Event
"Is the World Rejecting American Constitutionalism?"
Akhil Reed Amar, Yale Law School - " 'Why 'We the People' Loses Appeal' Misses the Point"
David Armitage, History, Harvard University - "Foundations of Modern International Thought: Declarations of Independence, 1776-2012"
David Law, Washington University Law School - "The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution"
Moderator: Rick Beeman, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Pennsylvania
Event Description:
Most Americans revere their Constitution—but what does the rest of the world think? Is the world rejecting American constitutionalism as a model for other countries? Many say yes. Australian Justice Michael Kirby maintains America is in danger of becoming “a legal backwater.” Israeli Supreme Court President Aharon Barak believes the American Supreme Court “is losing the central role it once had among courts in modern democracies.” Even U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told Egyptians that she “would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012.”
As the Opening Event of its 2012-2013 series on “Constitution Making,” the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism is delighted to bring to the National Constitution Center three leading scholars to discuss the global influence of the U.S. Constitution. David Law, Professor of Law and Political Science at Washington University, has argued this influence is indeed in decline. Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale University, contends instead that there is much in American constitutionalism that new countries are emulating, making them “more American.” David Armitage, Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University, focuses on the Declaration of Independence as part of America’s constitutional traditions and sees its impact as perhaps most far-reaching. The panel will explore what’s at stake in these different perceptions on the importance of American constitutionalism for constitution making in the world today.
For more details on the Penn DCC event series, visit the DCC website.