The University of Washington School of Law will host a Symposium on State Constitutional Law on October 23, 2015 in Seattle, WA. The symposium will focus on current issues in state constitutional law in areas that were of special concern to Justice Robert F. Utter during his years on the Washington State Supreme Court.
Papers will be presented on: the impact of “teaching opinions” on state constitutional jurisprudence; separation of powers, accountability and judicial independence; access to justice; international law and state constitutional jurisprudence in the prisoners’ rights context; state constitutional interpretation: and law school education and state constitutional law. There will also be a panel including Washington and Oregon state supreme court justices, focusing on the application of state constitutional law.
Presenters will include Professors Robert Williams and Alan Tarr from the Center for State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University; David Kader of Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law; Johanna Kalb, Yale Law School; Kristen Fraser of Seattle University School of Law; Chief Justice Tom Balmer, Oregon Supreme Court; and Justice Debra Stephens, Washington State Supreme Court.
Questions about the symposium can be directed to Prof. Hugh Spitzer, University of Washington School of Law, spith@uw.edu.
Update (Sept. 26, 2015): The conference website, with agenda, is here.
