1/08/03--Boston College Law School and the BC Law Federalist Society are pleased to welcome Judge Kenneth W. Starr to campus on Friday, January 10, 2003. Judge Starr will speak about his new book, "First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life." The event includes a book signing following Starr’s discussion, and begins at 10 am, in Stuart House room 315.

Judge Starr, perhaps most famous for leading the inquiry into the President Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal and his subsequent bestseller, "The Starr Report," has been a leading figure in American politics for many years. His new book offers a revealing look at the inner workings of the United States Supreme Court. Starr uses his own firsthand experiences with the Court as former U.S. solicitor general, independent counsel, and onetime clerk to Chief Justice Warren Burger to show how the members of the contemporary Court, regardless of their diverse personalities and distinct judicial philosophies, strongly defend the Court's constitutional role as first among equals within the balanced tripartite structure of the government.

Starr discusses a number of historic decisions, such as Marbury v. Madison, which determined that Congress must defer to the Constitution, and Brown v. Board of Education, a decision that outlawed segregation in public schools; decisions regarding a "right" to privacy that resulted in the establishment of the Miranda warnings, used to protect the rights of those arrested and the explosive decision in Roe v. Wade, which resulted in the legalization of abortion; the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, adding new insights and thoughtful commentary on the case that decided who would be president and allowed the electoral college to override the popular vote; and religious decisions that affect prayer and Bible study groups in public schools and the complicated issues of giving federal and state money to parochial schools.

Starr has served as solicitor general of the United States, Supreme Court clerk for Warren Burger, independent counsel, and United States circuit court judge. He is currently a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, in their Washington, D.C., office. He is also an adjunct professor at NYU and a distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University Law School.