ALMA — Alma College will welcome Quinn Yeargain, an associate professor of law at the Michigan State University College of Law, in honor of Constitution Day on Sept. 17.
Yeargain will speak on the topic of “The Role of State Constitutions in the Supreme Court’s Rights-Restricting Era,” beginning at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 17, in Alma College’s Swanson Academic Center, room 113. This event is free and open to the public.
“(Yeargain’s) work is both scholarly and public-facing; they speak regularly to various national media outlets about the issues of state-level protections for civil rights. Additionally, this fall, Michiganders will be voting to select state supreme court justices, as well as to select the next U.S. president, who will potentially appoint justices to the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Kristin Olbertson, professor of history and pre-law program coordinator at Alma College. “At stake in this election are important decisions about the role of government and the civil rights of Americans.”
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Yeargain’s scholarship is organized around the relationship between democracy and legal developments. Their research focuses specifically on institutional changes in state constitutions through amendments, the use of democracy to expand and contract state constitutional rights and liberties and the effect of democracy on the operation of the carceral state.
Yeargain is a co-author of “State Constitutions: Institutions, Powers, and Rights,” a state constitutional law casebook soon to be published by West Academic Publishing. Outside of the classroom, Yeargain is a regular guest on state and national television and radio programs and frequently comments on current events in news outlets, including the Brennan Center’s “State Court Report” and “Bolts.”
“I hope students will learn about the significance of state government to their everyday lives, and that they will be inspired to vote and encourage others to vote in the upcoming election,” Olbertson said.
Constitution Day is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is normally observed on Sept. 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia.
In describing the importance of Constitution Day, Olbertson quoted President Harry Truman, when Truman signed the bill in 1952 that denoted Sept. 17 as both Constitution Day and Citizenship Day: “It is most fitting that every citizen of the United States, whether native-born or foreign-born, should on September 17 of each year give special thought and consideration to [their] rights and responsibilities under our Constitution.”