Sandra Day O'Connor Institute 'Constitution Series' Features D.C. Circuit Court Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg

PHOENIX, September 8, 2020 (Newswire.com) - ​​The Sandra Day O’Connor Institute will present its next free, online public forum, the Constitution Series: Equality and Justice for All, featuring the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT. Guest moderator for the forum will be the president of the American Bar Association, Patricia Lee Refo, who has been named to the National Law Journal’s list of The 50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America. 

A More or Less Perfect Union, hosted by Judge Ginsburg, aired nationwide this year on PBS television. The documentary series explored the struggle of our forefathers to create freedom, the struggle to expand freedom to every American, and the struggle we are experiencing now to preserve it.

Judge Ginsburg is also the author of Voices of Our Republic, the companion book to the series. The book features perspectives on the Constitution from dignitaries and everyday heroes, including Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Ron Chernow and others. These figures help answer the question of why the Constitution is so important and how it can be applied to political discourse today. The Constitution ― from the Bill of Rights to the 19th Amendment and beyond ― and why those particular passages hold significance are explored.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Judge Ginsburg served as the Court’s Chief Judge from 2001 to 2008. A former clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall on the U.S. Supreme Court, he received his B.S. from Cornell University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. For the last 25 years, Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg has heard more than 100 cases annually as one of the top appellate judges in the nation.

Justice O’Connor stated in a 2008 interview, “It’s (The Constitution) survived very well, I think. ... To have a good government and maintain a good government, every generation has to learn about the Constitution and the laws. That way, every generation can provide good citizens who will understand our form of government and participate by voting and other ways. It’s critically important that we learn about it, and you don’t inherit that knowledge, you have to learn it.”

Following Justice O’Connor’s retirement from the Court, she founded the nonprofit and nonpartisan Sandra Day O’Connor Institute in 2009. The Institute has long served as a convener of civil dialogue that has sought to foster solutions rather than stand on the sidelines with good intentions. With core values of inclusivity, civility and collaboration, the organization believes that the expressed ideals of this great nation require exploring issues of injustice. The Constitution Series hopes to broaden perspectives and increase understanding through thoughtful listening, mutual respect and shared purpose.

The Constitution Series is sponsored by Bank of America. For more information, visit www.OConnorInstitute.org.

​Media Contact: Heather Schader, [email protected]

Source: Sandra Day O'Connor Institute