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Henry J. Abraham, author of several well-known books on the Supreme Court, will speak on “Reflections on the Appointments of Supreme Court Justices from Washington to Clinton” at 8 p.m. Monday, April 23, in the auditorium of Lafayette’s Kirby Hall of Civil Rights.
Free and open to the public, the event is the inaugural lecture in the Daniel L. Golden ’34 Speaker Series in Government and Law.
A foremost expert on American constitutional law, Abraham is the James Hart Professor Emeritus of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. His books on the Supreme Court include The Judicial Process, Freedom and the Court, and Justice, Presidents and Senators. His seven other books cover topics such as law, government, and democracy. He reportedly is one of the few non-lawyers to be mentioned as a possible nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abraham has biographical listings in many publications, including Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in American Education, International Who’s Who in Education, Directory of American Scholars, The National Register of Prominent Americans and International Notables, International Scholars Directory, and 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the 20th Century.
Abraham earned his bachelor’s degree in political science, summa cum laude, from Kenyon College, where he graduated first in his class (1948), his master’s degree in public law and government from Columbia University (1949), and his doctorate in political science from the University of Pennsylvania (1952). He has received honorary degrees from Kenyon College, the University of Hartford, Knox College, St. Joseph’s University, and Old Dominion University.
Besides the University of Virginia, Abraham has held teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, City College of New York, University of Colorado-Boulder, Swarthmore College, University of Copenhagen, and other institutions around the world. He was the 1998 Conference Scholar in Residence, American Studies Program, at Louisiana State University, Shreveport, and a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar for 1970-71.
Abraham’s many honors and awards include: Templeton Honor Roll for Education in a Free Society, 1997; First Lifetime Achievement Award of the Organized Section on Law and Courts of the American Political Science Association; 1993; University of Virginia Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award, 1986; Thomas Jefferson Award, University of Virginia, 1983; Distinguished Service Award, Virginia Social Science Association, 1982; and Distinguished Faculty Award, University of Virginia, 1978. He was the first recipient of a $1,000 award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959.
Fellowships and grants extended to Abraham include Bradley Foundation Research Grants, 1988-1996; an Earhart Foundation Fellowship, 1984; Project ’87 Summer 1983 Faculty Seminar from the American Historical Society and American Political Science Association (APSA); National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Research Stipend, 1980; NEH Teaching Grants, summers of 1975, 1976, 1978, and 1981; Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio, Italy) Resident Scholar, April-June, 1978; American Council of Learned Societies Fellow, winter-spring, 1968-1969; American Philosophical Society Fellow, 1960-61, 1970-71, 1979; and National Science Foundation Fellow, summer, 1962.
He also has served as a Fulbright Lecturer in American Political Science and Constitutional Law at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, 1959-60, and the University of Copenhagen, spring 1960. He was a Social Science Research Council Fellow at the Institute on the Judicial Process, University of Wisconsin, summer, 1958, and received a Dalton Fellowship in Graduate American Studies, Columbia University, 1948-49.
Abraham has written chapters that have been published in more than 25 books, and contributed numerous articles, monographs, and essays to many different publications since 1950.
His memberships include the Commonwealth of Virginia Council on Human Rights, since 1999; Council of Academic Advisors (chairman), The Publius Institute, since 1994; American Friends Advisory Board, Institute of United States Studies, University of London, since 1992; National Advisory Council, J.W. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, since 1990; and the Academic Advisory Council, National Legal Center for the Public Interest, since 1989. He has held many former positions with groups such as the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S., Southern Political Science Association, and the National Commission on the Prevention and Causes of Violence.
Abraham is a member of editorial or advisory boards for Encyclopedia Americana, Journal of Law and Politics, Journal of Church and State, The Public Interest Law Review, Res Publica, The Review of Politics, Political Science Quarterly, International Social Science Review, Social Education, Abraham Lincoln Abroad, and Encyclopedia of the American Constitution.
Abraham served in the United States Army in the United States and western and central Europe from 1943-1946. He received two Battle Stars and the Commendation Medal. Abraham served as an Army reserve from 1950-1951.