UC Davis School of Law is pleased to announce the third annual Central Valley Foundation/ James B. McClatchy Lecture on the First Amendment with Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor Geoffrey R. Stone at the University of Chicago Law School.  He will deliver a lecture entitled "The 2012 Election and the Future of the Supreme Court," on October 15, 2012 beginning at 4:00 p.m. in King Hall’s Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom.

One issue not much discussed in this year’s presidential campaign is the possible impact of the election on the United States Supreme Court and on the future of constitutional law.  In his lecture, Geoffrey R. Stone will consider the possible implications of the election from this perspective and the meaning of terms like “conservative” and “liberal” from the standpoint of current, past, and future justices.  Professor Stone will examine competing theories about the proper role of the judiciary in the American constitutional system and offer a critique of the jurisprudence of the current majority of the Supreme Court.

Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.  He received his B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 and his J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1971, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review.  After serving as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Professor Stone joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School in 1973.  He has served as Dean of the Law School (1987-1994) and Provost of the University of Chicago (1994-2002).  He is the author of several acclaimed books on constitutional law, and is a member of the Board of the American Constitution Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Member of the American Philosophical Society.

The Central Valley Foundation and UC Davis School of Law have established the Central Valley Foundation/James B. McClatchy Lecture to promote discussion and understanding of First Amendment issues.  Professor Stone's lecture will be the third in a series of five annual events.

The Central Valley Foundation (CVF) was established by the late James B. McClatchy, publisher of The McClatchy Company newspapers from 1987 to 2005.  CVF supports organizations and education programs dedicated to:  the protection and promotion of First Amendment rights; the advancement of academic achievement of English Learners at public K-12 schools in California’s Central Valley; and the enhancement and preservation of quality of life in the Central Valley.

Registered participants of the Central Valley Foundation/James B. McClatchy Lecture are eligible for MCLE credit.