FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 25, 2002

CONTACT: Kris Fettkether, 515-271-2833

JUSTICE SCALIA TO SPEAK AT DRAKE

For the second time this year, a United States Supreme Court Justice will visit Drake University Law School. Justice Antonin Scalia will deliver the Dwight D. Opperman Lecture at the Drake Knapp Center at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled "Interpreting the Constitution."

"Drake Law School is honored to have such a distinguished jurist as our guest," said Law School Dean C. Peter Goplerud III. "We are also proud to count among our alumni Dwight Opperman, who is truly an advocate for the exploration of legal theory."

Scalia grew up in Queens, New York, and attended Georgetown University. There he completed his undergraduate studies and received an A.B. summa cum laude in history as class valedictorian. He went on to Harvard Law School where he served as editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude. In 1960 he married Maureen McCarthy. They have nine children.

After four years of teaching law at the University of Virginia, Scalia left teaching to pursue a career in government service. He served first as a general counsel for the Office of Telecommunication Policy under the Nixon administration. Between 1972 and 1974, Scalia chaired the Administrative Conference of the United States, which studied ways to improve the efficiency of governmental processes.

In 1977, Justice Scalia left government service to work as a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank in Washington, D.C. He also taught law briefly at the Georgetown University Law Center before moving to Chicago to teach at the University of Chicago Law School where he stayed until 1982 when Reagan appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1986 Reagan nominated Scalia to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Dwight D. Opperman Lecture in Constitutional Law at Drake Law School has become one of the most prestigious constitutional law events in the country. This year’s lecture by Justice Antonin Scalia marks the ninth time a current or former U.S. Supreme Court Justice has visited Drake to deliver this distinguished address and Scalia’s second visit. Previous lecturers were: Clarence Thomas, William H. Rehnquist, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy, Lewis F. Powell and Harry A. Blackmun. Justice Thomas returned to the law school in February 2002 as a weeklong professor in residence.

In addition to the public lecture, Justice Scalia will conduct meetings with Drake Law School student leaders and faculty, as well as participate in a question and answer session with students.

The Opperman Lecture was endowed by Dwight D. Opperman, a 1951 graduate of the Law School and 1998 recipient of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. The lecture was established to recognize the importance of constitutional law to the nation and to enhance its emphasis at Drake Law School.

Opperman, chairman of Key Investments Inc. in Minneapolis, has long been a major benefactor to Drake University and Drake Law School. His 1997 gift of $50 million was the largest in the history of higher education in Iowa and among the top gifts ever given to higher education nationally.

Drake Law School has 410 students from 35 states and six international countries.

NOTE TO THE MEDIA: Justice Scalia's lecture at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2 in the Knapp Center will be open to all news media, however electronic media may not bring cameras or recording devices into the lecture.