NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER NAMES SENATORS CHRIS COONS AND MIKE LEE
SENATORIAL VISITING SCHOLARS
Philadelphia (November 11, 2015) - The National Constitution Center today named Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Mike Lee (R-UT) as its inaugural Senatorial Visiting Scholars. The newly created Senatorial Visiting Scholars program seeks to unite senators from both political parties who have a special interest in constitutional education, dialogue, and discussion. As visiting scholars, Senators Coons and Lee will participate in National Constitution Center events both separately and jointly.
“I’m thrilled that Chris Coons and Mike Lee have agreed to join the National Constitution Center as our inaugural Senatorial Visiting Scholars,” said the Center’s president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. “Both Chris and Mike have thought deeply about the Constitution and are passionate about constitutional education for all Americans. The visiting scholars program is an inspiring way of pursuing our congressional mission: ‘to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.’”
Coons most recently appeared at the National Constitution Center in October for an America’s Town Hall discussion on the upcoming Supreme Court term.
In April 2015, Lee appeared at the National Constitution Center to discuss his book, Our Lost Constitution: The Willful Subversion of America's Founding Document (Sentinel, April 2015).
Coons is the junior United States Senator from Delaware and a member of the Democratic Party. He won a special election in 2010. Previously, Coons was the county executive of New Castle County. Coons is a member of the Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Judiciary, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Ethics committees and a ranking member of two subcommittees: the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Bankruptcy and the Courts, and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. He is a graduate of Amherst College with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Political Science, and earned his law degree from Yale Law School and a Master's in Ethics from Yale Divinity School. He also studied at the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
Lee is the junior United States Senator from Utah and a member of the Republican Party. He was elected in 2010. Lee is a member of the Judiciary Committee, and serves as Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights Subcommittee. Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, and served as BYU's Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU's Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Lee also served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman’s General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship.
About the National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia inspires active citizenship as the only place where people across America and around the world can come together to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. A private, nonprofit organization, the Center serves as America’s leading platform for constitutional education and debate, fulfilling its Congressional charter “to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a non-partisan basis.” As the Museum of We the People, the Center brings the Constitution to life for visitors of all ages through interactive programs and exhibits. As America’s Town Hall, the Center brings the leading conservative and liberal thought leaders together to debate the Constitution on all media platforms. As a center for Civic Education, the Center delivers the best educational programs and online resources that inspire, excite, and engage citizens about the U.S. Constitution. For more information, call 215-409-6700 or visit constitutioncenter.org.
