Akhil R. Amar
Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science
Yale University
October 9, 2012
5:00 p.m. lecture, followed by Q&A and a book signing
College of Law Courtroom
The University of Kentucky College of Law is pleased to announce Yale Law School Professor Akhil Amar as the fall 2012 Roy R. and Virginia F. Ray Distinguished Lecturer. Professor Amar will be visiting the College on October 9, 2012 to speak on his book America’s Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By. The lecture will be followed by a reception and book signing.
This lecture is free and open to the public. We hope you will join us in welcoming this renowned constitutional scholar to the College of Law.
More information about America's Unwritten Constitution:
The right to privacy. One person, one vote. The presumption of innocence. As Americans, we think of these freedoms – and many more – as our constitutional rights. But they can’t actually be found in the Constitution.
“While they’re not explicitly written in our Constitution, these things are part of America’s working constitutional system – part of America’s unwritten Constitution,” says renowned constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar. In his new book, America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By, Amar guides readers through the landmark cases, implicit principles, common practices, and more that make up our unwritten Constitution, showing how the written and unwritten Constitutions fit together to form a single system.
Going beneath, behind, and beyond the written Constitution, Amar shows that as we approach the 225th anniversary of the written document on September 17, we should also recognize the importance of its “unwritten” counterpart. “The written Constitution cannot work as intended without something outside of it – America’s unwritten Constitution – to fill in its gaps and to stabilize it,” Amar says. “In turn, America’s unwritten Constitution could never properly ignore the written Constitution, which is itself an integral part of the American experience.”
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