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HLS Library Book Talk: Reading the Constitution

October 2, 2024

12:30 pm - 1:15 pm

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Milstein East A

Join the HLS Library on Wednesday October 2 at 12:30pm for a HLS Library Book Talk in  Wasserstein Hall – Milstein East A. This event features a discussion on Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism with author and HLS Professor Stephen Breyer, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. This event is free and will be recorded, open to all Harvard ID holders in person, open to the public on Zoom Webinars.

Register to attend in person, Harvard ID required. Register by September 25 for a complimentary lunch.

Register for the livestream via Zoom Webinars, open to the public. Livestream does not include lunch.

If you, or an event participant, require disability-related accommodations, please contact Accessibility Services at accessibility@law.harvard.edu.

More about the book from the publisher:
“The relatively new judicial philosophy of textualism dominates the Supreme Court. Textualists claim that the right way to interpret the Constitution and statutes is to read the text carefully and examine the language as it was understood at the time the documents were written. This, however, is not Justice Breyer’s philosophy nor has it been the traditional way to interpret the Constitution since the time of Chief Justice John Marshall. Justice Breyer recalls Marshall’s exhortation that the Constitution must be a workable set of principles to be interpreted by subsequent generations. Most important in interpreting law, says Breyer, is to understand the purposes of statutes as well as the consequences of deciding a case one way or another. He illustrates these principles by examining some of the most important cases in the nation’s history, among them the Dobbs and Bruen decisions from 2022 that he argues were wrongly decided and have led to harmful results.”

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October 2, 2024, 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm

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