Kenneth Starr & Robert Gates

from the kansas expo center in topeka this is k pr presents i'm kay macintyre today on kbr prisons we've got a double header in store we'll hear from ken starr best known for his role as the independent counsel whose investigation into the whitewater real estate deal led to president clinton's impeachment star spoke at the university of kansas school of law on november nineteen two thousand nine but first we'll hear from secretary of defense robert gates and native of wichita dr gates was named secretary of defense by president bush in two thousand six fell in twenty seven years of service in the central intelligence agency he would have to stay in that position from president obama the native sons and daughters of kansas named gave the campaign funding here on january twenty nine two thousand here robert gates received that award from governor mark parkinson stand about six foot three inches tall and now fear in secretary of defense robert gates a cure for this

award it is my fate and life to follow tall people and i would offer a special thanks to the mayor's sons and daughters of kansas for having me and my wife becky my family and friends here this evening and the recognition that do bestow upon me as very generous i'm honored to have so many guests here tonight so many distinguished guests and i shouldn't name names last guy omit someone special but i would still have to single out my cabinet colleague and former governor kathleen sebelius for being here as well as sarah brown back and a significant number of my high school classmates so thank you all for been here to act as every schoolchild in the state knows it's kansas day and i'm glad to be

back home toasting kansas hundred and forty ninth birthday with all of you this group does a wonderful job of celebrating the day and it's great to be a part of it there are many states where citizens play such importance on commemorating their admission to the union the hard won battle for statehood three of the institutional sales slavery is a deep source of pride and so as the character of arkansans forebears who managed to survive on the wings windswept prairie as we know their tendency to see the humorous side whiskey one folklorist wrote that for the sod house settlers even when bourne tobacco juice brought a comforting moment with the illusion of rain so what is special about eis is a breed is something of a well kept secret

last year i did an interview with a nice post columnist and when asked about were my pragmatic approach the government government comes from i mention my midwest background and the un common common sense of kansans it was like explaining an exotic polynesian island culture the late nineteenth century anthropologist and then of course there's hollywood's take everyone has seen the wizard of oz made our state in the sort of a symbol is symbol of midwestern in a sense it be get a bit old for citizens of the state to move the washington hearing beltway types joke you're not in kansas any longer as the understatement of the century in kansas i'm like washington you're unlikely to see a prominent person walking down lover's lane

holding his own hand i'm carrie kahn washington's a place for those who travel the high road of humility encounter little heavy traffic it's a city that puts a premium on status and tidal david brinkley had a telling anecdote about the time when united states senate was about to vote on dean acheson nomination be an assistant secretary of state a matron of dc a high society call him up on the phone with a uniquely washington invitation she said if you're confirmed will come for dinner if not we're coming after dinner for dancing there's probably no sharper observer of washington and the people who

wield power their their fellow kansan bob dole and i think bob was gonna be here tonight he fell and that so i'm disappointed he presented me my distinguished legal award in wichita number years ago anyway about his own beloved institution bob said if you're hanging around with nothing to do and the zoo is closed come over to the senate you'll get the same kind of feeling and you don't have to pay bob hometown famously as russell mine as wichita my family's history in the state has deep roots my mother's father came west in a covered wagon nearly a hundred and twenty five years ago he made his way with his mother from pennsylvania at the iowa then oklahoma and finally in his early twenties ended up as the santa fe station agent share in kansas where my mother was born

more than ninety six years ago mom think now her dad was soon transferred to be the station agent pratt where many years later my brother and i would often visit her grandparents and spend countless hours playing in the santa fe train yard i'm sure the federal occupational safety folks would have a collective stroke if they saw kids doing today what we did then clambering in on and around railroad cars engines tracks and switch it's but on a different level watching the trends come and go and looking down those straight tracks to the horizon i dreamed of what lady on my father was born in kansas city mr in nineteen oh six

it was just about to enter the university of kansas in his mother's illness recording to stay home and work he finally made it to kansas to wichita in the early nineteen thirties or in marriage my mother in nineteen thirty four and later for the next fifty three years growing up in kansas was for me in retrospect as i was putting these remarks together i realized an idyllic childhood my life revolved around family school church and the boy scouts and wonderful friends some of them i'm so pleased that here tonight we didn't do too many stupid things and somehow we survive the absence of bike helmets seat belts air bags and hand sanitizer we'd share a single bottle pop

carefully wiping the goodies off with a dirty palm we drank out of the garden hose and made periodic troops trips to the hospital emergency room in addition to my parents i had a number of amazing role models growing up hearing cancers especially in boy scouts and in school scoutmaster forced back it taught me about leadership and character and persistence he also taught us many important skills such as how to build a cook fire during a kansas winner from dried cow trips and partying unique flavored already enabled and edible food but i'll also like to single out a particular person outside my family who had a lasting influence on me mad as coach bob timmons who's here tonight i wasn't much of an athlete i work for coach tenants for three years as a student manager and both

cross country and track by which ties go lisa their men's teams won many state championships and of course he won many more championships a longtime coach at the receipt kansas i first learned to tight working for coach demos and the smell of a white out and many a grafting still lingers he was a great coach but above all he was a great teacher great example and three years of working for him before and after school i never heard bob dylan's swear and i never heard in yellow ticket no amount of screaming was as effective a motivator as bobby timmons putting his arm around his shoulder and quietly sang i'm disappointed you didn't give your best at euro and that applied to academics as well as athletics

and i would carry a half a century later as secretary defense secretary bob him those lessons in leadership integrity discipline motivating people and treating all of them respectfully to work with me every single day coach as a kid in kansas i was very well traveled i visited dodge city more in times than i can count i saw the world's largest hand dug well in greensburg i directed they're new eisenhower museum in abilene court model heights are sixth grade field trip and how can i leave out the world famous the peak of my friends after seeing all of that the rest of the world has then an anti climax oh

and distinct memories of my elders when i was growing back growing up kansans who have lived lives manning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries they represent really a vanishing way of life what was the american frontier a generation whose lives like my grandfather span traveling in covered wagons they're seeing a man on the moon are immediate elders had survived the depression and the dust bowl or which of you particularly severe here in kansas and two world wars that people like for us back at bob ten months and others had a lot of comedy company in kansas in terms of both character and contribution many kansans over the decades have provided ballast in the balance the american ship of state

person who first comes to mind is of course a war a war to commander who became commander in chief dwight eisenhower's uncommon commonsense his prudence and level headed most were crucial qualities for the supreme allied commander in europe who had to achieve many things at once satisfy his superior officers this austere and imposing george marshall quell the rivalries that existed between the branches of the us armed forces something i know a little something about east and gain the respect of our allies some of them or a terrorist that aristocratic british officers didn't quite know what to make of general eisenhower one of ike's biographers mark perry described an allied planning session with gen sir alan brogan ahead of the imperial jail staff perry wrote slouching in

his chair the droll brooke watched eisenhower barely glance concealing his concern that this farm boy from kansas could rise so quickly in the american ranks in the end i didn't do too badly defeated nazi germany army chief of staff nato commander president of columbia university and twice elected as president states but the true mark and something i've come to appreciate recently was president eisenhower's determination that we ought not buy more for defense and we really need an arena where his credibility was on challenge our state's role in the defense of america enter and chris is not and with eisenhower's towering example consider for a moment the advances in aviation there were pioneered in kansas by the likes of clyde cessna walter an olive and

beach and lloyd stearman whose aircraft company in wichita would become the blank military aircraft company or today so dedicated soldiers at fort riley or for leavenworth pivotal role as the intellectual hub of the army and i would note that kansas universities are fishing poaching and scholars from k state are helping to revitalize universities and afghanistan improve the agricultural engineering and business sectors of that nation your seed kansas has established programs to educate our wounded warriors and train army special forces in subjects like political science history and public administration the many ways available for us to put our love of country and action is a theme i emphasize with young people and i did this when i came home last year for commencement at my alma mater high school least in wichita

one always tries to encourage the graduates at such moments often without success because their focus is elsewhere but in speaking of the class of two thousand and nine about public service and we're sure i did my level best to be honest with the message was too full and on the one hand the work is tiring the bureaucracy frustrates and whatever decisions you may well bring criticism from some portion of your fellow citizens yet for all the hassles of the frustrations serving this nation and having a chance to witness and even affect the way events that shape history are rewarding beyond major walter lippmann once wrote but those in high places are more than the administrators of

government bureaucracies they are more than the writers of laws they are the custodians of the nation's ideals of the believes it cherishes of its permanent hopes of the faith which makes a nation out of a mere aggregation of individual old fashioned perhaps and no lipman may have been a patrician ivy leaguer from the northeast he tapped straight into something that i think must be in the water here in kansas and that most and the people in the marsh pit that is washington too often was psycho we must never forget the ideals and the beliefs that make us a nation we must never forget the hopes

and the aspirations of our people we must always keep faith with an entire country so let me close by returning to begin in addition to a wonderful home my child on and youth in kansas were rich with good and modest people and surrounded by such people character and integrity kansas values in kansas common sense became the bedrock of my life the bedrock that has been my touchstone no matter how far i've traveled far along i had been gone for all places i've gone the job that i have at home the notable people i have met and worked with i will always consider myself first and foremost the kids from kansas who got lucky

i have now work for a presence whenever i have accomplished i believe was has been due to my kansas roots and heritage heritage of family friends mentors and values have left kansas to go to college in virginia when i was just seventeen a boy left kansas kansas never left the board you've just heard secretary of defense robert gates speaking at the kansas that's the center in topeka gates was there to receive a kansan of the year award from the native sons and daughters of kansas on january twenty nine two thousand ten coming up former solicitor general judge an independent counsel kenneth starr that's in a minute when keep your present continues this is robert siegel

to make a difference for someone else so it is really our membership or becoming a member make your tax deductible contributions online at the pri dot g u god edu or

are you you're listening to a peer presents and kansas public radio kenneth starr is best known as the independent counsel appointed during the clinton administration to investigate the whitewater real estate deal and the death of white house counsel vince foster that investigation grew to include clinton's relationship with white house intern monica lewinsky and led to president clinton's impeachment by the us house of representatives starr was recently named president of baylor university in waco texas that follows five years as the dean of pepperdine university law school in malibu california starr spoke at the university of kansas school of law on november nineteen two thousand nine like you very much but like tj hawks and i say that having gone to the duke law school i

please don't boo too loudly because it will be misinterpreted president obama i had a remarkable true up to asia the eight day trial and during the course of his service in china in particular which was really the rest of the world's attention and rightly so president obama made a number of comments that i think of marion ark a thoughtful reflection this afternoon this is drawn from a bbc news report this president brought obama has told china that individual rights and freedoms should be available to all he told an audience of chinese students that certain freedoms were universal but they were not limited to americans quoting mrs the bbc piece or president we do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation but we also don't believe that the principles we stand for are unique to our nation rather he went

on these freedoms of expression freedoms of worship of access to information and political participation we believe are universal rights he also said in his statement just two days ago with the president of this very important country quote america's bedrock beliefs that all men and women possess certain fundamental human rights are universal rights and they should dust be available to all people the senate seems to me is the time even with the economic distress that touches every person perhaps on the globe certainly our country has a famously now not been immune from economic distress and obviously our president went to china with a very different context strong

china economically but a china that is yet has not found its way with respect to what our president called universal rights universal values says is not american exceptionalism or particularity of was a robust vision of universality of our living together this planet as human beings at a time of the american thanksgiving just next week a week from today one would think it would really be a time of our thoughtful reflection of saying thank you for the structures in the institutions that we have inherited and under which we live and move and have our daily pep but in fact not surprisingly there are very thoughtful voices that are saying we could do so much better with respect to particular policy and i'm not here to discuss a particular proposal that maybe before state legislature before the congress the health care debate and so a rather anti the broader issues and thoughtful voices in the

academy there suggesting that their fundamental problems with the american constitutional system what we draw from two sources was very distinguished professor gillers of texas law school sanford sandy levenson and the other is former universe or chicago former harvard law school professor now at president obama's right hand as it were and omg a professor cass owens day when we draw from the former and his book our undemocratic constitution mr levinson levees a number of charges at the feet of our constitutional structure is it should be clear that the constitution makes the claim that the people rule untenable and as much as majority rule is significantly cited by the operation of the constitution itself his favorite target is not surprising it's lot of thoughtful criticism directed at the electoral college i now quote from professor levinson's thoughtful book is

the electoral college that supplies the decisive an overriding reason for rejecting the constitutional status quo and supporting a convention entitled to propose significant revisions to the constitution it is an undemocratic and perverse part of the american system of government that deals serves the united states were probably all familiar with the criticisms of the electoral college he also said consider how deadlocks and electoral college are to be resolved the answer according to the constitution is the presses be chosen by the house of representatives but with a one state one vote basis delaware has the same voting power as california or texas he also talks about the allocation of voting power in the senate reflecting the constitutional structure will guarantee that each state will have

its two senators no matter again how small the state in the us the state of wyoming not far from here has two united states senators but one member of the house of representatives he talks about the presidential veto power hardwired into the constitution and stymie and what he sees as the overriding moral imperative which is majority rule he wrote very powerful way about the president once we once again experience a death in the white house in the succession of a person who maybe manifestly eloquent whether through lack of adequate experience are widespread popular disdain to take on the monumental burdens and powers of the modern presidency of a very brief respect to professor sun is dean who in his book a second bill of rights suggested that because of its advantage of being the oldest

constitution continuing constitution in the world that america's constitution is woefully lacking in need says it we're a second bill of rights he writes this in his really very very intriguing book the american constitution is the oldest enforce in the world the very oldest constitution's however like social and economic guarantees which are largely a creation of the twentieth century and when my dad really postwar to impersonate post universal declaration of human rights and that he poses a very interesting question why is it that the american constitution the existing documents has not been interpreted to include social and economic guarantees so i perhaps clarion call for the judicial branch or perhaps it's to the

political branches to interpret in a broader and more generous way the american constitution and to as it were to modernize i want very briefly before the question answering session begins to draw our attention back to the structure of the constitution as befits a gathering in the federalist society where we tend to return to first principles as a starting point if you think of that as a deeply conservative value i will also say that was exactly what justice stephen brier said at his confirmation hearing that when we're confronted with an issue we should return to first principles and make sure that we all at least understand what the first principles are and then we can go from there so it seems logical since we're talking about the constitution and our constitutional structure but is it all that it can and should they to return to the text itself and a particular article five amendment the congress so begins with congress to very

democratic dimension writer not the president not the judiciary stuart webb writes the congress whenever are supermajority two thirds of both houses shelby met necessary but shelby ministry seems like it's interested to that judgment of the article one branches shell proposed amendments to this constitution what about the states one of congress isn't set aright or on the application of the legislatures not the governor's not the state supreme court the legislatures of two thirds of the several states a supermajority record shall call a convention this is one proposal of incentives for proposing amendments but in either case shelby valid to all intents and purposes is part of this constitution when lot ratified by legislatures are who ratcheted up three fourths of the several states or by conventions and three fourths of two thirds three fourths vote super majority nonetheless a democratic process but with a supermajority

requirement and justin parity will be justice leveson the professor levenson of quarrels with that as a lot's still very quick review in the space of five minutes we'll cover all twenty seven constitutional amendments yes there have been twenty seven and as we all know we were in this as schoolchildren ten came almost immediately and seventy ninety one so the convention proposes the constitution itself on september seventeen seventeen eighty seven the ratification of basic heard a seventy seven seventy eight and eighty eight and then ratification is effective and elections are held in late eighty eight and eighty nine there is not a single election day the first congress the promise that george washington we know all that what is the first congress do its response to the anti federalist critique we know aldous and proposes the first ten amendments

which we call saw the bill of rights say we know all this is so wonderful about the love lives we love art all right well i think this is as it was a friend's this is from seventeen it won't get wet that we need a little bit of updating and modernization so what's we all know the bill of rights but one of the founding generation to where they interview that allow all right so that was the great compromise candidate and james madison seeking election to the first congress promised the people of central virginia if you liked him a lot of anti federalist sentiment in this district if you elect me i promise i pledge to you that i will work the surge was late to bring about people write to get the captors his promise and the rest of course to solve history what was that was a sense of what is now frozen in time we completed the work is now in fact perfect of course

not because the founding generation knew that there was this horrible evil of slavery which the content which the convention struggle worth even george mason who it's almost unspeakable to say but who on more slaves than anyone else at the convention and jury was slave owners sat and powerful language that slavery is essentially an incredibly evil enterprise and the sapping us of our moral energy and strength one of the founding generation went forward and eleventh commandment in response to what the sense that the states and state power is being compromised wheel of the memory comes in and seventy nine a fight in the meantime what is happening in the congress of the united states the alien and sedition laws where were the courts to protect as the courts were not fear in fact to protect us

and then i'll come back who has ever so briefly called are verses ball and seventeen it a beginning of very limited and it has stood the test of time for better for worse a very limited interpretation to the ex post facto last election of eighteen hundred was in fact horrible with the matter going into fist jabs and pitted against mr adamson adams immediate of course the election sending any sex was horrible because who did whale act under the flawed provisions of the structure created but the founding generation they recognize my word we have is president of states mr adams from massachusetts we have as vice president's aides thomas jefferson their worldviews are far apart as fdr would say their minds do not go along to gather and then the disaster of eighteen hundred called a magnificent catastrophe by my wonderful colleague and coach prize winner at larson that is at the pepperdine law school and then his analysis of the election

of eighteen hundred you can see why in light of how horrible that wasn't going to the house of representatives in ballot after ballot because of the perfidy of aaron burr not his alleged treason later on but the political perfidy of aaron burr the nation was in turmoil who will be our next president course as we all know that brought in what mr jefferson calls the revolution of eighteen hundred the founding generation said we've had enough of that are right john washington was gone to the president of the convention and the prayers of the country had died but most of the generation of the founding generation still room for this of what's amend the constitution and they did the twelfth amendment that twelve minutes and we're not going to have that anymore iraq obama will not in fact have sarah pay one elected as his vice president that makes sense doesn't it in terms of politics where we think about the candidates are just that doesn't make sense then individual

rights we went into a period of hibernation in terms of amendments to the constitution and tell of course the perfecting as it were of our constitutional order through the shedding of blood in the civil war and the post civil war amendments bleeding cancers the thirteenth amendment the fourteenth amendment and the fifteenth amendment that cluster within five years one two three because the nation had responded to evolve the scourge of slavery to the shedding a blog to the assassination of mr lincoln and they responded with ten years went on a decade after decade and since that time that was the final amendment in the nineteenth century and the twentieth century we've had amendments sixteen three twenty seven they fit into three categories really too structure

the federal government slash federalism we would tend to teach that in a single constitutional law courts the rights of the states the structure of the government or even have term limits for the pros indicted states yes we shall the twenty second and then what about presidential succession the twenty fifth amendment a lot about prohibition ok at the moment that's not already ok that's not working too well the twenty first amendment but perhaps most importantly the great capstone of our constitutional work during the twentieth century was the expansion the franchise by judicial interpretation interesting we're not oh there were decisions along the way and there were a lot of political actions along the way especially in the states but then the nation we the people is the preamble of the constitution puts it acted through amendment flies to the nineteenth amendment it is remarkable that it was only

nineteen twenty that women in this country were guaranteed the right to the twenty thirteen a man in nineteen sixty one extended the right to vote in very important ways to the citizens of the district of columbia and issue that continues to this day terms of the extent of the crime the twenty fourth amendment poll tax responding to the civil rights revolution that the house that lincoln had built during the civil war and looking ahead as he said so eloquently at gettysburg still was imperfect the house in fact was still broken and needed a civil rights revolution including a constitutional amendment just to make sure that the poll tax was eliminated or any other kind of impediment in terms of property ownership to voting and then the completion of the democratic process in nineteen seventy one in the way but still during vietnam if someone is old enough to go die for his or her country should not personally able to vote

the twenty six amendments during the course of our history the number of proposed amendments have been offered on the floor of the congress in the house of representatives during the seventeen eighties a political scientists doing the count said they're one hot were one hundred and not the seventies one hundred and ninety six proposed amendments to that that strikes me is are discussed usually can listen to me but that's was a scout and a seventeen nineties however more stable time forty two one a man actually two chamberlain and that decade of a job i can keep going but let me march forward these seabirds are double digit maybe a slow slow digit but if you scroll down decade after decade the nih it ain't sixties suddenly the explosion a

proposed constitutional amendments during the nineteen sixties according to this count two thousand five hundred and ninety eight constitutional amendment proposals were laid before the house or the senate that has subsided in the nineteen seventies a time of ferment two thousand and nineteen cents that time were back down to three digits so what do we glean from this it lends itself i think to be interested in the conversation but please perhaps the confirmation of professor lubben says critique that it's very hard on a broad political scientist from this was work he draws on and that maybe this very same work to set it's virtually impossible to in fact that an amendment to the constitution that is of course as we call for a virtual just think of the structure the response over our two centuries of history the bill of

rights the post civil war amendments the tinkering with the federalism structure the structure of government presidential selection presidential terms and then the expansion of the franchise through constitutional amendment is that interested so i'm a close by going back to call reversible seventeen it what other things that was going on at the time of the revolution and during the colonial experience but even after the revolution of the articles of confederation is that state legislatures are taking a very active role in doing what in reopening judgments of courts and so in connecticut there was a family feud not in the violence since but over up over a well the calder family against the bull family and it goes to court and a final judgment is issued and the bull family weapons that the call i may have that reversed but callers don't like it which

is a business and jobs but you get the idea the losers go to the legislature and say we lost in connecticut probate court we want you to reopen the case there's no suggestion of fraud or corruption that alleges they said we will do that and so the case was reopened and the losers from around one final judgment became the winners and round to the losers the color's the eventual loser had one take it all the way to this wrinkle united states and the argument is this is an expos fact of the legislature is in fact legislating in this particular way that is upset you get the idea that we were at rest the will have been probative and the judgment had in fact had infected issue at that time as we were united states this a seventy ninety eight i had a membership of sex dopamine that we're accustomed to the number expanded as the

country expanded and the duties with respect regional circuits expanded or what we now call regional surrogates now nine fdr famously wanted to push that number up right in the people recoiled at the idea of expanding the number of justices the back amid another presidential moment simply by a law passed by congress and presented to the pros united states and only four justices spoken they were unanimous that there was no ex post facto quality to this particular action of the connecticut legislature the two justices who were absent were the connecticut native connecticut yankee all over aisles or who's chief justice united states he had recused himself you dismiss your emergency been ill he was in poor health and james wilson who would benefit at philadelphia was where most influential people on the floor to philadelphia one of the most distinguished lawyers and united states and his time was you can appreciate this professor

hiding from his creditors he had gone deeply into it we don't like to think of lawyers being deeply and but as a sitting justice he was literally hiding from his creditors because in those days what happened to doubters the p word prison so let us give thanks we have all manner of reason to give it away so james wilson was in hiding so he wasn't hearing the case either so four justices heard it and that that was a great conversation that you read at some point in your law school career and i'll just there for corporate by reference whatever course brought you colder versus bottle the conversation and calling if that it's a written conversation between justice samuel chase yes he who was impeached at the instance of thomas jefferson once jefferson came to power he wanted to go after the fed was judges mr jefferson was a pretty tough guy so samuel chase on the one hand and james are dow from north carolina both for federal it's a really core was a

federalist of that time so that each had a very robust view of the national power they were sort of looking ahead as it were to john marshall's supreme court the court not only barbara been given tours are given mccullen versus maryland is nationalizing them what about the power as far the nation to the political process that the power the courts just chase while holding as you now know that know the expos facto causes not reach civil matters it's only a prohibition with respect to criminal punishments bought if the legislature passes a law that is contrary to notions of natural justice as the universal rights that are present so eloquently articulating in china than the judges should strike it down as against the social compact james are dell destined to die the following year a great friend of the constitution and one of most powerful voices in north

carolina to secure ratification of north carolina was holding out you see the first congress was elected without north carolina the president staged george washington took the oval office without north carolina also without rhode island was part of the olive branch of diplomacy with a founding generation let us respond quickly to the concerns about the lack of protection of human liberty by fashioning a bill of rights and i don't use that you're very good effect as the leading proponent of ratification it and then general washington are awarded him by appointing him to the supreme court of united states the words of james are dell the authority declare all voices of a delicate an awful nature and the court will never resort to that authority but in a clear and urgent case is the legislature of the union or a

legislature and a member of the union shall pass a law within the generals scope of the constitutional power the court cannot pronounce it to be void because it is in their judgment contrary to principles of natural justice as the ideas of natural justice are regulated by no fixed standards the ablest and purest man we would be gender neutral have differed upon the subject at all that this court could properly say in such an event would be that the legislature was asked of an equal right of an opinion had passed an act which in the opinion of the judges was inconsistent with abstract principles of natural right and natural justice this is the key under sedation between justice chase and justice are dell that continues to this day and it's destined to

continue throughout the life of our constitutional republic let freedom ring god bless america let us give thanks for a traditional thanksgiving and i would torture questions you listen to kenneth starr speaking at the university of kansas last november nineteenth two thousand nine is first question from the audience is do you admire the constitution's gravity and what is the value of that brevity for example does the constitution omit certain provisions because it includes certain guarantees let me ask the first part as you were first for the newer interesting second part which is a an interpretive question which you first asked for the opinion it will probably not surprise you know i'm a great admirer of the merit of america's constitution and that in fact was in fact intended to be a charter up all limited government one of the things you were lifted up here and why is that compare structurally the text of article one the legislative power to article to oracle's for

a fact that we turn to instead of my doing it from memory i had two copies of the constitution was my sentimental copy that doesn't have the twenty some of the amendment had nothing it's a twenty seven let's go to article two because then the language of article one section one will stand out and sharp contrast up your who do this and come all you do is done to take the text in there working the text are you just working through places in tripoli you needed to be churlish and nasty but we should go to the text that says that the courts go to the tax or perhaps we as lawyers and law student chickens tax why go to section one the executive power shall be vested in a president of the united states of america ogletree the judicial power the united states shall be vested in one supreme court's we see the architecture the

same worries are good lawyers committee and detail the canadian style is so one would have been assumed all walk away all legislative powers here and granted big shaft structural shall be vested in a congress and as a switch and then here was the key move and we're going to divide the legislative power when i could have a unified legislature to the conduit of a dis unified legislative power by camels and we're going to give them president this important role in lawmaking so the president we just call checks and balances we don't think about it but if we stop and think about it i guess you can't exclude the prayers the united states from the wall making process you can override his veto but that's going to take a lot of the president is an actor on that stage let's come back to congress all legislative powers here and granted and i compare structurally article

one article to oracle for a particle to use fairly short article three is very short effect article three section trees talking about treason there was a big issue then it's not such a big issue now of course they were accustomed to know we will be either hang separately warn all hang together they were revolutionaries they knew what they were facing john hancock all that they knew it was curtains it was all over a faded and sixty four with a word about treason ok so they've got a border somewhere they put in an article three article one says here that powers the congress has now whole lot of powers including a uniform lot of bankruptcy interesting to wear uniform very rarely appears in the constitution nears with respect and naturalization those who come it's very tight and cash a uniform rule of naturalization but a wedge heel more of the yale law school taught us to be much more deeply textured shows gilmore the yale law school taught us

or reminded us i should say to be much more deeply touched to us because we're deeply touched towards the tax like a sacred text deals up our leader reid the sacred scriptures anymore of my faith community i read them once when she read them again you might learn something a new a fresh insider a new approach and seven and so to a keele says recently devoted a surly professor of law at yale university's orator just self made professor of law at the law school please please we students reflect on the text this is telling us something and one is in its limited government i happened to embrace that because look what has happened over once we've perfected the constitution through the shedding of blood and the post civil war amendments in the house of lincoln built and then was truly perfect in through the civil rights movement and those that invited to the democratic conversation through constitutional

amendments under article five why am i not a huge proponent of modern constitutions i think it's a terrific in fact i had a conversation by email with a very thoughtful were for people who are working on a constitution for burma if burma can become free and i have no objection whatsoever to all those myriad rights articulated brilliantly in the universal declaration of human rights they incorporate a modern constitution i also abrasives in uganda the summer and i was meeting with the father of the new modern ugandan constitution the post media mean constitution and building and separation of powers and so forth as of this is magnificently spent two years holding town hall meetings a constitutional convention was behind closed doors and general washington room on straighten with one who had a loose lips and a tougher but we cannot alright as elisa haven't article five because we can amend

and that's the conversation that seems to me can continue let me close with thanks to you for your patience with the words of the preamble to the constitution because the preamble tells us what it's really all about we the people off united states in order for a more perfect union remember the articles of confederation and waters have his doubts that spuds and very hi goal to form a more perfect union and what is the first stated goal establish justice that's even before providing for the common defense because you do not have a just signed a society filled with justice seekers you have nothing to defend thank you it features her faith are seething at the university of kansas school of law of november nineteenth two thousand nine star is finishing up his fifth year as the dean of the pepperdine university law school this summer he will take over as president of baylor university in waco

texas before that secretary of defense robert gates receiving that kansan of the year award and january twenty ninth two thousand ten engineering assistance for today's k pr presents provided by chubby smith i'm kay mcintyre k pr present is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas we have as a nation we're continuously over the last nine years next time on k pr presents admiral michael cheatham mullen chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mullen gave a landon lecture at kansas state university earlier this month china's eight o'clock next sunday evening for his thoughts on the role of the military and three principles about the use of modern military force military power should not maybe cannot be the last resort of a state keep your presents admiral mike mullen chairman of the joint chiefs of staff it a club next sunday

evening on kansas public radio gene as the nineteen eighties many right right