Celebrate Constitution Day With 2008 O'Connell Conference Podcast

Oregon Law is proud to commemorate Constitution Day with this Podcast of the 2008 O'Connell Conference: "21st Century Challenges to the Judiciary: Judicial Independence, Popular Constitutionalism, and Judicial Elections."

The first session of the conference focused on recent threats to judicial independence both in the US and abroad. Our speakers will address challenges to the institutional integrity of our judiciary, as well as the struggle to create and maintain independent judiciaries in Russia, Ukraine and Pakistan. Speakers included: Chief Justice De Muniz from the Oregon Supreme Court; Peter Wonacott, Senior South Asia Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, who covered and will discuss the judicial crisis in Pakistan when President Musharraf dismissed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; and Liliya Katerinchuk, a judge on the High Commercial Court in Ukraine who will discuss the challenges of creating an independent judiciary in Ukraine.

The second session focused on the question to what extent and in what manner the People should play a role in interpreting the Constitution. Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer, author of the controversial book The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review, joined former Justice Hans Linde and Professor Rachel Caufield of Drake University Law School in assessing the relationship between the public and the courts in interpreting the Constitution. Should courts have the final word on constitutional meaning? If so, do elected judiciaries solve the counter-majoritarian dilemma? If not, how can constitutional meaning ever be determined with finality? Or clarity?

To watch the Podcasts, click the links below:

• Hon. Paul DeMuniz (Chief Justice, Oregon Supreme Court): "Judicial Independence Issues in Oregon and Russia"

• Peter Wonacott (Senior South Asia Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal): "The Judicial Crisis in Pakistan"

• Hon. Liliia Katerinchuk (Judge, High Commercial Court, Ukraine): "Building an Independent Judiciary in Ukraine"

• Panel Discussion: "The Challenges of Building and Maintaining an Independent Judiciary"

• Larry Kramer (Dean, Stanford Law School): "Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review"

• Mark Graber (Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics; Professor, University of Maryland School of Law): "Judicial Supremacy and Popular Constitutionalism"

• Ofer Raban (Professor, University of Oregon School of Law): "Judicial Elections and the Misguided Positivism of the United States Supreme Court"

• Rachel Caufield (Professor, Drake University): "The Counter-Majoritarian Dilemma and Judicial Elections"

• Hon. Hans Linde (Former Justice, Oregon Supreme Court): "Is Judging An Expression Of 'The People's" Will -- And About What?"

• Panel Discussion: "What Role Should the People Play In Interpreting the Constitution?"