The Thomas E. Fairchild Lecture

2019 Fairchild Lecture

Professor Geoffrey R. Stone 
"The Warren Court: A Fifty Year Retrospective"
4 p.m. Friday, April 12, 2019

Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Mr. Stone received his J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1971, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. After serving as a law clerk to Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School in 1973. Mr. Stone has served as dean of the University of Chicago Law School (1987-1994) and provost of the University of Chicago (1994-2002).

Mr. Stone is the author of many books on constitutional law, including “The Free Speech Century” (2018); “Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion and Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century” (2017); “Top Secret: When Our Government Keeps Us in the Dark” (2007) and “Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime” (2004). His next book, “Democracy and Equality: The Enduring Constitutional Vision of the Warren Court,” will be published next fall. He is also the lead editor on two major casebooks: “Constitutional Law” (8th ed. 2018) and “The First Amendment” (5th ed. 2016).

Mr. Stone is currently chief editor of a twenty-volume series, Inalienable Rights, which is being published by the Oxford University Press. He is an editor of the Supreme Court Review, a former chair of the Board of the American Constitution Society, a member of the National Advisory Council of the American Civil Liberties Union, a member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Mr. Stone has written many amicus briefs for constitutional law scholars in cases before the Supreme Court, including Lawrence v. Texas, Obergefell v. Hodges, and Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

Questions about this year's lecture? Contact Emilie Buckman, 608-262-5918.

You can support Judge Fairchild's legacy by making a gift to the Thomas E. Fairchild Lecture fund today.

About Judge Fairchild

Judge Thomas E. Fairchild, a 1937 UW Law School graduate, was Wisconsin Attorney General, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, circuit judge, justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and then later chief judge and ultimately senior circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit until his death on February 12, 2007. For 50 years, Judge Fairchild demonstrated both a scholarly regard for those principles of law that generations have molded into the American definition of justice and equality and a remarkable sensitivity to the ever-changing human conditions that make the search for justice and equality an ongoing one.

About the Fairchild Lecture

The Thomas E. Fairchild Lectureship was established in 1988 at University of Wisconsin Law School as a tribute to Judge Fairchild. Initiated by his former law clerks, the lectureship brings a distinguished member of the legal profession — from the bench, bar or academia — to speak at UW Law School on a topic of importance to the profession. Many distinguished guests have served as Fairchild lecturers, including Supreme Court Justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O'Connor.