St. Francis College welcomed Brooklyn Law School Professor Bill Araiza for a Constitution Day celebration to speak about Enforcing the Constitution on Thursday, September 17, 2015.

Professor Araiza used current political and legal controversies, including those around same-sex marriage and anti-terrorist data collection, to consider the appropriate realms for political and judicial enforcement of constitutional rights.

The St. Francis College St. Thomas More Pre-Law Society with moderator Professor Miriam Salholz hosted the event.

Professor William Araiza’s teaching and scholarly interests focus on administrative and constitutional law. He is widely published in these areas, having written casebooks on the First Amendment and Constitutional Law. His most recent articles have appeared in the NYU Law Review, Constitutional Commentary, Boston University Law Review and William & Mary Law Journal. His book, Enforcing the Equal Protection Clause will be published by NYU Press in late 2015. His book Animus: A Short History, will be published by NYU Press in 2016.

After law school, Professor Araiza clerked for Judge William Norris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court. He then practiced as an associate with two large law firms in Los Angeles. He has served on the faculty at the University of California Los Angeles Law School, the University of California Hastings College of the Law, Washington & Lee University School of Law, Lewis & Clark Law School, and the University of Western Ontario. Prior to joining the faculty at Brooklyn Law School, Professor Araiza served as the Associate Dean for Faculty and the Rev. Richard A. Vachon, S.J. Fellow and Professor of Law at Loyola Law School Los Angeles.

Constitution Day is federally mandated by the U.S. Congress which deemed that any educational institution that receives federal money must hold an educational program related to the Constitution to commemorate the signing on September 17, 1787.