[CUA Office of Public Affairs]

          Nov. 1, 2005

                                                                                               

Experts on Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court Nomination Available at CUA

 

Experts at The Catholic University of America are available to discuss the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court. CUA experts also can talk about the ongoing legal issues facing the court that will impact the selection of a new justice. For assistance in reaching sources, contact Katie Lee at 202-319-5600.

 

  • JUDICIAL PHILOSOPHIES OF THE COURT — Dennis Coyle, associate professor of politics and Gerald R. Ford Fellow in American Politics at the American Enterprise Institute, has published commentaries on recent Supreme Court nominees in National Review Online and The Wall Street Journal. His most recent — titled “Get Wise:
    Will Dems Realize Pouncing on Alito Will Only Do Them Harm?” —     is available at www.nationalreview.com. Coyle is an expert on the judicial philosophies of Supreme Court justices, the confirmation process and on constitutional law, particularly property rights, federalism, the First Amendment and the equal protection clause. He is the author of “Property Rights and the Constitution” and, most recently, articles on land use regulations, the standards of scrutiny applied by the Supreme Court, and Justice Felix Frankfurter.

 

Coyle can be reached at 202-319-5813 (office) or 301-471-3344 (mobile) or by e-mail at: coyle@cua.edu.

 

  • SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE — Robert A. Destro, professor at CUA’s Columbus School of Law, is also a civil rights expert and co-author of the leading law school textbook on religious liberty — one of the issues on which O'Connor held the swing vote. He was a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1983 to 1989, and has written and lectured extensively on the relationship of the Supreme Court to what the late Justice Robert Jackson called the “power politics” of judicial review — a topic that will be at the forefront prior to the confirmation hearings for O’Connor’s successor. Destro, who also has extensive media experience, served as a regular commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered” during the 2000 election litigation and has, most recently, appeared on the Fox News Channel and CNN.

 

Destro can be reached at 202-905-6064 (mobile) or 202-319-5202 (office) or by e-mail: destro@law.edu.

 

  • SUPREME COURT SELECTION PROCESS — Phillip Henderson, associate professor of politics, is an expert on political leadership and the presidential selection process for Supreme Court nominees. Henderson can discuss some of the partisan moments in the court’s history, such as conservative opposition to Abe Fortas during Lyndon Johnson's presidency, the defeat of Clement Haynesworth and G. Harrold Carswell under President Richard Nixon and the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase for partisan reasons under President Thomas Jefferson. He is currently writing “Twelve Leaders Who Made a Difference,” a comparative study of U.S. political leaders who had a profound impact on the institutions in which they served. His teaching interests include U.S. political leadership since 1789, executive branch policymaking, the U.S. presidency and American national institutions.

 

Henderson can be reached at 410-992-1776 (home) or by e-mail: pghenderson@comcast.net (home).

 

·         SUPREME COURT PROCEEDINGS — Peter Bowman Rutledge, assistant professor at CUA’s Columbus School of Law, regularly advises parties and lawyers in matters before the Supreme Court. His teaching and research interests include criminal law, criminal procedure and international dispute resolution. Rutledge served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

 

Rutledge can be reached at 202-319-5140 (office) or by e-mail: rutledge@law.edu.

 

To search for other CUA faculty who serve as experts for the media, visit the online Faculty Experts Guide at: http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/experts/ or contact the Office of Public Affairs for more assistance at 202-319-5600.

 

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Revised: 11/3/2005

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The Catholic University of America,
Office of Public Affairs.