Among the speakers is Deval L. Patrick, assistant attorney general for civil rights with the U.S. Department of Justice, who has confronted multiple challenges to congressional districts under the Voting Rights Act. "The debate on race-based affirmative action and the Equal Protection Clause in the voting rights arena is among the least satisfactorily resolved issues in the law today," said Thrower organizer Jennifer Moore of the Emory Law Journal. Scheduled from 1-6:30 p.m. at the law school, the symposium will feature a series of presentations by four experts, followed by a panel discussion by six respondents. In addition to Patrick, speakers will include:
*Staige Blackford, editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review, who will speak on "One Man's South," about racism, disenfranchisement and the origins of the Voting Rights Act;
*Abigail Thernstrom, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York and author of Whose Votes Count? Affirmative Action and Minority Voting Rights, who will talk about her work on behalf of those challenging reapportionment; and
*David F. Walbert, an Atlanta attorney whose litigation experience includes participation in some of the most prominent race/representation cases in the last 20 years.
Panelists responding to the presenters will include: Anthony A. Alaimo, senior U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Georgia, who served as mediator in the recent districting controversy over the state's superior court judgeships; Charles S. Bullock III, Richard B. Russell Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia and consultant to attorney general offices of five states; Selwyn Carter, director of voting rights programs at the Southern Regional Council, where he oversees the drafting of redistricting plans throughout the South; Samuel Issacharoff, Charles Tilford McCormick Professor of Law at the University of Texas Law School and counsel to the State of Texas in two cases involving the state's 1992 redistricting attempts; Linda Meggers, director of the Reapportionment Services Office of the Georgia General Assembly; and Emory law professor Charles A. Shanor, former general counsel to the Equal Employment Opportu-nity Commission. Moderator will be Emory law professor Andrew Kull, author of The Color-Blind Constitution.
The Thrower Symposium is an annual event for the legal community and the public to address important legal and public policy issues. The symposium is named for Randolph W. Thrower, alumnus of both Emory College and Emory Law School, and was initiated by a gift from his wife and children. A former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and former president of the American Bar Foundation, Thrower is a trustee emeritus of Emory, former chair of the Board of Ethics of the City of Atlanta and a senior partner in the firm of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan.
The Thrower Symposium is free, but advance registration is encouraged by calling 727-6830. Registration also is available at the door. Five hours of Georgia Continuing Legal Education credits will be given.
--Elaine Justice