That the party disputing the acts constitution bears the heavy burden of demonstrating the acts unconstitutionality beyond a reasonable doubt. The contrary principle that i will call judicial engagement is that the judiciarys principle duty is the defense of liberty and that the government, when challenged, bears the burden of demonstrating that its action is in conformity with the constitutions architecture, the purpose of which is to protect liberty. The federal government can dispatch this burden by demonstrating that its action is both necessary and proper for the exercise of an enumerated power. A state or local government can dispatch the burden by demonstrating that its act is within the constitutionally prescribed limits of its police power. The Texas Supreme Court has addressed and dissolved the counterimagi countermajorityian difference. He begins as judicial review began in 1803 with marberry v. Madison in which Justice Marshall wrote the powers of the legislature are defined and limited and that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten the constitution is written. In distinguishing between proper judicial difference to legislative majorities and dereliction of the duties to police excesses, willitt says in our democracy though unrivaled is not unlimited. The constitution is supreme and desirable is not a sinminute if judicial reviews mean anything, judicial restraint does not allow everything. To reach a tipping point, courts must not distinguish constitutional liberties with nonchalant. There must, Justice Willett writes remain judicial ly reconciled with constitutional demands. Why must . Because says willett, the Texas Constitution like the u. S. Constitution is framed in prescription. It declares an emphatic no to myriad government undertakings even if majorities desire them. Judicial review means preventing any contemporary majority from overturning yesterdays super majority that ratified the constitution. Federal judges are accountable to no current constituency but when construing the constitution, todays judges are duty bound to be faithful to the constituti constitutioncy of those that framed and ratified it. This, says willett, is the profound difference between an improperly activity judge and a proper engaged judge. The former creates writes that are neither specified in or implied by the constitution. The latter defends rights and prevents elected branches from inserting duty to declare what the constitution means and implies. It is not true that as was declared in the play the enemy of the people the majority is always wrong. It is true, that the majority often is wrong and that the majority even when wrong often has a right to work its will anyway. Often but not always. The challenge is to determine the borders of the majoritys right to have its way and to have those borders policed by a nonmajorityian institution, the judiciary. So to the question about how lincoln has influenced my life, my answer is this. By his noble rejection of the kansas nebraska act and the idea of popular sovereignty as the way to decide the question of slavery in the territories, lincoln concentrated my mind on two timeless truths. One, is that majority rule is inevitab inevitable but not inevitableably reasonable. And the constitution properly construed both affirm that many things should be beyond the reach of majorities. Thank you very much. [ applause ] terrific. Very deep and thoughtful. [ applause ] that was terrific. It was provocative. Thoughtful. And i have a lot of questions myself. Im not going to ask them. Im going to open the floor to you all to do that. Before i do, i want to give mr. Will just a token of our appreciation. A reminder that hes always welcome to come back home and see us any time. Thank you. One more hand for him. Thank you very much. [ applause ] that concludes mr. Wills formal presentation. In a moment well open the mike to a few questions. We dont have a ton of time. We have ten minutes or so for people to ask him appropriate questions and hes been gracious enough to answer a few. If you want to ask one, please come up to the mike here on my right side. Could they bring up the house lights so we can see. Is there a way that we can bring up the house lights . Let there be light. I answered every question. Let me throw one out then for him. Here comes lady. Better still. I collect famous legal footnotes and you made reference to one and i lost track of where it came from. Footnote 4. Where the Supreme Court i should be here. Where the Supreme Court without justification and text history or logic of the constitution decided that it would now have a hierarchy of rights. There would be some that were declared fundamental and others declared inferior. That the court would make that distinction and then invariably has it turns out economic liberty, the liberty for which we fought the civil war, would be an inferior and not a fundamental right. Good evening, mr. Will. My name is paul. Im a secondyear student at college of law and long admired your work. My question to you is about the passing of Justice Scalia and particularly i found provocative your talk of the movement especially in american conservative legal minds for judicial restraint and deference to popular majority legislature. As conservatives move away from this being that it is a progressive thought, who especially in the light of passing of Justice Scalia embodies a jurist thought . Thats a good question. Im wearing my federal societyist necktie tonight founded in 1982. I assume theres a chapter at the university of illinois. Scalia was a very important mentor of this. Justice scalia and i i knew him before he was on the Supreme Court. Known him a long time. We had a robust disagreement that when president s overstepped their bounds, its not the judiciarys duty to jerk the leash of the executive branch. His answer was impeach the president. I told him i thought that was awkward. And unrealistic. Anyw anyway, closest on the Supreme Court in my view to these things is Clarence Thomas who has a healthy disregard or at least refusal to genuflect. If its wrong, get rid of it he would relitigate the slaughterhouse cases. My son is secondyear lawsuit at the university of virginia and i told him his lifes work is to get rid of rationale basis test and relitigate the slaughterhouse cases. Justice willett of the Texas Supreme Court, clint bolick appointed a few weeks ago from the Goldwater Institute to the arizona Supreme Court, they all understand this. Were gaining on the rascals. Do you want to make your way to the mike . I can just speak loudly. [ inaudible question ] [ applause ] i can tell you the latter in about two hours. I can understand why numerous people in our society are sad, angry, uncertain. For white males without college educations, they havent had a raise for 40 years. Economic stagnation, a sense that life is passing them by, a sense that the system is indeed rigged as in my judgment gig government is always rigged in favor of the strong, the articulate and the well lawyered. I understand this. What i do not understand is this man as a vessel for those anxieties. Hes an anticonstitutional authoritarian. Hes in every instinct prepared to double down on what i consider the most disagreeable feature of the obama years which is his executive overreach. And as i said in a recent column, the breath and depth of his ignorance is the eighth wonder of the world. To take one example, his sister is a federal judge. In defending her, not that anyone attacked her, but in defending her in the houston debate last thursday, trump said why shes so conservative, she signed a bill that Justice Alito of the Supreme Court also signed. This man who proposes to head the executive branch of our government believes that judges and justices sign bills. Hes the first who would flunk an eighth grade civics exam. Its astonishing. Its going to be a long time putting him back in his cage. Time for one more . One more. Yes, sir. Mr. Will, im a firstyear law student. My question since this is about lincoln, do you have a quote of lincolns that you could share with us tonight . Favorite quote of lincolns . Well, so many lincoln stories, im not quite sure of their providence but lincoln said if i call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have . Five . No, four, because calling a tail a leg doesnt make it a leg. Words to live by. Thank you. [ applause ] one of my favorites, too. Thank you all so much for being here. I wish you all a good night. Cspan3s American History tv is in prime time during the democratic convention. Tonights programs are about Abraham Lincoln. Starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, a look at his action with immigrants as a lawyer and later as president and bob woodward reflects on Abraham Lincolns legacy and how it affects his successors including richard nixon, Ronald Reagan and barack obama. And later, columnist george will reflects on president lincolns view of judicial review and the constitution. All of this coming up tonight on American History tv on cspan3. Tonight, Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to accept a Major Political partys nomination for president of the united states. And with cspan, you have many Convenient Options for watching the entire speech without any interruptions. Watch her historic acceptance speech live on cspan. Listen to it on the cspan radio app. Watch it live or on demand on your desktop, tablet or smartphone. Hillary clintons historic speech tonight on cspan, cspan radio app and cspan. Org. Up next on American History tv, historian jason h. Silverman talks about his book link on and the immigrant describing lincolns interaction with immigrants. He concludes these encounters boosted americas economy. The event is about an hour. And now for our speaker this evening. Jason h. Silverman is the professor of history at winthrup university. Author or editor of 11 books, several of which nominated for National Book awards, his recent work lincoln and the immigrant is a volume in the series published by Southern IllinoisUniversity Press and was released in september. Of the 16,500 and counting volumes published on Abraham Lincoln, this is the first full length study of its kind. Dr. Silverman received his undergraduate degree at the university of virginia and his graduate degree at Colorado State and the university of kentucky. He has received many distinguished teaching awards. Currently working on a companion volume detailing president lincolns reputation in 19th century europe. He also served two elected terms on his local school board. So lets welcome professor jason silverman. [ applause ] thank you so much. That last part about the eight years on the Rockhill School board, forget about all my education. Thats when i learned the real meaning of civil war. I have a been interested in Abraham Lincoln since the fourth grade. We had a parents night which we were going to do silent vinettes. A signing of the declaration of independence, all sorts of things. One of the silent viniettes was Lincoln Douglas debates and my fourth grade teacher told me you cant be Abraham Lincoln, youre not tall enough. To add insult to injury, she said, you have to be Steven Douglas. So i swore by all that was sacred that i was going to study Abraham Lincoln for the rest of my life and try to make a contribution. Now, i grew up right across the river in alexandria, virginia. Im a product of the virginia Public Schools and i can tell you that very little about Abraham Lincoln was said flatteringly in the state of virginia as i was growing up. But those comments were glowing compared to what i encountered when i first came to South Carolina in 1984. So one of my proudest accomplishments is the fact that for 32 years now, i just finished my 32nd year, ive been teaching courses to packed classrooms on Abraham Lincoln in the state of South Carolina, which i dont think is a small accomplishment whatsoever. [ applause ] so im going to tell you what i tell my students before each class. Come back with me in history. Fasten your seatbelts. Were going to take a Magic Carpet Ride tonight through the study of Abraham Lincoln and his relationship with immigrants. May 4th, 1865, oakridge cemetery, springfield, illinois. The weather is warm and the sun is peeking through the clouds. The day is peaceful and a slight wind blows from the west. Everybody in springfield is on the streets, silent and mournful. Their sorrow is all encompassing and they dont know where to go or what to do. The landscape is beautiful and has been especially cared for on this occasion. The clergyman is a tall, dist distinguish looking academic sort that spoke with a softness that belied his younger more evangelical days. Bishop Matthew Simpson was delivering the funeral sermon. He quoted the deceased in words of deep conviction. Words that spoke of a great work to be done. They conjured up the spector of an evil in the land. Broken by it, i may be, bow to it, i never will. The probablity that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause which we believe to be just. It shall not deter me. If ever i feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions, not unholy worthy of its almighty architect, its when i contemplate the cause of my country. Deserted by all of the world besides and i standing up boldly and alone hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. The declaration was that of a young Abraham Lincoln on the day after christmas, 1839. The bishop interpreted his text in a way and with an authority that seemed holy natural to the mourning nation. Here was the testament of the beloved martyr dedicating himself in his youth to the great slave power. Fighting it with all of his energy. Bishop simpson quoted lincoln accurately. He had unearthed a long lost speech that would soon be lost again. But he did make one error, however. Lincolns speech had nothing to do with slavery. Its subject was banking, industry, and immigrant labor. The log cabin labor and industry, the combination should not surprise us. In more than three decades of public life, lincoln probably talked more about economics and labor to use the terms broadly, than any other issues, slavery included. The bulk of his discussions with an economic focus preceded his period of fame and for a while went unrecorded. But the main lines of his thinking survived as do frequently the details. Immigration, Abraham Lincoln, absolutely. Lincoln lived in an era when immigration was as much a controversy as it is today. Between 1840 and 1860, 4. 5 million newcomers arrived. Most of them from ireland, the german states and scandinavian countries. Many crossed back and forth across the border with mexico, newly drawn in 1848. But from an early age, lincoln developed an awareness and tolerance for different people and different cultures. While no doubt a product of his time, lincoln nevertheless refused to allow his environment to blind him to the strengths of diversity and throughout his legal and political career, he retained an infinity for immigration, especially the irish, the germans, the jews and the scandinavians. The indians and their plight was never far from lincolns thoughts and his plans. His travel down the Mississippi River to the port of new orleans exposed lincoln to the sights s s, the sounds and taftstes. More importantly, it established a foundation and sympathy for the rest of his life when it came to the foreign born as well as to the enslaved. It must have been an odd sight to see that tall, lanky, boy sailing down the Mississippi River in 1829 with his companions looking wide eyed and in awe of everything that he saw. Just 22 years old and finally freed of the obligations to his father and his farm, lincoln set off from illinois on a flat boat journey with his stepbrother, cousin and employer. Sailing on what must have been an amusing sight, a log cabin on a raft with barrels and logs and hogs. Lincoln, john johnston, john hanks, and dennis offette set off on adventure of a lifetime. For the first time in his young life, Abraham Lincoln was traveling afar and while he could not know it, what he would see would shape his thoughts for the remainder of his life. During this trip, lincoln would first come in contact with foreigners in the exotic city of new orleans. And although he probably couldnt and didnt distinguish swedes from dutchman from italians from spaniards, norwegi norwegians, russians, he encount a encounterred them all. He realized for the first time in his young life that immigrants from many lands formed a significant part of the american population. Lincolns two flat boat voyages to new orleans were exceptionally important in his development. They formed the longest journeys of his life. His first experiences in a major city. His only visits to the deep south. His sole exposure to the regions brand of slavery and slave trading. His only time in the subtropics and the closest he ever came to immersing himself in a foreign culture. Lincoln never wrote or spoke very much of his trips.