University of Wisconsin Law School Professor Anuj Desai has been awarded the third annual Rita Lloyd Moroney Award from the U.S. Postal Service for two articles involving postal history.

This year the two national Moroney prizes both went to individuals at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: Desai won the Senior Prize ($2,000) for work published by faculty members, independent scholars, public historians, and other non-degree candidates, and Philip Glende, a student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, received the Junior Prize ($1,000) for work written or published by undergraduates or graduate students.

Desai's two articles singled out for recognition are "The Transformation of Statutes into Constitutional Law: How Early Post Office Policy Shaped Modern First Amendment Doctrine," and "Wiretapping Before the Wires: The Post Office and the Birth of Communications Privacy.” Glende's essay is "Victor Berger's Dangerous Ideas: Censoring the Mail to Preserve National Security During World War I." Desai's articles were published in the March 2007 Hastings Law Journal and the November 2007 Stanford Law Review; Glende's work was published in Essays in Economic and Business History -- Volume XXVI, 2008.

The awards recognize scholarship on any topic on the history of the American postal system from the colonial era to the present, including the history of the imperial postal system that preceded the establishment of the American postal system in 1775.

Rita Lloyd Moroney, after whom the awards are named, began conducting historical research for the Postmaster General in 1962 and later served as the U.S. Postal Service historian from 1973 to 1991. The Moroney Awards are designed to encourage scholarship on the history of the American postal system and to raise awareness about the significance of the postal system in American life.


 

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