FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, Sept. 11, 2009
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, 304-696-7153
 

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to convene
at Marshall University as part of Constitution Week

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall University will observe Constitution Week 2009 with a variety of events on its Huntington campus, including the annual quoits tournament, a session by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the celebration of John Marshall’s 254^th birthday.

Although Constitution Week officially runs from Thursday, Sept. 17 (Constitution Day) through Thursday, Sept. 24 (John Marshall’s birthday), the university has scheduled events from Monday, Sept. 14 through Sept. 24. The Supreme Court will convene at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22 in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center and hear arguments on the following cases:

The roster and briefs for this session are posted on the Supreme Court’s Web site – http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/calendar/setp22_09ad.htm.

“It’s an opportunity for people of our community, both on campus and off, to see the most important state court in operation,” said Dr. Alan Gould, executive director of Marshall’s John Deaver Drinko Academy, which sponsors Constitution Week activities at MU. “Also, the docket this year for the fall session contains some very interesting, if not significant, cases to be heard.”

Gould said some new events have been added to the Constitution Week agenda at Marshall. The first of those is the presenting of the winners of the first Dan O’Hanlon Constitution Week and John Marshall Celebration Essay Competition at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17 in the John Marshall Dining Room, located on the second floor of the Memorial Student Center.

Next is a panel discussion titled “Blogging and the potential limits of the First Amendment,” moderated by Chief Justice Brent Benjamin. It begins at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22 in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center and is open to the public. Members of the panel include:

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C.; Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University; Howard J. Bashman, an appellate attorney in suburban Philadelphia who has a blog, howappealinglaw.com; Kevin Qualls, attorney and Professor of Media Law at Murray State University in Kentucky; and Dr. Corley Dennison, dean of Marshall’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

The panel discussion will be streamed live on Marshall University’s Web site (www.marshall.edu) and televised live on Comcast Channel 25.

Another new event, “Congress on Campus,” features former Congressmen Dawson Mathis, a Democrat from Georgia, and Ed Foreman, a Republican from Texas. Mathis and Foreman will be on campus Wednesday, Sept. 23 and Thursday, Sept. 24, meeting with various student groups, including political organizations and honoraries.

Dr. Marybeth Beller, chair of Marshall University’s Department of Political Science, said they also will visit two or three classrooms.

“The Congressmen are still very much involved in civic events,” Beller said. “They travel the country to talk about civic engagement. The reason they come together is they want to make students aware of how precious our democracy is, and that it only works if people participate and communicate to their elected officials. Their message is about becoming an active citizen. They talk to people about being engaged in their government.”

Traditional Constitution Week events begin at 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14 with “An introduction to the game of quoits” on the west end of Buskirk Field. Quoits is 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.” Gould said quoits was John Marshall’s favorite game.

Teams are forming now to play in a quoits tournament that begins Tuesday, Sept. 15 and concludes Thursday, Sept. 17. Marshall University faculty, staff and students may participate, and the deadline for team registration is 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14. For more information, visit www.marshall.edu/recsport/intramural.htm.

The President’s Invitational Quoits Media Challenge, featuring Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp and members of the media, will take place at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. That event will be preceded at 11 a.m. by the cutting of the John Marshall Birthday Cake on the Memorial Student Center plaza.

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