University of Maryland Constitutional Law Scholar Mark Graber to Address"John Brown and the Problem of Constitutional Evil" Feb. 20 at Rutgers

Feb. 15, 2007

EDITORS NOTE: ATTENTION ASSIGNMENT EDITORS, if you plan to staff this free public lecture, contact Steve Manas, Office of Media Relations, at 732-932-7084, ext. 612. You also are invited to attend a small prelecture dinner at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at 6:30 p.m. R.S.V.P. to Janet Murphy at 732-932-9283.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW SCHOLAR MARK GRABER

TO ADDRESS JOHN BROWN AND THE PROBLEM OF CONSTITUTIONAL EVIL

FEB. 20 AT RUTGERS

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WHAT:	The Other Also Exists: John Brown and the Problem of Constitutional Evil, the Alice Sofis Evangelides Lecture and Forum in Political Science at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
WHO:	Mark Graber, professor, associate chair and director of graduate studies, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, and professor of government and law, University of Maryland School of Law. Graber is recognized as one of the countrys leading scholars on constitutional law and politics.
WHEN:	8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20
WHERE:	The Eagleton Institute of Politics, 191 Ryders Lane, Douglass Campus, New Brunswick

BACKGROUND: Professor Graber believes that the abolitionist John Brown, best known for his raid on a government arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859, and not Abraham Lincoln, provides the proper alternative to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert B. Taneys compromising solution to the problem of constitutional evil. Taney had written the decision for the Court in the Dred Scott case that declared any restrictions imposed by Congress on the spread of slavery into the territories, such as those found in the Missouri Compromise, to be unconstitutional.

Brown recognized that slavery would likely be eradicated only by actions that drenched this land in blood. He was convinced that both the Constitution and the Bible were committed to his vision of the good society. Those who sympathize with his actions, as an increasing number of Americans do, in effect reject the possibility of rational persuasion as the best and only means for securing a more just society.

The lectureship, presented by the Department of Political Science, honors the late Alice Sofis Evangelides, Rutgers first employee counsel, who had a strong interest in public law.

Contact: Steve Manas

732-932-7084, Ext. 612

E-mail: smanas@ur.rutgers.edu