Following the 9/11 attacks and the adoption of the USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) and the extension to the Act signed by President Obama in 2011, the American government acquired vast new powers to promote security here and abroad.
Our theme for Constitution Day 2013 is to pause and reflect on the trade offs that you as an individual or that we as a people ought to be willing to make in the name of greater security. Should email be opaque to the eyes of government agents? Your credit card info? Your driving habits? Banking practices? How much public surveillance are you comfortable with?
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Constitution Day: Back Story
September 17 is Constitution Day because on that day, in 1787, the Philadelphia Convention adopted the Constitution and sent it to the 13 states for ratification. Official acknowledgement of the holiday grew out of the work of Senator Harry Byrd who transformed the Cold War era Citizenship Day into the present Constitution Day.
Monday, September 16, 2013
As part of our Constitution Day celebrations, we are focusing on the idea of privacy: what is it's constitutional basis? How should it be defined in a contemporary setting? For instance what do "privacy settings" mean in a public online forum for instance (like on Facebook?). To get some thought and discussion going, we invite you read an 1890 Harvard Law Review essay penned by future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Welcome
The 2013 Constitution Day at NJCU blog opens for the week on Monday, September 16 and closes on Friday, September 20. We welcome student and faculty thoughts on PRIVACY, the theme of Constitution Day at NJCU this year.
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