MACON – A Mercer Law School constitutional law expert and a conservative nationally syndicated columnist will square off tomorrow in a debate titled “Guantanamo: Should It Stay or Should it Go”?
The one-hour debate, held at noon Jan. 26 in the courtroom at Mercer Law School, features Mercer Law constitutional law scholar David Oedel and Scripps Howard News syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock. The event is sponsored by the Mercer Law School student Federalist Society and is free and open to the public.
“The Federal Society is excited to have this event at the law school,” said third-year law student Emma Burke, president of the law school’s Federalist Society. “Our organization tries to foster debate whenever possible. This is an issue that both Professor Oedel and Mr. Murdock are extremely passionate about, which will lead to a lively debate.”
Oedel, a magna cum laude graduate from Boston University School of Law, has been a faculty member at Mercer Law School since 1990. A constitutional law scholar and frequent opinions writer, Oedel holds bar memberships with the Supreme Court of the United States, the State Bar of Georgia, the State Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit of the United States, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In addition, he has been a senior adviser to several political candidates running in local, state and national offices. Along with teaching constitutional law, Oedel teaches contracts, intellectual property, transportation law and politics, and client counseling.
Murdock is a syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a contributing editor at National Review Online. A graduate of Georgetown University with an MBA from New York University, Murdock began writing political commentary for the Washington Times. Since then, his column, “This Opinion Just In…,” and other articles, appear in the New York Post, the Orange County Register, the Dallas Morning News, the Boston Herald, Insight and other publications. In 1996, Murdock helped launch MSNBC as an on-air commentator. He has appeared on ABC’s “Nightline,” the “NBC Nightly News,” CNN, Fox News Channel, C-Span, and “Politically Incorrect.” Since 1980, he has participated in seven national conventions of both the Republican and Democratic parties and served on the 1980 and 1984 Reagan for President campaigns. Murdock is president of Loud & Clear Communications, a Manhattan-based marketing and media consultancy that provides publicity and promotional services to businesses and nonprofit organizations.
For more information about the event, contact the Mercer Law School Office of Communications and Marketing at 478.301.5000 or e-mail hefner_dn@law.mercer.edu.
About Mercer Law School
Founded in 1873, the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law is one of the oldest law schools in the United States and the first one in the state of Georgia accredited by the American Bar Association. Mercer Law School’s educational philosophy is based on a broadly shared commitment to prepare students for the high-quality, general practice of law in a day-to-day learning environment that is both strongly supportive and consistently professional. Its innovative Woodruff Curriculum – which focuses on ethics and practical skills amid small class sizes – earned the Gambrell Professionalism Award from the ABA for its “depth of excellence.” With an enrollment of about 430 students, Mercer Law School is nationally recognized for its exceptional programs in legal writing, moot court, public service, and ethics and professionalism. For more information about Mercer Law School, visit www.law.mercer.edu or call 478.301.5000.
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