Wednesday, DEC 12 LUNCHEON: "Activist Judges On The Supreme Court"
Bill Cotter AB '58, JD '61 on "The Big Fears About The Supreme Court." Are Liberal or Conservative judges more "activist?" This former LBJ White House Fellow helped write the Nigerian Constitution and served as President of Colby College for 20 years.
This Luncheon is on WEDNESDAY Dec. 12 at 11:30 am at "Michael's on East" -- Sarasota. ==> NOT Friday, Dec. 14 We will return to a Friday luncheon schedule on January 11, 2013
ABOUT THE TOPIC:
There are Big Fears about judicial activism with 4 new Supreme Court justices in the last seven years. Compare that with the seven-year period from 1994-2005 when not a single new Supreme Court Justice was appointed.
The Court is shifting to one that has a majority of justices appointed by conservative Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. There is uncertainty as to how the Roberts court will vote and react to the critical cases the Court may hear soon.
Some of those cases are Fisher v. University of Texas (Affirmative Action), Klapper v. Amnesty International (National Security, Wire-tapping, and attorney-client privilege), Windsor v. US (Same-sex Marriage), Kiobel v Dutch Petroleum Co. (Human Rights and International Law).
The Roberts court has been shifted to the right, but what does that mean for the future? It is difficult to predict because the Supreme Court has had surprising unity as of late on most issues, excluding the Obama Care vote, which was a 5-4 narrow victory. When asked in a recent interview, “So who really is the more activist in the Supreme Court?” Bill Cotter responded, “It depends on who you ask. If you ask the liberals, they will claim that they are the more activist. The conservatives will contend that they are the more activist of the two groups.”
With so many landmark cases already scheduled on the Supreme Court’s docket for the coming session, there is plenty of impetus for hearing the inside scoop from a true expert and insider in Bill Cotter.
--By Mark Riddell, AB '04 
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER:
Bill Cotter is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar Association. He was also the President of Colby College for 20 years, the longest serving President of Colby College in its history. During his tenure at Colby, Bill Cotter helped grow the prestigious liberal arts college’s endowment by nearly ten-fold. Prior to serving as President of Colby College, he earned a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Cotter was one of 15 in the first group of White House Fellows chosen to serve in the Johnson administration. He was assigned as a special assistant to Secretary of Commerce John T. Connor, and at the Commerce Department he set up an equal employment opportunity program and "got a real sense of what government does," he said. He recalls lunches with Lady Bird Johnson and J. Robert Oppenheimer, dinners with the President, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Supreme Court justices and congressional leaders. "I had a debate with Dean Rusk (secretary of state) in the State Department dining room," he said. After Cotter asked, sympathetically, about Robert Kennedy's suggestion that the U.S. start negotiating with the North Vietnamese, Rusk snapped back, "What are you, some kind of communist?" Cotter recalls.
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INVITED: All Alumni, Members and Guests
DATE: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 (NOT Friday)
TIME:
- 11:30 am Cocktails Meet & Greet
- 12:00 Lunch
- 12:30 Speaker + Q&A
- 1:30 pm Adjourn
LOCATION: Michael's On East, 1212 East Ave. S, Sarasota
COST: BUY NOW $25 in Advance, $30 at The Door
DRESS: Business Casual and Work Wear
FAMILY FRIENDLY: Children Welcome