USD Magazine, Spring 1992

AL CAL A ~ L MAN AC

EXPERTISE AIDS NEVV REPUBLICS

i

g;

e,

~

Z1

&L

and at the Virginia estate of James Madison, father of the U.S. Constitution. As senior adviser to the National Council to Support Democracy Movements, a group dealing with emerging republics, Siegan has contributed a suggested model constitution for distribution. He is also a member of the Commission of the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution established by Congress. He has written a book, Drafting a Con.1titutum for a Nation or Repuhlic Emerging Into Freedom, which will be published this summer.

Distinguished Law Professor Bernard H. Siegan is leaving his mark on the new republics emerg– ing from the collapse of commu– nism throughout Eastern Europe. An expert on U.S. constitutional law, he is helping these fledgling republics frame the new constitu– tions around which their political, legal and economic futures will be built. Last July, Bulgaria adopted a constitution on which Siegan had consulted, and another of his pro– posed documents is under consid– eration by the leaders of Armenia. His comments on a proposed con– stitution for Ukraine are under study in that country, and, in late May, he will travel to Czechoslo– vakia to consult with Czech leaders on their constitutional progress. A faculty member at USD since 1973, Siegan had been working with other countries for the past five or six years. So when Bulgaria asked the U.S. Chamber of Com– merce for help in converting from a communist to a capitalist system, Siegan was part of the team of experts sent on two trips to that country. "I spoke to the prime minister and many major govern-

ment figures and legislators, as well as the opposition," Siegan says. "I told the Bulgarians, among other things, that in rejecting tyranny, they had salvaged and preserved the rights to which they are entitled as human beings. They should now constitutionally enshrine these rights forever." On Dec. 13-16, Siegan joined a number of other speakers, includ– ing President Bush and James Buchanan, Nobel Prize laureate in economic science, in unprecedented meetings with leaders from 11 former Communist republics and countries. Entitled "Prosperity and the Rule of Law: A Conference on Constitutions and Laws for Central and Eastern Europe," the meetings took place in Washington, D.C.,

f .. ,.. (\ ' -· \ '

~ ~) . >•~, D President Bush & Professor Bernard H. Siegan meet at December conference.