St. Thomas University School of Law Faculty and Guests to Lecture on Critical and Diverse Issues

MIAMI, March 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In addition to helping prepare the next generation of lawyers who focus on Constitutional law, Professor Benton Becker of the St. Thomas University School of Law will speak at two important events this spring. On March 10, Professor Becker, who served as counsel to then-Congressman Gerald Ford during his vice-presidential confirmation, will lecture on the first 100 days of the Ford administration. The event, set for the University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is hosted by the university's Gerald Ford School of Public Policy.

In a related event, Professor Becker will lecture at a two-day symposium April 16-17 at the Fordham University Law School in New York City. The symposium considers the positive aspects and apparent deficiencies of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which in 1967 established a procedure for succession should a vice-president resign or die in office. President Ford was the first person to be nominated and confirmed under the 25th Amendment, in the wake of Spiro Agnew's resignation in 1973. Birch Bayh, former Senator of Indiana and "father of the amendment" will also participate.

Professor Becker's law career spans 45 years and includes stints as a federal prosecutor and assistant United States attorney in Washington, D.C.; private practice in the capital with a focus on Constitutional law; service as counsel to the Republican National Party during the 1976 Presidential and Congressional elections; a term as senior trial attorney in the Dade County State Attorney's office, charged with prosecuting major homicides; and professor of Constitutional law at the University of Miami and at St. Thomas University. "It's a tremendous advantage to have someone of Professor Becker's comprehensive background and lively intellect among our faculty," said Alfredo Garcia, Dean of the St. Thomas University School of Law. "The knowledge he imparts to our students and the contributions he makes to the legal community cannot be overestimated."

In South Florida, St. Thomas University School of Law is closing its 2009-2010 Distinguished Speaker Series with guest Laura E. Gomez – Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Professor of Law and American Studies, University of New Mexico School of Law. Boasting one of the most culturally diverse student bodies in the United States, St. Thomas' School of Law invited Professor Gomez for this year's wrap-up for a lecture on racial dynamics. Gomez will explore the topic and issues surrounding the confirmation process of Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, whom President Obama nominated to the Supreme Court in May 2009. With her confirmation, Puerto Rican Judge Sotomayor became the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, at a time when Latinos are becoming 30 percent of the U.S. population.

The confirmation process occurred at a moment when the color-blind approach to race was still looking for widespread acceptance. "Color-blind in One Eye: The Sotomayor Nomination and the Politics of Race" will bring gender and Latino perspectives to the mix that changed the national discourse on racial politics. The lecture, to be held March 16, 2010 at the School of Law's Moot Court Room at noon, is free and open to the St. Thomas community as well as the general public.

About St. Thomas University School of Law

St. Thomas University School of Law ranks as 5th in Best Environment for Minority Law Students as well as Best Academically Challenging by The Princeton Review. Only a fifth of all ABA law schools in the U.S. are ranked in more than one category in the Princeton Review and STU is now ranked in two categories. It is also ranked in a tie for 4th place in the Law School Diversity Index in U.S. News & World Report.  Ranked first in the United States for conferring degrees upon Hispanic students by Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine, the School is under the leadership of the first Cuban-born U.S. law school dean, Alfredo Garcia. It has obtained international recognition for its extensive human rights initiatives that include LL.M and J.S.D. degrees in human rights, an Intercultural Human Rights Law Review and the highly respected Human Rights Institute.

SOURCE St. Thomas University