Tribe talk hosted by Harvard Club marks Constitution Day

Laurence Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Law, will present a talk on the U.S. Constitution at the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (Sept. 17) at 7 p.m. at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., where the original document is housed. The Harvard Club of Washington is hosting the event. 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.