Last updated on: 1/22/2013 | Author: ProCon.org

Robert A. Sedler, JD Biography

Title:
Distinguished Professor of Law at Wayne State University
Position:
Pro to the question "Is the ACLU Good for America?"
Reasoning:

“For many years, I have been a cooperating attorney for the ACLU, litigating cases involving equality, freedom of speech, and personal freedoms in Kentucky, Michigan, and elsewhere. Not all of the cases that I litigated have ended successfully, but many of them have. Likewise, many constitutional challenges brought by ACLU throughout the nation for over 90 years have ended successfully with a favorable court decision finding a violation of constitutional rights. Whenever a court upholds a constitutional challenge and finds a violation of constitutional rights, this means that the guarantees of the Constitution have been vindicated. If one believes that rights guaranteed by the Constitution must be safeguarded, as I think most Americans do, then the ACLU, with its long and successful history of protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans, must be considered to be good for America.”

Email to ProCon.org, Feb. 4, 2013
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with PhDs and JDs or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to the ACLU. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to the ACLU.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Corecipient, American Jewish Committee Detroit Community Service Award, 2011
  • Member, Wayne State University Faculty of Scholars
  • Member, Order of the Coif
  • Member, Phi Beta Kappa
  • Gibbs Chair of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 2000-2005
  • Recipient, Bernard Gottfied Bill of Rights Day Award, Metropolitan Detroit American Civil Liberties Union, 1994
  • Recipient, Presidential Award, Detroit Branch of the N.A.A.C.P., 1986
  • Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Wayne Law, 1985-1987
  • Represented ACLU in a lawsuit that claimed the city of Dearborn’s nativity scene at City Hall was unconstitutional, 1984
  • General Counsel, ACLU of Kentucky, 1971-1976
  • Former Professor of Law, University of Kentucky
Education:
  • JD, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1959
  • BA, University of Pittsburgh, 1956
Other:
  • Has given lectures at Russian universities on American constitutional law
Quoted in:
  1. Do Religious Displays on Public Property Violate the Constitution?