May It Please the Court

Dr. Barbara A. Perry, a U.S. Supreme Court expert and biographer of the Kennedys, is the Carter Glass Professor of Government and founding director of the Center for Civic Renewal at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She will share her observations on effective oral arguments with a public audience at the McConnell Center (map).

"Barbara Perry is one of today's most accomplished and respected watchers of the Court. No young wanna-be lawyer or those interested in the law should miss this presentation," said Dr. Gary Gregg, director of the McConnell Center.

Brief Biography

In 1994-95 Perry was the Judicial Fellow at the U.S. Supreme Court, where she received the Tom C. Clark Award as the outstanding fellow that year. Her duties included researching and drafting speeches for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Perry was the Senior Fellow for civics education at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center in 2006-07 and now serves as a Non-Resident Fellow. She earned a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in politics, philosophy, and economics from Hertford College, Oxford, and a B.A. in political science, with highest honors, from the University of Louisville.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, she is an avid fan of the University of Louisville Cardinals basketball teams and the Kentucky Derby.

Publications

Perry’s eight books include The Supremes: An Introduction to the United States Supreme Court Justices, 2nd ed. (Peter Lang 2009); The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases (University Press of Kansas 2007); Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier (University Press of Kansas 2004); The Priestly Tribe: The Supreme Court’s Image in the American Mind (Praeger 1999; winner of a 2001 Choice Award); A “Representative” Supreme Court? The Impact of Race, Religion, and Gender on Appointments (Greenwood 1991); and, with Henry Abraham, Freedom and the Court: Civil Rights and Liberties in the United States, 8th edition (University Press of Kansas 2003).

Perry is currently researching two new books: Catholics and the Supreme Court (Georgetown University Press) and Rose: Mother of the Kennedy Image (Norton). The author of more than 30 articles, Dr. Perry has lectured throughout the United States and is a frequent media commentator on public affairs for, among others, CNN, Public Radio, and the Washington Post. She is a regular guest on Wisconsin Public Radio’s program, “At Issue.” From 1995 to 2008, she served as a consultant for and taught in the annual Supreme Court Summer Institute, co-sponsored by the Supreme Court Historical Society and Street Law. As an expert on the Court and the Kennedy family, Perry conducts historical research for auction houses and advises them on historical documents.

Free and open to the public.