Feldman lecture to mark Constitution Day in Lowell Lecture Hall

Noah Feldman, professor of law, will present a lecture open to all students and staff titled “The Constitution and the International Order” at 1 p.m. on Sept. 17 in Lowell Lecture Hall. A free, pocket-size copy of the Constitution will be handed out to those who attend.

The lecture commemorates Constitution Day, the annual celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787, by the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In accordance with a bill signed into law by President Bush on Dec. 8, 2004 (public law 108-447), all educational institutions receiving federal funding are required to hold an educational program pertaining to the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution is the central instrument of government and the supreme law of the land. It is the oldest written constitution in the world still in force. It outlines the structure and powers of the three branches of the federal government (legislative, executive, judicial) and the division of power between the federal and state governments. The Constitution took effect in 1789 and has served as a model for the constitutions of numerous other nations. The original document, covering four pages, is housed in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.

Feldman specializes in constitutional studies, with particular emphasis on the relationship between law and religion, constitutional design, and the history of legal theory. He is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty this year, Feldman was the Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law at New York University.