Two-Day Conference, Sponsored by Bingham McCutchen, Will Explore Ruling, Analyze Its Present-Day Impact; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer To Preside Over a Mock Court Reconsidering Dred Scott v. Sandford

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 13, 2007) – The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School will host “The 150th Anniversary of Dred Scott v. Sandford: Race, Citizenship & Justice,” a national conference sponsored by Bingham McCutchen LLP, on April 6-7 to observe the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision and analyze its significance and its contemporary implications.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer will preside over a mock court argument that will reconsider Dred Scott v. Sandford, the 1857 case that ruled on the citizenship status of African-Americans. Several federal judges, noted lawyers and legal scholars from throughout the United States will join Breyer for this historic event on April 7, including Kenneth Starr, dean of Pepperdine University School of Law, Drew Gilpin Faust, president-elect of Harvard University, and Derrick Bell, a professor at New York University School of Law.

“We are delighted to have Bingham McCutchen sponsor this historic reconsideration of the Dred Scott case on the 150th anniversary of the opinion,” said Charles J. Ogletree Jr., the Institute’s Executive Director. “The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice is committed to addressing these issues of great public interest, and we look forward to partnering with Bingham McCutchen on this and other matters.”

“We are proud to sponsor this forum because it provides us with the opportunity to explore one of the most important U.S. Supreme Court rulings in our country’s history and to understand its impact on race and civil rights today,” said Bingham Chairman Jay Zimmerman, an alumnus of Harvard Law’s Class of 1980. “One hundred and fifty years later, as our country has become more racially and ethnically diverse, we should use this gathering to reconcile all of the gains that we have made in the area of racial justice, and identify the challenges that we still face.”

Historians and legal scholars also will participate in several panel discussions that will examine the significance of the March 6, 1857, ruling, the issues of citizenship and jurisdiction, and a constitutional analysis of the case’s significance today.

The conference also will include a panel discussion examining the implications of Mendez v. Westminster, a case that predated Brown v. Board of Education and ruled that the segregation of Mexican-American school children was unconstitutional. Another panel will feature survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, in which an entire neighborhood in Tulsa, Okla., was destroyed and hundreds were killed.

The conference is free and open to the public; however, advance registration is required. Frequent updates and additional information are available at www.charleshamiltonhouston.org.

Participants in the conference include:

 ·        The Honorable Stephen G. Breyer (Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court)

 ·         The Honorable Allyson K. Duncan (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Harry T. Edwards (Senior Circuit Judge, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals)

 ·         The Honorable Roger L. Gregory (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Damon J. Keith (Senior Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Carlos F. Lucero (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Theodore A. McKee (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Edward C. Prado (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Johnnie B. Rawlinson (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Ann Claire Williams (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit)

 ·         The Honorable Charles R. Wilson (Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit)

 ·         Professor Akhil Reed Amar (Professor of Law, Yale Law School)

 ·         Christopher Arriola, Esq. (Immediate Past President, Santa Clara County Bar Association)

 ·         Professor Derrick A. Bell (Professor of Law, New York University School of Law)

 ·         Professor Stephen Best (Associate Professor of English, University of California - Berkeley)

 ·         Professor Erwin Chemerinsky (Professor of Law, Duke Law School)

 ·         Professor Sarah H. Cleveland (Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and Professor of Law, University of Texas School of Law)

 ·         Professor Gregg D. Crane (Associate Professor of English, University of Michigan)

 ·         Susan Eaton (Research Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice)

 ·         President-Elect Drew Gilpin Faust (Harvard University)

 ·         Professor Paul Finkelman (Professor of Law, Albany Law School)

 ·         Professor Judith Jackson Fossett (Associate Professor of American Studies, Ethnicity & English, University of Southern California)

 ·         Professor Mark Graber (Professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law)

 ·         Professor Farah J. Griffin (Professor of English & African American Studies, Columbia University)

 ·         Sylvia Mendez (Daughter of Gonzalo Mendez)

 ·         Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. (Executive Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice and Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School)

 ·         John Payton, Esq. (Partner, WilmerHale)

 ·         Professor john a. powell (Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity)

 ·         Sandra Robbie (Writer/Producer, Mendez v. Westminster: For All the Children/Para Todos los Ninos)

 ·         Professor Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw (Associate Professor of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania)

 ·         Professor Valerie Smith (Professor of Literature, Princeton University)

 ·         Professor John Stauffer (Professor of English, American Literature & Language, Harvard University)

 ·         Dean Kenneth W. Starr (Dean, Pepperdine University School of Law)

 ·         Professor Cass R. Sunstein (Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School)

 ·         Professor David A. Thomas (Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School)

 ·         Professor Mark Tushnet (Professor of Law, Harvard Law School)

 ·         Professor Lea VanderVelde (Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law)

 ·        Professor Jenny Wahl (Professor of Economics, Carleton College)

 ·         Professor Lawrence Watson (Berklee College of Music)

 ·         R. Owen Williams (Yale University)

Established in 2005 at Harvard Law School by Professor Charles Ogletree Jr., the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice (CHHIRJ) seeks to honor the extraordinary contributions of one of the great lawyers of the 20th century. Charles Hamilton Houston dedicated his life to using the law as a tool to reverse the unjust consequences of racial discrimination. CHHIRJ is committed to marshalling the resources of Harvard and beyond to continue his unfinished work.

Bingham McCutchen LLP – www.bingham.com – is an international law firm with 950 attorneys in 13 offices. The firm represents clients in high-stakes litigation, complex financing and regulatory matters, government affairs, and a wide variety of sophisticated corporate and technology transactions.