April 19, 2005

Indiana Supreme Court justice to speak on state constitutions

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A justice of the Indiana Supreme Court will speak on April 26 at Purdue University about the role of state constitutions.

Justice Brent E. Dickson will present "The Emerging Role of State Constitutions" at 7:30 p.m. in Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering, Room G140. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will address how state courts have "rediscovered" the importance of their own state constitutions and use them to guide decisions on matters such as individual liberties and criminal procedure.

Dickson was nominated by the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission and appointed by former Gov. Robert Orr in 1985 as the 100th justice of Indiana Supreme Court. His term began in 1986. He is an adjunct professor at Indiana University School of Law. In addition to writing several hundred opinions for the court, he also has produced articles such as "Renewing Lawyer Civility" and "Lawyers and Judges as Framers of Indiana's 1851 Constitution."

He graduated from Purdue in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in American history and earned his law degree from Indiana University School of Law in 1968. He practiced law in Lafayette from 1968 to 1986.

The lecture is sponsored by Purdue's history and political science departments.

Writer: Amy Patterson-Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Douglas Hurt, professor and head of the Department of History, (765) 494-4122, dhurt@cla.purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Related Web sites:
Purdue Department of History

Purdue Department of Political Science

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