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Television Documentary Airs When New Jersey celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the state's constitution in 1997, the Center for State Constitutional Studies marked the occasion with a major television documentary. In conjunction with the New Jersey Network, the state's public television network, the Center produced "The Opportunity of a Century: New Jersey's Constitution at 50", a unique look at a state's constitutional heritage. The one-hour documentary blended period film footage, audio tapes of the 1947 constitutional convention, contemporary film, photographs, and interviews to trace the development of the state's constitution and highlight its impact on the lives of the state's citizens. Following the initial airing of the program in November, 1997, the Center has distributed "The Opportunity of a Century" to all New Jersey high schools and public libraries. INTERESTED IN OBTAINING A COPY? For further information about the documentary, contact the Center for State Constitutional Studies; to order a copy, write: NJN Video, CN 777, Trenton, NJ 08625-0777, or fax your order to: 609-633-2758. Center Launches Comparative Constitutionalism Project Robert Williams and Alan Tarr have been selected to serve as co-editors of the volumes on comparative sub-national constitutionalism for the International Encyclopedia of Law, published by Kluwer Publishing. The volumes will include commentaries on the sub-national constitutions in all federal systems that have them, together with the texts of significant sub-national constitutions from each system. Work is currently underway on the monographs on Australia (James Thomson), on Brazil (Celso Bastos), on Austria (Josef Marko), on Russia (Katerina Shugrina), and on the United States (Williams and Tarr). Authors are currently being selected for the other monographs that will comprise the volumes. South Africa Conference Planned The Center for State Constitutional Studies, in partnership with the Van Themaat Center of the University of South Africa, announces a conference on comparative sub-national constitutionalism. The conference, which will be held from March 16-19, 1999, at a venue in Johannesburg, South Africa, will draw experts from most existing federal systems. Among the themes addressed at the conference will be: processes for resolving competency disputes, relations between subnational and local governments, subnational constitutions and economic development, and rights protections under subnational constitutions. The conference is particularly timely because provinces in South Africa are currently contemplating the adoption of provincial constitutions. Conferences Mark State Constitutional Anniversaries NEW JERSEY: New Jersey in 1997 celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its third state constitution. In conjunction with the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the Center for State Constitutional Studies conducted a one-day conference on the New Jersey Constitution for members of New Jersey's legal profession in October, 1997. The conference, held at the New Jersey Bar Center in New Brunswick, included addresses by New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Stewart Pollock, former Governor Brendan Byrne, and former Attorney General Cary Edwards. Other speakers included Robert Williams, Earl Maltz, and Jack Sabatino, all of whom are associated with the Center for State Constitutional Studies. The New Jersey State Bar Association published a special issue of its magazine, The New Jersey Lawyer (June, 1997), devoted to the New Jersey State Constitution. Robert Williams, Associate Director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies, served as guest editor. Rutgers Law Journal will publish a symposium on the New Jersey Constitution in Fall 1998. In conjunction with Rutgers University Law School, the Center for State Constitutional Studies also sponsored a conference on the New Jersey Constitution for New Jersey judges. Featured speakers at the conference included Robert Williams, Jack Sabatino, John Wefing, Judge Barbara Curran, and Eric Neisser. DELAWARE: Delaware marked the one hundredth anniversary of its constitution in 1997 with a conference in Wilmington. Among the featured speakers at the conference were Robert Williams, Associate Director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies, Jennifer Frieson, Justice Ellen Peters (Connecticut), Chief Justice Randall Shepard (Indiana), and Chief Justice Joseph Walsh (Delaware). Published versions of the talks will be available in a forthcoming issue of Delaware Law Review. MONTANA: Montana marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of its second constitution in 1997 with a conference in Helena. The address by Alan Tarr, Director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies, is available in Rendezvous: The Humanities in Montana 1 (1997), published by the Montana Committee for the Humanities. WISCONSIN: Wisconsin is celebrating the sesquicentennial of its constitution in 1998. The papers presented at a conference commemorating the anniversary are available in the Wisconsin Law Review (Summer 1998). International Focus The Center is pleased to meet with international visitors interested in subnational constitutionalism. Within the last two years, the Center has hosted delegations from South Africa and Russia. Center personnel have also travelled outside the United States to meet with officials and scholars, most recently to South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Cyprus. For Further Information The Center for State Constitutional Studies was formed in 1995 to promote research, scholarly exchange, and public education on American state constitutions and on subnational constitutions in other countries. Subnational Constitution Chronicle details recent activities of the Center and its members, as well as developments involving state and subnational constitutionalism. |
Center Web-Site Planned Up-to-date information on subnational constitutionalism and on the activities of the Center for State Constitutional Studies will soon be available on the internet, when the Center launches its own website. Watch for it! Recent State Constitutional Publications Several publications by scholars affiliated with the Center for State Constitutional Studies have appeared since the last Subnational Constitution Chronicle (formerly titled Center News): Ellis Katz and G. Alan Tarr, eds. Federalism and Rights. Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996. G. Alan Tarr, ed. Constitutional Politics in the States. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1996. ____________. Judicial Process and Judicial Policymaking, 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1998. ____________. "Models and Fashions in State Constitutionalism," Wisconsin Law Review (1998). ____________. "The New Judicial Federalism in Perspective," Notre Dame Law Review 72 (1997): 1097-1118. ____________. Understanding State Constitutions. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. ____________, and Robert F. Williams. "Western State Constitutions in the American Constitutional Tradition," New Mexico Law Review 28 (1998). Robert F. Williams, "In the Glare of the Supreme Court: Continuing Methodology and Legitimacy Problems in Independent State Constitutional Rights Adjudication," Notre Dame Law Review 72 (May 1997): 1015-1064. ___________. The New Jersey State Constitution: A Reference Guide, rev. ed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1997. ___________. "Comparative State Constitutional Law: A Research Agenda on Subnationa Constitutions in Federal Systems" in Roger Blanpain, ed., Law in Motion. : Kluwer, 1997. ___________. "The Florida Constitution Revision Commission in Historic and National Context," Florida Law Review 50 (January 1998): 215-231. ____________. "New Mexico State Constitution Law Comes of Age," New Mexico Law Review 28 (1998). ____________. "New York's State Constitution in National Context," Touro Law Review 14 (Spring 1998): 611-635. The Center also supports the publication of a reference series on "State Constitutions of the United States" published by Greenwood Press under the editorship of Alan Tarr. In 1997-1998, four volumes have been published in the series, including The Wisconsin State Constitution by Jack Stark, The Texas State Constitution by Janice May, The Iowa State Constitution by Jack Stark, and The Utah State Constitution by Jean Bickmore White. Forthcoming Conferences/Panels on State Constitutionalism Panel: "New Perspectives on State Constitutionalism," with papers by John Dinan, Douglas Reed, Robert Schapiro, and David Yalof. American Political Science Association conference, Boston, MA (September 3, 1998, 1:30). Contact person: Alan Tarr (tarr@crab.rutgers.edu). Panel: "Rediscovering State Constitutional History" with papers by Willi Paul Adams, John Orth, and Robert Williams. Law & History Association meeting, Seattle, WA (October 23, 1998, 3:00). Contact person: Christian Fritz, University of New Mexico Law School (fritz@law.unm.edu). Conference: "International Comparative Federalism in the Devolution Era" including papers by Michael Burgess, Daniel Elazar, A. E. Dick Howard, Alan Tarr, and Robert Williams. South Texas College of Law, Houston, TX (January 29, 1999). Contact person: Neal McCabe, South Texas College of Law (713-646-1842). Lecture: Daniel Elazar will give the Annual State Constitutional Law Lecture at Rutgers Law School in Camden, New Jersey, in November, 1998. The lecture will be published as the Foreward to Rutgers Law Journal's Annual Issue on State Constitutional Law. Recent Conferences on State Constitutionalism The annual meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices - held in Indianapolis, Indiana, on February 3, 1997 - focused on state courts and state constitutionalism. Alan Tarr and Robert Williams, Director and Associate Director of the Center, each delivered papers, which were published in the May 1997 issue of the Notre Dame Law Review. Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island hosted a one-day conference on separation of powers under state constitutions on April 25, 1998. Robert Williams, Associate Director of the Center, presented a paper. Papers will be published in the Fall 1998 issue of the Roger Williams University Law Review. Help Needed The Center for State Constitutional Studies would like Subnational Constitution Chronicle to serve as a clearinghouse for information on developments in subnational constitutionalism. In order for it to do so, the Center requests that readers submit information/short articles dealing with important developments in their states or their countries. The Center also encourages authors of forthcoming publications on subnational constitutionalism to submit publication information to the Center. Please submit the material to: Center for State Constitutional Studies, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ 08102, or via e-mail to: tarr@crab.rutgers.edu. Linkages The Center Staff is pleased to work in cooperation with the International Association of Centers for Federalism Studies, the Comparative Federalism and Federation Research Committee of the International Political Science Association, and the State and Local Government Section of the Association of American Law Schools. |