Noted constitutional law authority A.E. Dick Howard told Elon Law students the historic election of Barack Obama as president vindicates civil rights commitments made by our nation's Founding Fathers.
Howard made his comments during the second annual Sandra Day O’Connor Lecture held Nov. 6. Howard spoke about the influence the U.S. Constitution has had on the formation of democracies around the world.
Howard is the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. An authority in constitutional law, he led the commission that wrote Virginia’s new constitution, and has been a constitutional consultant to many foreign countries, including Brazil, Hong Kong, Czechoslovakia, Russia and South Africa.
Howard said the election of Barack Obama has the eyes of the world on the United States, and is an opportunity to start the 21st century on a helpful note.
“This an opportunity to engage the world,” Howard said, but he cautioned that the United States must guard against being “cultural imperialists,” believing that our nation’s system of government can apply in other national settings.
While Howard believes that other nations cannot simply adopt the U.S. approach in forming their systems of government, he called the U.S. Constitution “vibrant and alive,” and “the ultimate ancestor of constitutions.”
Howard says many baseline principles of the U.S. Constitution can form the foundation of law for other democracies. Those principles include limited government, separation of power and checks and balances, some form of localism that keeps decision-making close to the people, judicial review and constitutional supremacy, and a Bill of Rights.
As the first Sandra Day O’Connor Professor at the Elon University School of Law, Howard will continue his work during winter term, teaching a constitutional law course along with colleagues from Japan, Germany and South Africa.