June 5, 2003 Inaugural Holmes Debate To Be Held at the Library of Congress on June 17

The Library of Congress will host the inaugural program of the Holmes Debates from 1:00 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17, in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The event, which focuses on national security and individual rights, is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and will be available on a first-come basis.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist selected the topic for this first Holmes Debate, titled "The Bounds of Post 9/11 Freedoms." The program, which will be moderated by former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, is sponsored jointly by the Law Library of Congress, the Burton Foundation and Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

"We are pleased that the Library of Congress is the site for the Holmes Debates," said Law Librarian of Congress Rubens Medina. "We hope this first lecture in this important series of legal debates will start a national dialogue on major issues of law and justice currently facing the judiciary."

Topics to be covered during the premiere debate follow.

• Topic: The Balance Between Individual Rights and National Security
  Participants: Paul J.McNulty, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; David Rudovsky, senior fellow, University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Topic: The Balance Between the Justice Model and the Law of War
  Participants: James B. Comey, United States Attorney, Southern District of New York; Richard D. Friedman, Ralph W. Aigler Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
• Topic: The Balance Between the Rights of Free Expression and National Security
  Participants: Viet Dinh, former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, and professor at Georgetown Law Center; Frederick Schauer, Frank Stanton Professor of First Amendment, and former academic dean, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
• Topic: The Balance Between National Security and Immigration Policy and Practice
  Participants: Kris W. Kobach, counsel to the Attorney General of the United States; Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, assistant professor of law, Stanford School of Law.

Medina and William C. Burton of the Burton Foundation founded the Holmes Debates. The series honors American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 and served for more than 30 years. His legal opinions earned him the nickname "the great dissenter."

With more than 2.4 million items, the Law Library of Congress is the world's most comprehensive source for U.S., international and comparative law.

The Burton Foundation is a nonprofit, cultural and academic organization devoted to promoting the legal profession. The foundation sponsors the Burton Awards for Legal Achievement, a legal writing awards program. Founder William C. Burton is a partner in the international law firm of D'Amato & Lynch.

The international law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., which cosponsors the event, was established in Kansas City, Mo., in 1889, and has offices in ten locations throughout the world.