From Jihad to General Motors: Can the World’s Oldest Written Constitution Weather the 21st Century
Inaugural Lecture in Celebration of the Constitution of the United States of America
OLIVER S. THOMAS is an attorney, author, educator, minister and community leader.
As an attorney, Mr. Thomas has practiced at various levels of state and federal court including the United States Supreme Court. After spending his first years in private practice, Mr. Thomas served as General Counsel to the Baptist Joint Committee, Special Counsel for Religious and Civil Liberties to the National Council of Churches, religious liberty counsel/consultant to the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and Litigation Director of the Knoxville Legal Aid Society. He has appeared as an expert witness before the Judiciary Committees of both chambers of the United States Congress as well as before state legislatures. He has also chaired coalitions of national organizations working on such issues as religion in public schools, churches and tax policy, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
As an educator, Mr. Thomas taught First Amendment Law at Georgetown University Law Center and has been a guest speaker at such law schools as Harvard and Notre Dame. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications, and he has been a guest commentator on major media outlets such as CBS, CNN and National Public Radio.
Mr. Thomas is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Tennessee where he graduated first in his class. He earned his Master of Divinity from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where he also graduated first in his class and was chosen as the school’s outstanding divinity student. Mr. Thomas received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Tennessee College of Law where he was Order of the Coif and earned his Master of Laws from the University of Virginia. While attending law school, Mr. Thomas clerked for the late Honorable Houston Goddard of the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
As an author, Mr. Thomas co-authored Finding Common Ground, the First Amendment handbook endorsed by the Department of Education during the Clinton Administration and used in many of the nation’s public schools. He also co-authored the ACLU Handbook on the law of church and state and is a member of the Board of Contributors of USA Today. Mr. Thomas is an ordained Baptist minister and former Chairman of his local board of education. He currently serves as Executive Director of the NISWONGER FOUNDATION, a private educational foundation located in Greeneville, Tennessee.
Free parking will be available in Lot 28 (map) located off Melrose Place on Lake Avenue approximately 1.5 blocks southwest of the Baker Ctr. An attendant at the lot will give you a pass. You may also park in the University Center Garage, approximately 3 blocks east of the Baker Center off Cumberland Avenue on Phillip Fulmer Way. Please ask us for a sticker to validate your parking before you leave the Baker Center.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009 7:00 PM
Location: Toyota Auditorium, Baker Center
Cost: Free and Open to the Public
Parking: UC Parking Garage
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Contact Senator Baker
Honorable Howard H. Baker, Jr.
P.O. Box 600
Huntsville, TN 37756
423-663-9148
hbaker@bakerdonelson.com
