BGSU marks Constitution Day with talk on individual rights

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The annual September commemoration of Constitution Day gives citizens the opportunity to reflect on the document that gave shape to the original United States and continues to shape its development as a nation today.

Bowling Green State University will mark the day with a look into the realm of individual rights that the original Framers of the Constitution felt were basic to their beliefs.

Evan Zoldan, an assistant professor at the University of Toledo College of Law, will speak on "The Forgotten Bill of Rights: Individual Rights in the Original Constitution." His talk will take place from 7-8:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, in the Pallister Conference Room in Jerome Library.

Sponsored by BGSU’s Department of Political Science with funding from the Bernard Mann Pre-Law Education Fund, the talk is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

"Most discussions about individual constitutional rights focus exclusively on the first 10 amendments to the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment,” Zoldan says. “This focus overshadows the individual rights that the Constitution’s Framers included in the original Constitution in 1787. An examination of these rights as a group provides a view into the world of the Framers not often examined and insight into some of their core values."

Zoldan has practiced in both the public and private sectors. He worked for the United States Department of Justice, where he litigated fraud suits on behalf of the U.S., and for Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he represented clients in commercial litigation and international trade matters. He also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Kathryn A. Oberly on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and to the Hon. Nancy B. Firestone on the United States Court of Federal Claims. Zoldan’s research interests include the regulation of government benefits, special legislation, and constitutional law.