Month: October 2022

“Culture and the Constitution:

The Right to Bear Arms and the Bruen Case“

Tues. Nov. 15, 7 p.m., Elaine Langone Forum

For the first time in recent memory, a forum at Bucknell features two prominent scholars of the Second Amendment debating it and gun issues. Prof. Joseph Blocher of Duke Law School (top below) and Prof. Nelson Lund (bottom below) of Scalia Law School at George Mason will discuss whether/how the right to bear arms is a relevant constitutional “check and balance” today, what type of gun-control regulations are permissible under the Second Amendment in light of SCOTUS trends, and where issues about “gun rights” and “gun control” will lead in 21st-century America life.

Whether you are in favor of the right to bear arms or the right to arm bears, don’t miss what promises to be substantive expert discussion from different perspectives on a controversial topic: The role of guns in the culture of the American republic.

About the series: The recent death of Queen Elizabeth II reminded many of the symbolic Venn diagram between culture and government. The US Constitution in many ways performs that symbolic function in America, a focus today for both unity and division over historical memory and social aspirations. This series seeks to shed light on the relation of the Constitution to culture in the twenty-first century, especially through the lens of recent controversial SCOTUS decisions, while helping to bring balance to the spectrum of views available on campus and in the local community.

Hosted by the Bucknell Program for American Leadership, a faculty-staff association, with generous support from the Open Discourse Coalition, an alumni association.

OCTOBER 12, 2022 / PAUL SIEWERS / EDIT

Trout Auditorium, Wed. Oct. 19, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

A kickoff to a series of programs examining the complex relation between American culture and the Constitution from different perspectives, through the lens of recent controversial SCOTUS decisions. The panel includes intellectually important supporters and opponents of abortion assessing the significance of the Dobbs decision.

Ryan Anderson, Ph,D. President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, co-author of Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing. A scholar of “new natural law,” among other books, his research has been cited by Justices in two U.S. Supreme Court cases. A graduate of Princeton he received his Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He has appeared on ABC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News. His work has been published by Cambridge University Press and The New York Times among other venues. He is the John Paul II Teaching Fellow in Social Thought at the University of Dallas.

Alexandra DeSanctis. A writer who focuses on culture and family issues, with a particular focus on abortion policy and pro-life advocacy, she is a staff writer of the National Review, co-author of Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing, and an Ethics and Public Policy Center Fellow. Her writing has eppeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic among other venues.

Kristin Luker. Professor Emeritus of Sociology and former Elizabeht Boalt Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, she is the author of many scholarly articles and six books, including Taking Chances: Abortion and the Decision Not to Contracept, and Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Her interests include sexual and reproductive behavior, gender, and the relationship between gender and the history of the social sciences in the United States and elsewhere. She is founder of the Center on Reproductive Rights And Justice at Berkeley.

Louise Perry. Research Director and Co-founder of The Other Half, a non-partisan feminist think tank in the UK, she is press officer for the campaign group We Can’t Consent to This, which documents cases of fatal violence against women, a columnist for the New Statesman and feature writer for the Daily Mail. Her debut book, The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century, appeared this year.

About the series: The recent death of Queen Elizabeth II reminded many of the symbolic Venn diagram between culture and government. The US Constitution in many ways performs that symbolic function in America, a focus today for both unity and division over historical memory and social aspirations. This series seeks to shed light on the relation of the Constitution to culture in the twenty-first century, while helping to bring balance to the spectrum of views available on campus.

Sponsored by the Bucknell Program for American Leadership with generous support from the Open Discourse Coalition

Trout Auditorium, Wed. Oct. 19, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

A kickoff to a series of programs examining the complex relation between American culture and the Constitution from different perspectives, through the lens of recent controversial SCOTUS decisions. The panel includes intellectually important supporters and opponents of abortion assessing the significance of the Dobbs decision.

Ryan Anderson, Ph,D. President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, co-author of Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing. A scholar of “new natural law,” among other books, his research has been cited by Justices in two U.S. Supreme Court cases. A graduate of Princeton he received his Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He has appeared on ABC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News. His work has been published by Cambridge University Press and The New York Times among other venues. He is the John Paul II Teaching Fellow in Social Thought at the University of Dallas.

Alexandra DeSanctis. A writer who focuses on culture and family issues, with a particular focus on abortion policy and pro-life advocacy, she is a staff writer of the National Review, co-author of Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing, and an Ethics and Public Policy Center Fellow. Her writing has eppeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic among other venues.

Kristin Luker. Professor Emeritus of Sociology and former Elizabeht Boalt Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, she is the author of many scholarly articles and six books, including Taking Chances: Abortion and the Decision Not to Contracept, and Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Her interests include sexual and reproductive behavior, gender, and the relationship between gender and the history of the social sciences in the United States and elsewhere. She is founder of the Center on Reproductive Rights And Justice at Berkeley.

Louise Perry. Research Director and Co-founder of The Other Half, a non-partisan feminist think tank in the UK, she is press officer for the campaign group We Can’t Consent to This, which documents cases of fatal violence against women, a columnist for the New Statesman and feature writer for the Daily Mail. Her debut book, The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century, appeared this year.

About the series: The recent death of Queen Elizabeth II reminded many of the symbolic Venn diagram between culture and government. The US Constitution in many ways performs that symbolic function in America, a focus today for both unity and division over historical memory and social aspirations. This series seeks to shed light on the relation of the Constitution to culture in the twenty-first century, while helping to bring balance to the spectrum of views available on campus.

Sponsored by the Bucknell Program for American Leadership with generous support from the Open Discourse Coalition