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Sept. 9, 2013 — Allegheny College will observe Constitution Day with a lecture by Stephen L. Wasby, a scholar who focuses his research primarily on the federal courts. Wasby will speak on the topic “Civil Rights Interest Group Litigation and Its Discontents” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts. The lecture is open to the public.

Constitution Day is held on Sept. 17 each year to celebrate the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Wasby’s presentation is also part of Allegheny College’s Year of Civil Rights, which celebrates the 50th anniversary in 2014 of the Civil Rights Act.

Wasby is professor emeritus of political science at the University at Albany-SUNY. His research continues a long-term project on decision-making in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is the author of a number of books, including “The Supreme Court in the Federal Judicial System” and “Race Relations Litigation in an Age of Complexity,” as well as articles in social science journals and law reviews.

Former director of the Law and Social Science Program at the National Science Foundation, Wasby has been a member of the editorial board of the Justice System Journal for 35 years and served as its editor-in-chief from 2005 to 2007. He has also served on the editorial boards of American Politics Quarterly; Polity, Law and Society Review; and Western Legal History.

More information on Year of Civil Rights events at Allegheny College, which will feature a keynote presentation by Julian Bond on November 15, among many other events, can be found at www.allegheny.edu/200.