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Melissa Murray

The U.S. Constitution

Date:
Saturday, May 9
Time:
2:00 pm PDT
Cost:
$10 – $35 Sliding Scale
Additional fees may apply. Learn more about our ticketing model here.

Venue

The Mehdi Reading Room
1119 8th Ave
Seattle, 98101 United States
+ Google Map

Event Format

In-Person

EVENT NOTES
Doors for this event will open at 1:00 PM. Town Hall events are approximately 75 minutes long.

Book cover for "The U.S. Constitution" by Melissa Murray, featuring an illustration of a blue quill pen. Beneath the illustration, the subtitle reads, "A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader." A red border with white stars lines the left edge of the cover.
Buy the Book

The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader (Hardcover)

Elliott Bay Book Company

Buy Book
Headshot of Melissa Murray (with tan skin, short black hair, and black eyeglasses)
Civics

Today’s political climate in the U.S. is more polarized than ever, but the U.S. Constitution — written almost 250 years ago — continues to be the shared bedrock of its democracy. That said, how many of us have actually sat down to read it, to truly understand what’s in there? Podcast host, bestselling author, and legal expert, Melissa Murray, wants to make it make sense for everyone. Drawing from her book, The U.S. Constitution, Murray creates an in-depth, accessible guide to explain each article and amendment and why they matter today.

Murray is known for sharing timely explanations about the legal makeup of the U.S., particularly in how the courts interpret the Constitution. As co-host for the podcast, Strict Scrutiny, and a contributor to MSNOW, Murray provides analysis of the Supreme Court and its cases, culture, and personalities. The Constitution is the thing that guides these judges, lawyers, and lawmakers; it touches all aspects of people’s lives in direct and indirect ways. Murray believes that understanding the Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of it, is the last institution to uphold the U.S.’s democracy, hundreds of years after it was written.

Read More

Melissa Murray is the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at New York University’s School of Law. She is the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary, cohost of a top-ranked podcast, Strict Scrutiny—which is about the Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it—and a regular commentator on MSNBC. Her writing appears regularly in major national publications, including The New York TimesThe Washington PostLos Angeles TimesThe AtlanticMother Jones, and The Nation. She is frequently called upon by national media outlets such as NPR and PBS to offer expert — yet accessible — commentary on the Supreme Court’s decisions and other pressing legal matters of national importance. Her academic publications have appeared (or are forthcoming) in the California Law ReviewColumbia Law ReviewHarvard Law ReviewMichigan Law ReviewPennsylvania Law ReviewVirginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal, among others. Murray is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar and an Echols Scholar, and Yale Law School, where she was notes development editor of the Yale Law Journal. While in law school, she earned special recognition as an NAACP-LDF/Shearman & Sterling Scholar and was a semifinalist of Morris Tyler Moot Court. Following law school, Murray clerked for Sonia Sotomayor, then of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Stefan Underhill of the US District Court for the District of Connecticut. Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Murray was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she was the recipient of the Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. From March 2016 to June 2017, she served as interim dean of Berkeley Law. Murray is a member of the New York bar.


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