FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007
Contact:
Dave Wellman, Director of
Communications (304) 696-7153
West Virginia
Supreme Court of Appeals
to visit Marshall University campus
next week
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – In celebration of Constitution Week Sept. 17-23, Marshall University will welcome to campus for the third consecutive year the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
While on campus next week, the Court will review four cases that give a representation of constitutional law. The cases are Clinton and Jessie San Francisco v. Wendy’s International, Inc.; Colgan Air v. West Virginia Human Rights Commission and Khan; State of West Virginia v. Thomas MacPhee; and, Edward W. Cantley, Sr., et. al. v. Lincoln County Commission. To review the docket of cases, visit http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/press/sept11_07.htm.
The Court will be in session at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18 in the Joan C. Edwards Playhouse. Although the session is open to the public, seating is limited.
Chief Justice Robin Jean Davis said she is excited to again be on Marshall’s Huntington campus.
“The Supreme Court is eager to return to Marshall University,” Davis said. “We believe it is important to take the Court to university campuses and other locations in West Virginia where citizens can see the Supreme Court in person. We always enjoy meeting students and others who come to hear arguments in cases on our docket.”
The university scheduled several events on campus to celebrate Constitution Week and Chief Justice John Marshall’s 252nd birthday. Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp said he also is looking forward to having the justices on campus.
“The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals’ visit to campus affords Marshall University the opportunity to engage our community both on and off campus as firsthand observers of the state’s highest court at work,” Kopp said. “We strongly encourage our students, faculty and staff, along with the general public, to attend the Court while it is in session on campus and witness our judicial system in action.”
Constitution Week activities at Marshall are coordinated and sponsored by the John Deaver Drinko Academy. Other sponsors include Marshall’s Office of the President and the West Virginia Bar Association.
The week gets underway on Monday, Sept. 17, with a lecture by acclaimed author Professor Jean Edward Smith on “FDR, Charles Evans Hughes, and the Struggle for Judicial Independence” at 10 a.m. in the Memorial Student Center Alumni Lounge.
Later that day, an introduction to the game of quoits, one of John Marshall’s favorite games, will take place on the west end of Buskirk Field. Teams of faculty, staff and students are forming for the annual tournament of the game of quoits, an ancient and little-known sport related to horseshoe pitching that dates back to the early days of Olympic discus throwers.
Quoits are donut shaped and as literature from the Drinko Academy relates, “If you can play horseshoes, you can play quoits.” Deadline for team registration is 5 p.m. Sept. 17. For more information, go to www.marshall.edu/recsport/intramural.htm.
The quoits tournament will run from Tuesday, Sept. 18, through Thursday, Sept. 20. Play will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, with finals at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
At 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, President Kopp will cut a birthday cake in honor of John Marshall on the Memorial Student Center Plaza. It will be followed at noon by the president’s invitational quoits challenge with members of the news media.
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