FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Info:
Frederick Lane
Burlington, VT
802-318-4604
fslane3@gmail.com
www.FrederickLane.com
CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLAR AND AUTHOR FREDERICK LANE TO LECTURE ON THE 2008 ELECTION, THE SUPREME COURT, AND CHURCH-STATE ISSUES
BURLINGTON, VT — Constitutional scholar, attorney, and historical political analyst Frederick Lane, author of The Court and the Cross: The Religious Right’s Crusade to Reshape the Supreme Court, will lecture on the 2008 election, the Supreme Court, and church-state issues at the All Souls Unitarian Church, 80th and Lexington Ave., New York, on November 13, 2008 , from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Inquiry “Voices of Reason” lecture series and the All Souls Unitarian Church. Admission is $10 (free to Friends of the Center for Inquiry), and a booksigning will follow.
“This is the election that the Religious Right has been working towards for thirty years,” Lane said. “It is possible, if not likely, that two and or even three members of the Court’s liberal wing could retire during the next administration. Senator McCain and his vice-presidential pick, Gov. Sarah Palin, have stated repeatedly that they would nominate justices in the mold of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and William Rehnquist. If they are in a position to carry out that promise, their appointments will tilt the Court even more sharply to the right for at least a generation.”
As Lane discusses in The Court and the Cross, such a shift would have a profound effect on a wide range of key social issues, including medical privacy and abortion, the teaching of evolution and prayer in public schools, government-sponsored display of the Ten Commandments (already on the Court’s docket this year), employment discrimination by religious organizations, and the public funding of religious education and even religion itself.
“How the Court evolves depends as much on the 2008 Senate races as the presidential election,” Lane notes. “If the make-up of the Senate changes as much as the polls suggest, it will be that much less likely that hard-line conservative nominees will be confirmed even if Senator McCain wins and sends their names to the Hill.”
Published in June 2008, The Court and the Cross has been praised as:
* “a colorful and compelling book” — Anthony Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gideon’s Trumpet and Freedom for the Thought We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment;
* “illuminating [and] important” — Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism;
* “a commendable and sobering account of the scope and significance of the Christian Right’s incessant efforts to make a mockery of core constitutional principle” — Rev. Barry Lynn, author of Piety & Politics and Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State;
* “[a] timely and disturbing book [filled] with wit, legal erudition and political acumen” — Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason and Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism;
* “an exceptional, insightful work” — Derek Beres, PopMatters
The Court and the Cross is Lane’s fourth book. His previous titles include The Decency Wars: The Campaign to Cleanse American Culture (Prometheus Books 2006), which led to an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”; The Naked Employee: How Technology Is Compromising Workplace Privacy (Amacom 2003); and Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of Privacy in the Cyber Age (Routledge 2000).
In addition to “The Daily Show,” he has also appeared on a variety of other national television programs, including ABC’s “Good Morning America Weekend”; NBC’s “Weekend Today”; ABC’s “Nightline”; CBS’s “60 Minutes”; CNN’s “Glenn Beck Show” and “Newsroom”; and assorted CBC and BBC documentaries. Lane’s next book is entitled People in Glass Houses: American Law, Technology, and the Right to Privacy, and is scheduled for publication in spring 2009 by Beacon. Lane is also a contributor to Beacon Press’s blog, The Beacon Broadside (www.beaconbroadside.com).
Author Availability
Lane is a resident of Burlington, VT, and is available for interviews by phone, e-mail, or by remote feed from one of the many radio and television studios in the Burlington area. In addition, Lane will be available for in-person and on-camera interviews in New York City on November 13th and 14th.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS, OR REVIEW COPIES, PLEASE CONTACT:
Frederick Lane
FSLane3@gmail.com
802-318-4604
www.FrederickLane.com
Caitlin Meyer
Publicist
Beacon Press
25 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-948-6584
cmeyer@beacon.org
