Bert Brandenburg, executive director of Justice at Stake-a nonpartisan campaign
working to keep courts fair and impartial-will present "Judicial Elections Through
the Eyes and Ears of Voters" on Monday, Feb. 23, as part of the spring "Law, Politics
and the Media" lecture series presented by the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary,
Politics, and the Media (IJPM). Brandenburg's lecture will take place from 3:50-5:10
p.m. in Room 204 at the Syracuse University College of Law. His lecture is free and
open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots.
Brandenburg was the Justice Department's director of public affairs and chief
spokesperson under U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. He served in policy and
communications positions for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National
Performance Review, the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign and presidential transition
team, U.S. Rep. Edward Feighan and the Progressive Policy Institute. Brandenburg
also was vice president of international programs for the Santech Institute and served
as an observer during the 1990 Pakistan national elections. He serves on the National
Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Judicial Campaign Conduct and the Coalition
Alliance of the American Bar Association's Coalition for Justice.
Justice at Stake campaign partners educate the public and work for reforms to keep
politics and special interests out of the courtroom, so judges can do their job
protecting the Constitution, citizens' rights and the rule of law. JAS is currently
funded by grants from the Carnegie Corp. of New York, the Joyce Foundation, the
Moriah Fund and the Open Society Institute.
The goal of the "Law, Politics and the Media" lecture series is to provide an
introduction to the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of
study. Throughout the spring semester, sitting judges, practicing lawyers and
working journalists will be featured speakers. The lecture series is part of an
interdisciplinary course on law, politics and the media that is cross-listed between the
College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. The course is taught by SU
professors Keith Bybee (IJPM director), Lisa Dolak (IJPM associate director) and
Mark Obbie (IJPM associate director), and funded through support from the John
Ben Snow Foundation and the Carnegie Corp.
Launched in September 2006, IJPM is an academic institute devoted to the
interdisciplinary study of issues at the intersection of law, politics and the media. A
collaborative effort of the College of Law, Maxwell School and Newhouse School, the
institute sponsors lectures, conferences and symposia designed to foster discussion
and debate among legal scholars, sitting judges and working journalists.
For more information on the "Law, Politics and the Media" lecture series and IJPM,
visit http://jpm.syr.edu.
