On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Launches Summer Speaker Series, Welcomes Broad Array of Civil Rights Activists & Leaders
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Beginning on Tuesday, June 5, as part of its Summer Internship Program for law students, The Rutherford Institute will launch its 2007 Summer Speaker Series, which aims to engage law students, lawyers, civil liberties activists and community members in stimulating discussions with leaders from a cross-section of cultural, philosophical and legal backgrounds. In keeping with the organization's 25th anniversary this year, The Rutherford Institute is pleased to welcome a broad array of speakers on issues ranging from civil liberties post-9/11 and criminal justice reform to religious freedom, partisan bickering in Congress and what Americans can do to guard against attacks on the Constitution.
The Summer Speaker Series is open to the public. However, seating is LIMITED, so space must be reserved early by calling (434) 978-3888.
Among the speakers scheduled to appear this summer are: Bruce Fein, the former associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, who will speak on "The Bush Administration and Civil Liberties"; nationally syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, who will speak about "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan Bickering that is Destroying America"; Robert O'Neil, president of The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, who will speak on "The Free Exercise of Religion"; Jay Branegan, a former Time correspondent and a senior professional staff member for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the U.S. Congress, who will speak about "Congress and Capitol Hill Issues"; Nat Hentoff, a nationally syndicated columnist, on "The Attack on the Constitution and What It Will Take to Repair It"; David Kuo, a former beltway insider and author of Tempting Faith, who will speak on "Evangelicals and the White House"; Virginia Sloan, president of the Constitution Project, who will speak on "Habeas Corpus, Signing Statements and the War on Terror"; and Professor Nelson Lund of George Mason's School of Law, who will speak on "The Second Amendment: The Right to Keep and Bear Arms."
The Rutherford Institute's Summer Internship Program offers law students and qualified undergraduates the unique opportunity to learn practical legal skills while developing a critical understanding of constitutional law. The Summer Internship Program, open to qualified students interested in receiving a grounding in critical areas of law impacting civil liberties and religious freedom, has attracted top students from schools across the country and abroad. Former interns now serve in nationally recognized law firms, as clerks for federal and state judges and in leadership roles with various civil liberties groups. Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. The Institute has emerged as one of the nation's leading advocates of civil liberties and human rights, litigating in the courts and educating the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting individual freedom in the United States and around the world.
