Professor Robert C. Power, left, the outgoing H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law, with Professor James R. May, the incoming H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law.
Standing, from left, Sharon Bob Young, PhD, H. Alan Young, Esq., Toni Young, Stuart B. Young, Esq., Law Dean Linda L. Ammons, Ronell Young Douglass and Dr. William Douglass. Seated from left, Professor Laura K. Ray, Distinguished Professor Robert J. Lipkin, Professor Robert C. Power, the outgoing H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law, Professor James R. May, the incoming H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law and Professor Alan E. Garfield.
Professor Robert C. Power delivers the 2009 H. Albert Young Lecture in Constitutional Law at the Hotel DuPont.
The role of government lawyers during war time and how they interpret the constitution was the subject of the 2009 H. Albert Young Lecture, a biannual event that is a highlight at Widener Law.
Harrisburg campus Professor Robert C. Power
, the H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law, delivered the lecture in the du Barry Room of the Hotel DuPont on Tuesday, April 14 before a crowd of about 50 people.
Power teaches and writes in areas of constitutional law, the law of higher education, organized crime, criminal law and ethics. He was named the H. Albert Young fellow in 2007 and the term runs through this June. The Young lecture is typically delivered as the faculty member’s fellowship draws to a close.
Power discussed recent controversies involving the actions of Justice Department attorneys during the Bush administration, and he compared department officials John Yoo and Jack Goldsmith. Yoo’s legal opinions approved extreme interrogation techniques in apparent violation of United States and international law; Goldsmith attempted to correct what he perceived as lawless action by the government.
Power also held out the late H. Albert Young as an example of someone who provided a model for government lawyers who try to meet their duties as lawyers and public servants. “Part of his legacy is the extraordinary responsibility that public lawyers have to administer their offices in a way that is loyal to the Constitution and to the structure of government,” he said.
The H. Albert Young Fellowship in Constitutional Law was endowed in 1998 by the Young Foundation of Wilmington, Del. in honor of the late H. Albert Young, a highly respected attorney and former Delaware attorney general. The fellowship enables a Widener University School of Law professor to conduct and publish research in the area of Delaware or U.S. constitutional law.
Law Dean Linda L. Ammons
announced at the conclusion of the lecture that Professor James R. May
will succeed Power in holding the fellowship. His term begins July 1.