UMaine Farmington to celebrate Constitution Day Oct. 5

James Melcher, UMF professor of political science. Submitted photo

FARMINGTON — The U.S. Constitution, a landmark document of the Western world, will again be celebrated on the University of Maine at Farmington campus with the 16th annual Constitution Day presentation on the U.S. Supreme Court.

This preview and review by James Melcher, UMF professor of political science, is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, in Lincoln Auditorium, Roberts Learning Center on Main Street. The event is free and open to the public.

“Supreme Court decisions always have wide-ranging effects. But the decisions in the last term of the court offer some of the biggest changes in many years to American life and to precedent in major areas such as abortion and firearms. The public in a democratic republic needs to be aware of these changes in order to be effective citizens,” Melcher said in a news release from April Mulherin, UMF associate director for media relations.

This year’s presentation will present a docket of U.S. Supreme Court cases focusing on last term’s highlights and this term’s coming attractions.

Cases from the past term:

• Carson v. Makin (case from Maine on funding of religious schools);

• Dobbs v. Jackson County Women’s Health Organization (overturned Roe v. Wade);

• New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. v. Bruen (Second Amendment);

• Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (prayer at public football games);

• Shurtleff v. Boston (First Amendment case on city display of flags); and

• West Virginia v. EPA (Biden administration regulation of power plant emissions).

Cases from the upcoming term:

• Moore v. Harper (elections);

• Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University/University of North Carolina: affirmative action and college admissions;

• National Pork Producers v. Ross (Commerce Clause); and

• 303 Creative LLC v. Elenic (wedding web site, First Amendment rights and state LGBTQ protections).

Previously known as Citizenship Day, Constitution Day was created by Congress in 2004. This federal holiday was revised to recognize not only those who have become U.S. citizens, but also the ratification of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

In addition to renaming the holiday Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.

Opinions on last term’s cases can be found at supremecourtus.gov.

UMF’s Constitution Day event this year is sponsored by the UMF Pre-Law Program, the Department of Political Science and the Division of Social Science and Business.

Melcher has taught at UMF since 1999 and teaches a wide range of courses on American politics, government and political thought. He also serves as UMF’s pre-law adviser.

He has become known throughout the University of Maine system for his work on the Maine Public Policy Scholars program and has become a frequent “voice of the University” in his numerous interviews as a political expert with media both within and outside Maine.

For more information, email Melcher at jim.melcher@maine.edu.