Bill of Rights Day

Monday, December 15th, was Bill of Rights Day. The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, known as the "Bill of Rights," were added to the Constitution as limitations on the powers of the federal government. Drafted by James Madison, the Bill of Rights was based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights. On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights took effect following their ratification by three-fourths of the thirteen states. For more information on the history of the Bill of Rights, visit the National Archives Museum website.

To observe Bill of Rights Day, the McKusick Law Library has prepared a display of selected resources related to the Bill of Rights. Included in the display are several law review articles authored by University of South Dakota School of Law professors, available on the Law School's Selected Works site: David S. Day, Some Reflections on Modern Free Exercise Doctrine: A Review Essay, 55 S.D.L. Rev. 498 (2010), Chris Hutton, Sir Walter Raleigh Revived: The Supreme Court Re-Vamps Two Decades of Confrontation Clause Precedent in Crawford v. Washington, 50 S.D.L. Rev. 41 (2005), Chris Hutton, The Landscape of Search and Seizure: Observations on Recent Decisions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 51 S.D.L. Rev. 51 (2006), and Jonathan K. Van Patten, In the End is the Beginning: An Inquiry into the Meaning of the Religion Clauses, 27 St. Louis U. L.J. 1 (1983).

Books from the Library's collection on the display are:

James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights/ By Richard Labunski

Limited Government and the Bill of Rights/ By University of South Dakota School of Law Professor Patrick M. Garry

Living the Bill of Rights/By Nat Hentoff

The Bill of Rights/By Akhil Reed Amar

The Complete Bill of Rights: The Drafts, Debates, Sources, and Origins/Edited by Neil H. Cogan