US Supreme Court Justice gives inaugural lecture

The Hon Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, will visit the Centre for Public Law at the University of Cambridge on Tuesday 15 May, 2001 to present the inaugural lecture in the Sir David Williams Lecture Series.

Justice O'Connor's lecture, entitled "Altered states: federalism and devolution at the 'real' turn of the Millennium", will engage with crucial issues for the constitutional development of both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Devolution and federalism have been major issues for UK politics in the last four years - different levels of regional government have been introduced in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the current general election will begin to show whether this new constitutional settlement will be stable. The debate on whether or not to join the Euro is also keeping the UK's relationship with our European Union partners at the forefront of political debate.

Federalism in the United States has also been the subject of an increasingly vigorous debate in recent years. At the heart of this controversy has been the role of courts in interpreting and enforcing the structural guarantees of the US Constitution.

Justice O'Connor believes that the two nations have much to learn from each other:
"Each of our countries is deeply engaged in a debate concerning the proper allocation of power among different levels of government. In each country, the diffusion of power proceeds from a different premise. In the United States, power originally resided with the people or in the States and was ceded upward to a national government of limited authority. In the United Kingdom, power is being devolved from the sovereign Parliament of a unitary state to national assemblies, and possibly to other regional actors.

"These different premises have produced different historical trajectories and different contemporary challenges. Yet federalism and devolution in our respective countries also reflect many of the same values and thus present many of the same opportunities."

The Sir David Williams lectures are given in honour of Sir David Williams, Emeritus Vice-Chancellor of the University, quondam President of Wolfson College and leading public lawyer. The lectures are fully endowed and will take place annually in perpetuity.

Sandra Day O'Connor was born in El Paso Texas in 1930. She is a graduate of Stanford University. She served as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona from 1965 until 1969, when she was appointed to the Arizone State Senate. In 1975 she was elected Judge of the Maricope Country Superior Court and served until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. She was nominated as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1981.

The Centre for Public Law (CPL) was set up in 1997 to promote research in the areas of constitutional and administrative law. The Director of the CPL is Professor Jack Beatson QC, and Dr Christopher Forsyth and Ivan Hare are its Assistant Directors.

Useful links
Centre for Public Law
US Supreme Court