Sept. 2, 2010
Appeals Court Judges to Meet Next Week
A University of Akron law professor’s presentation on “Abraham Lincoln and the Constitution” will be one of the featured sessions on Wednesday at the annual fall conference of Ohio’s appeals court judges.
The Ohio Courts of Appeals Judges Association daylong educational program also features sessions on professionalism, the new centralization of pro hac vice admission in Ohio, a judicial ethics case law update, and significant pre-emption and individual rights cases from the 2009-2010 term of the Supreme Court of the United States.
In addition, the association will install new officers to leadership posts and recognize/honor deceased judges since last September.
Professor Wilson R. Huhn submitted this description of his talk: “Abraham Lincoln led his political party to victory in two national elections; he issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves; and he successfully commanded the armed forces of the United States during the Civil War. But his enduring legacy is that through his letters, speeches, and remarks he persuaded the American people to embrace the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence and to make those principles part of our fundamental law. He was the chief architect of the Second American Revolution, and shortly after his death, the American people adopted the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. In this program we shall study Lincoln’s words and discuss his understanding of the fundamental political and social truths that comprise the Constitution of the United States.”
In a March 12, 2009, law review article, Professor Huhn argued that it’s time to recognize Lincoln as principal framer of the U.S. Constitution because he argued “repeatedly and eloquently” that the Constitution should include the concept that “all men are created equal.” Huhn said this principle in the Declaration of Independence was not written into the original Constitution.
“Lincoln was not only a war leader who preserved the union, and he was not merely the Great Emancipator who freed the slaves,” Huhn wrote. “He was also a lawgiver who inspired this nation to dedicate itself to the proposition that all persons are created equal, to incorporate this ideal into our fundamental law, and to treat the principle of equality as one that is ‘constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people.”
Contact: Chris Davey or Bret Crow, 614.387.9250.