The public is invited to celebrate citizenship and the rule of law at the annual Law Day and Naturalization Ceremony, Friday, April 29 at 2:00 p.m. in Courtroom No. 1 of the Lebanon Municipal Building, 400 South Eighth Street, Lebanon.
Law Day is designed to bring judges, lawyers and schools together to teach students about the law and the legal system, and to celebrate the American heritage of liberty, justice and equality. This year’s theme is “Miranda: More than Words,” in recognition of the 50th anniversary of perhaps the nation’s best-known U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona. The Miranda Warning has become ingrained in law enforcement and has permeated popular consciousness through countless recitations in films and television shows. Yet Miranda is only part of the story when it comes to the procedures for ensuring justice. The 2016 Law Day theme explores the procedural protections afforded to all of us by the U.S. Constitution, how these rights are safeguarded by the courts, and why the preservation of these principles is essential to our liberty.
The celebration will include guest speaker Professor Greg Randall Lee, who teaches Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility, Torts and various writing and advocacy courses at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg. Professor Lee has taught previously at the Villanova and University of Pittsburgh Law Schools and in the Harvard University Summer Program.
The event also will include as well as special music by the ELCO ROCS Choir, and presentations from Daughters of the American Revolution and League of Women Voters. Also, new U.S. citizens will be sworn in, and new attorneys will be admitted to the Lebanon County Bar.
President Judge John C. Tylwalk will present two awards to the winners of the essay contest for participants in the high school students’ Law Exploring Program. Receiving the first place award will be Claudia Boyer, a junior at Palmyra High School, and the second place award goes to Nicholas Rhoads, a senior at Northern Lebanon High School.