High-profile speakers, timely topics mark chapter’s first year
In its first year, the Milwaukee Chapter put on a series of events featuring inspiring, timely, and thought-provoking speakers, as well as informal social events.
Highlighting the chapter’s kick-off event on March 30 were remarks by the Hon. Abner J. Mikva, who has served as White House counsel, as Chief Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and as a five-term Congressman from Chicago. Mikva's address to over 100 Milwaukee-area ACS members focused on the impact of the Iraq War.
In April, members gathered to hear Sarah Weddington, the lead counsel for Roe in Roe v. Wade, discuss her early career and her involvement in the landmark case, as well as continuing efforts to curtail reproductive rights.
Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry and author of the book Why Marriage Matters, spoke to the Milwaukee Chapter in July on his campaign to end discrimination in marriage and promote fairness for all families, including those led by same-sex couples.
At the fall meeting, Prof. John Kaminski of the University of Wisconsin presented "The Constitution without a Bill of Rights." Kaminski has presented his research on the origins of the Bill of Rights to judges and lawyers around the country.
Milwaukee Chapter members also met for informal social events in the summer and a year-end party.
In January, the Milwaukee Chapter was honored to have Justice Patience D. Roggensack of the Wisconsin Supreme Court speak to members on the philosophy underlying judicial independence. Justice Roggensack discussed the importance and effect of judicial independence in the three tiers of the Wisconsin court system; its relationship to the judiciary's interaction with the other branches of government; and how it relates to the development of common law doctrines, statutory interpretation and constitutional interpretation.
