On 17 September, Constitution Day, the AHI will celebrate its first anniversary by inaugurating the annual David Aldrich Nelson Lecture in Constitutional Jurisprudence. The Honorable Jeffrey Sutton, federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, will speak at 7:30 at the Hamilton College Chapel on “Originalism or the Living Constitution? Interpreting the Supreme Court.” Judge Sutton succeeded David Nelson, a Hamilton College valedictorian, class of 1954, on the Sixth Circuit.

Judge Sutton’s lecture, which is open to the public, will begin  an ambitious year of AHI programming centered on the theme of property rights and culminating in our second colloquium, to be held at the Turning Stone Resort in April 2009. AHI co-founder James Bradfield is planning the event and will have major announcements about keynote speaker, conferees, student participation, and co-sponsorship in the weeks ahead.

During the fall semester, the AHI has a number of exciting events planned.  Among them:

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Publius Society Gathering 28 September

1. Gerald Russello, a lawyer and editor of The University Bookman, will kick-off the Christopher Dawson Society on Thursday evening 25 September with a presentation on “America and the Secularization of Culture.” Russello is one of this country’s leading authorities on Christopher Dawson, who held the Chauncey Stillman Chair of Roman Catholic Studies at Harvard. Dawson had a profound influence on T. S. Eliot, among other thinkers.

2. Barry Shain, Professor of Government at Colgate University, will lecture in the Hamilton College Science Auditorium to an assemblage of Hamilton College and Colgate University students on Wednesday evening, 1 October. Professor Shain is one of the foremost scholars in the world onThe Federalist. He will speak on “Rights Natural and Civil in the Declaration of Independence.”

3. The AHI will host Carla Main, lawyer and journalist, author of the prizewinning book Bulldozed (Encounter Books, 2007), on Saturday,4 October at 4:30 p.m. during Hamilton College’s fallcoming. Bulldozed is a riveting, prize-winning story about the state’s abuse of the power of eminent domain. Her lecture and book signing will be at the AHI and open to the public.

Details on these and many other forthcoming events will be posted in the days ahead.  Stay tuned.