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"What I'm going to try to do is put the current situation in context, which includes historical context and in the context of constitutional law," Mr. Dorsen said.
That will result in a discussion of possible appointments-Mr. Dorsen joked that he will "name names"-unpredictable elements such as changes in the court's direction or composition, what issues might emerge and the tenor of the relationship between the Justice Department and the Supreme Court.
With regard to the potential cases, Mr. Dorsen expects to see the court more often revisit consistently controversial issues such as abortion.
"There's always a follow-up, a playing out of what the leading case means," he said, pointing to subsequent cases after the 1966 Miranda v. Arizona decision, which did not specify the exact wording to be used in a Miranda warning, seeking to test the limits of the decision. Furthermore, the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey returned to Roe v. Wade and almost overturned the early ruling with a 5-to-4 decision.
The rapport between the Justice Department and the court, it is assumed, will largely shift from that of the previous eight years, seen in the cases on which the Justice Department decides to take a position and those in which it accepts lower courts' rulings. By and large, the Bush Justice Department took issue with cases pertaining to gay rights, abortion and environmental matters. Mr. Dorsen explained he anticipates the government to operate with a more liberal agenda.
Mr. Dorsen spoke at the Cornwall Library in 1994, on the anniversary of the 1954 Army-McCarthy Hearings, in which he participated as a member of the Secretary of the Army's office. A professor with the NYU School of Law since 1961, he has spent considerable time in both the classroom and the court room. He clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Chief Judge Calvert Magruder and Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, as well as contributing to the petitioner's brief in Roe v. Wade and acting as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, in Gideon v. Wainwright, the Pentagon Papers case and the Nixon Tapes case.
Mr. Dorsen also argued successfully for juveniles' right to due process during the In re Gault case and for the civil rights of non-marital children in Levy v. Louisiana. He led the American Civil Liberties Union from 1976 to 1991 and received the Eleanor Roosevelt Medal for contributions to human rights in 2000 from President Bill Clinton.
Tomorrow's lecture will take place in the Cornwall Consolidated School's auditorium from 4 to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 860-672-6874.
