Genes, Race, Free Speech, Same–Sex Marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court

Panel Discussion

Thursday, 12 Sep 2013 at 8:00 pm – Great Hall, Memorial Union

Panelists will discuss recent Supreme Court rulings ranging from Marriage Equality and the Voting Rights Act to gene patents and affirmative action, as well as potential cases that may go before the court. Panelists include Drake Constitutional Law Center Director Mark Kende and ACLU of Iowa Executive Director Ben Stone and Dirk Deam, senior lecturer in Political Science. Iowa State Bioethics Program Director Clark Wolf will moderate. Constitution Day Event

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Clark Wolf is director of the Bioethics Program at Iowa State University. Much of his published work is in political and legal philosophy, and the philosophy of economics. He has been interested in the role technology plays in changing our lives and the opportunities of future generations, to evaluate models of policy choice, and to evaluate the role of technology in promoting or undermining human welfare. He is involved in a long-term project to develop an account of justice between generations, which could be used to evaluate policies for the intergenerational use of resources, and the evaluation of policies for economic and human development in poor countries. His published and forthcoming projects cover biotechnology and intellectual property, torture and human rights, intergenerational justice and environmental policy, the market for human transplant organs, and on the aesthetics of historical authenticity in music performance. He pursued graduate work in philosophy at the University of Arizona, and in economics at the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds degrees in musicology and music performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Before joining Iowa State he spent ten years as a member of the Philosophy Department at the University of Georgia.

Ben Stone is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, a nonpartisan, non-profit membership organization founded in 1935. The ACLU of Iowa is the fifth-oldest ACLU affiliate in the nation, and will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding in 2010. Mr. Stone, a native of Des Moines, graduated with honors from Drake Law School in 1995 and obtained a masters degree in history and philosophy from Iowa State University in 1990. Prior to coming to the ACLU of Iowa in 1996, he was an associate attorney at the Parrish Law Firm in Des Moines. From 1990 to 1993, he was the executive director of United Students of Iowa, a statewide student advocacy association. While serving as the director of the ACLU of Iowa, Mr. Stone has in the past practiced as a court appointed criminal defense attorney and for several years taught constitutional law in the criminal justice program at Des Moines Area Community College, where he has also taught logic and continues to teach moral philosophy. He has also taught courses in First Amendment Law at Simpson College and American History at Drake University.

Cosponsored By:

• First Amendment Day Series
• National Affairs
• Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)