V. Bradley, professor of law in theNotre DameLawSchool.

In addition to his service on the Tennessee Circuit Court, Judge Bailey is an activist, politician, attorney, writer and columnist.He has been national director of the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council inNew York, staff attorney to the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation, program adviser to the Field Foundation inNew York, and a member of the City Council of Berkeley, Calif. The author ofMine Eyes Have Seen: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s Final Journey,he has appeared in several films, includingThe People vs. Larry FlyntandHow Stella Got Her Groove Back.

Franck has taught constitutional law, American politics and political philosophy atRadfordUniversitysince 1989.He is the author ofAgainst the Imperial Judiciary: The Supreme Court vs. the Sovereignty of the Peopleand of numerous essays and reviews in political, legal, religious and philosophical journals.He also is a regular contributor to the National Review OnlinesBench MemosWeb page.

Beckwith has served on the faculties ofTrinityInternationalUniversity,WhittierCollegeand theUniversityofNevada,Las Vegas.An editor of the Journal of Church&State, he also has written several books on law, public policy, Christian apologetics, social justice ethics, and philosophy.Last year he was elected vice president of the Evangelical Theological Society, an organization of more than 4,000 scholars.

The discussion is sponsored by Notre Dames Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy.

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