Most Americans know that July 4th is our nation’s birthday. Far fewer Americans know that September 17th is the birthday of our government, the date in 1787 on which delegates to the Philadelphia Convention completed and signed the U.S. Constitution. In commemoration of Constitution Day 2015, Discourse in Democracy brought in Dr. Greg Weiner of Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts as a guest speaker. Dr. Weiner conducted two afternoon seminars with graduate and undergraduate students exploring whether the idea of judicial supremacy, the idea that the Supreme Court has the ultimate and final say on all constitutional questions, was consistent with the founders’ understanding of the proper role of the judicial branch in our constitutional system. He also delivered an evening lecture, “Independent of Heaven Itself: On the Supremacy of the Supreme Court,” arguing that judicial supremacy was incompatible with republican government and constitutional governance.
Attended by over 300 students and faculty members, the lecture was followed by responses from three members of our political science faculty – Drs. Paul DeHart, Paul Kens and Ken Ward – and a lively discussion with the audience. The department’s Constitution Day activities were co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and made possible by funding provided by The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History.
