U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor Will Speak at the New York State Bar Association Civics Convocation
2.22.2024
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor will speak at a New York State Bar Association Civics Convocation designed to explore how to ensure New Yorkers understand what the U.S. Constitution guarantees and how our democracy works.
After delivering her remarks virtually to an audience at the Bar Center in Albany on May 9, Justice Sotomayor, who is also a board member of the nonprofit civic education provider iCivics, will answer questions from students.
The Civics Convocation will bring together luminaries from the worlds of education, government, and law to examine a troubling lack of basic knowledge among adults and young people about civics – with many Americans unable to name the three branches of government or describe their responsibilities as citizens.
“We are at a crisis point in civic education in New York and the nation,” said Richard Lewis, president of the New York State Bar Association. “In an endless sea of misinformation, how can we better prepare our students and ourselves to think more critically about what we read and hear? If we don’t have a collective understanding of how our government functions, it will be difficult – if not impossible – for us to play the very important roles of citizens in this democracy.”
New York’s Chief Judge Rowan Wilson will give a keynote address at the civics convocation. “I am honored to collaborate with the New York State Bar Association to instill in young people an understanding of how our systems of government are intended to work and why they are important.”
New York State Commissioner of Education Betty Rosa, Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents Lester Young, Jr., Chair of the New York State Senate Education Committee Sen. Shelley Mayer, Jonathan Collins, associate director, Center for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University and Nicholas D’Amuro, instructional coordinator, Genesee Valley BOCES, will discuss the steps New York is taking to improve civic education. Susan Arbetter, anchor at Spectrum News’ Capital Tonight, will moderate.
David Bobb, CEO of the Bill of Rights Institute; Emma Humphries, chief education officer of iCivics; Andrew Wilkes, chief policy and advocacy officer of Generation Citizen; and Verneé Green, CEO of Mikva Challenge will discuss trends in the national landscape of civic education. Christopher Riano, CEO of the Center for Civic Education, will moderate.
The New York State Bar Association’s Civics Convocation Task Force – chaired by Gail Ehrlich; Jay Worona, deputy executive director and general counsel of the New York State School Boards Association; and Riano – is planning the event. Ehrlich, a lawyer and former high school teacher, and Worona are co-chairs of the bar association’s Committee on Law, Youth and Citizenship.
“We thank Justice Sotomayor and our distinguished panelists for the work they have done to improve civic education in America,” Lewis said. “I want to assure you that the bar association’s interest in civic education will not end when the convocation is over. The civics convocation task force is preparing a fact-finding report about how to improve civic education and if approved by our governing body, we will advocate for its recommendations.”
