State constitutions influenced the drafting of the U.S. Constitution and continue to shape constitutional rights today. The Virginia Constitution of 1776 in particular influenced both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. As we get ready to celebrate Independence Day, National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen joined experts for a two-part conversation on state constitutions. First, Rosen was joined by A.E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia. Professor Howard is an expert on the Virginia Constitution of 1776 and Virginia’s current constitution, which he helped draft and is commemorating its 50th anniversary this year. Rosen was then joined by two experts on state constitutions: Judge Jeffrey Sutton, author of 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law, and professor Emily Zackin, author of Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places: Why State Constitutions Contain America’s Positive Rights.
This panel was streamed live on June 28, 2021.
If you’re interested in learning more about state constitutions, check out some of our past programs including this Town Hall program featuring Judge Jeffrey Sutton, “Why State Constitutions Matter.”
Register for our 2021 Annual Supreme Court Review on July 8 at constitutioncenter.org/debate.
PODCAST
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This episode was produced by Jackie McDermott, Tanaya Tauber, John Guerra, and Lana Ulrich. It was engineered by David Stotz and Greg Scheckler.
TRANSCRIPT:
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This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
PARTICIPANTS
A. E. Dick Howard is the Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Active in public affairs, Howard was executive director of the commission that wrote Virginia's current constitution and directed the referendum campaign for its ratification. He has been counsel to the General Assembly of Virginia, a consultant to state and federal bodies, and he served as counselor to the Governor of Virginia.
Jeffrey Sutton serves as chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Sutton is also currently an adjunct professor at the Mortiz College of Law at The Ohio State University, a member of the American Law Institute, and formerly served as State Solicitor of Ohio. He is the author of 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law and his forthcoming book, Who Decides: States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation, will be published in fall 2021.
Emily Zackin is an associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. Zackin is the author of Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places: Why State Constitutions Contain America’s Positive Rights. That book was based on her dissertation, which won the American Political Science Association's Edward S. Corwin Award for Best Dissertation Public Law and the Walter Dean Burnham Best Dissertation Award from the Politics and History section of APSA.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
- John Locke, Two Treatises on Government
- Virginia Constitution of 1870
- Virginia Constitution of 1902
- Virginia Constitution of 1971
- Jeffrey Sutton, 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law
- Emily Zackin, Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places: Why State Constitutions Contain America's Positive Rights
- Jeffrey Sutton, Who Decides: States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation
- San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973)
- Massachusetts Constitution (1780)
- New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann (1932)
- Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (2021)
- Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)
- West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
- Georgetown Law Library, “Constitutional Law and History Research Guide — State Constitutions”
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