In recent years, several important U.S. Supreme Court cases have been settled by a five-to-four majority. Yet, according to Harvard Law Professor Mark Tushnet, the minority opinions cannot be discounted. In their written dissents, Justices often set the stage for future cases successfully challenging a majority opinion.

Professor Tushnet will discuss the important role that dissenting Justices play in interpreting the Constitution in a free public lecture on September 22 at 5:00 PM, at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, East 18th and Euclid Avenue.

His lecture, “I Dissent”: Reflections on Supreme Court Dissenting Opinions is approved for one free hour of CLE credit.

Professor Tushnet’s lecture will draw on the 2008 publication, I DISSENT: GREAT OPPOSING OPINIONS IN LANDMARK SUPREME COURT CASES (BEACON), which he edited—a study of 16 minority opinions from Marbury v. Madison and Brown v. Board of Education to Griswold v. Connecticut and Lawrence v. Texas. He is also the author and editor of over 50 publications, including OUT OF RANGE: WHY THE CONSTITUTION CAN'T END THE BATTLE OVER GUNS (Oxford University Press 2007), “an honest and thoughtful guide to both sides of the debate” over the Second Amendment’s assertion of the right to bear arms; A COURT DIVIDED: THE REHNQUIST COURT AND THE FUTURE OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (Stanford University Press 2005), an examination of the political and philosophical differences that characterized the Rehnquist court, often splitting the Court not into liberal and conservative factions but into dueling conservative points of view. In addition, he is the editor of THE CONSTITUTION IN WARTIME: BEYOND ALARMISM AND COMPLACENCY (Duke University Press 2005) and the author of THE NEW CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER (Princeton University Press 2003).

Professor Tushnet is the Harvard Law School William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law. Before joining the Harvard law faculty, he was the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center. His undergraduate degree is from Harvard and his MA and JD are from Yale.

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Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, founded in 1897 as the Cleveland Law School, was the first law school in Ohio to admit women and one of the first to admit minorities. In 1946, the Cleveland Law School merged with the John Marshall School of Law, founded in 1916, to become the Cleveland-Marshall Law School. In 1969, the Law School joined Cleveland’s new public university as its sixth college and was renamed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law of Cleveland State University. Early graduates of the College of Law laid the foundation for the legal profession in Northeast Ohio. Now in its 111th year, Cleveland-Marshall is preparing promising students to be America’s leaders in the 21st century in law, business, non-profit agencies and government.

For more information on Cleveland-Marshall College of Law visit our website: www.law.csuohio.edu or call 216.687.6886.

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