Constitution Day Lectures

Manchester Community College will hold its annual Constitution Day lecture program on Thursday, Sept. 15, featuring lectures by three distinguished constitutional scholars at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m.

The lectures are free and open to the public. 

The first lecture will be held at 11 a.m. in the Library Fireside Commons.  Attorney Richard Voigt will speak on “The Big Gamble: Article VI and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”  

At 12:30 p.m. Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, will speak in the SBM Charitable Foundation Auditorium on “The U.S. Constitution and Civil Liberties.” 

At 2 p.m. attorney Martin Margulies will speak in the SBM Charitable Foundation Auditorium on “The ‘Tea Party’ and the Constitution.” 

Andrew Schneider serves as the chief executive officer of the ACLU of Connecticut and the ACLU Foundation of Connecticut. Before coming to Connecticut in 2007, Mr. Schneider served for six years as Executive Director of the ACLU of West Virginia. While in West Virginia, he led a successful effort to pass legislation limiting the use of racial profiling in that state. Mr. Schneider earned his bachelor’s degree from Washington and Lee University, where he studied European history.

Richard Voigt is a partner in the law firm of McCarter and English in Hartford. He received his bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in 1968, and his J.D. degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1972. At McCarter and English, Mr. Voigt represents employers in a wide variety of employment related matters, including wrongful discharge cases, employment discrimination cases, state and federal court injunction actions, breach of contract cases, trade secret/proprietary information cases, NLRB unfair labor practice proceedings, arbitration matters, OSHA citation cases and wage-hour claims. Mr. Voigt has been a frequent speaker on labor and employment issues. He has been recognized among Chambers USA “Leaders in their Field” in employment and labor law for the 2009 and 2010 editions. He is also listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” and “Super Lawyers” in Connecticut.

Martin B. Margulies is a professor emeritus at the Quinnipiac College School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut, where he has taught criminal law, constitutional law, First Amendment law, and state constitutional law. He holds degrees from Columbia College, Harvard University, and New York University. Professor Margulies has served on the boards of the American and Connecticut Civil Liberties Unions. He has been a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, 1979 to the present, participating as direct counsel or amicus in trial and appeal of numerous First Amendment and counterpart state constitutional cases. He is the author of numerous law journal articles, and also of two books on Scottish and Irish history. He has been listed in the First Amendment section of “Best Lawyers in America” since 2005. He writes frequently on First Amendment issues and has provided legal counsel in many free speech cases.