The event, free and open to the public and press, marks VLS’s celebration of Constitution Day and is the second installment in the school’s Fall 2014 Faculty Speakers Series.

VLS Professors Patrick Parenteau, Jessica West, and Peter Teachout will discuss the following cases, among others:

  • McCullen v. Coakley. Ruling: "A Massachusetts law which makes it a crime to stand on a public road or sidewalk within thirty-five feet of a reproductive health care facility violates the First Amendment."

  • Town of Greece v. Galloway. Ruling: "The town’s practice of opening its town board meetings with a prayer offered by members of the clergy does not violate the Establishment Clause when the practice is consistent with the tradition long followed by Congress and state legislatures, the town does not discriminate against minority faiths in determining who may offer a prayer, and the prayer does not coerce participation with non-adherents."

  • Riley v. California. Ruling: "The police generally may not, without a warrant, search digital information on a cellphone seized from an individual who has been arrested."

  • Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency. Ruling: "The Clean Air Act neither compels nor permits the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt an interpretation of the Clean Air Act requiring a stationary source of pollution to obtain a ‘Prevention of Significant Deterioration’ or Title V permit on the sole basis of its potential greenhouse-gas emission. However, EPA reasonably interpreted the Clean Air Act to require sources that would need permits based on their emission of conventional pollutants to comply with ‘best available control technology’ for greenhouse gases."

    Constitution Day was established in 2004 to celebrate the legacy of the 39 men who signed the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787, and "develop habits of citizenship in a new generation of Americans." All schools that receive federal funding are required to sponsor an educational program on Constitution Day. For more information, visit constitutioncenter.org/constitution-day.

    For more information about the Fall 2014 Faculty Speakers Series at Vermont Law School, email Professor Christine Cimini at ccimini@vermontlaw.edu or call 802.831.1281.