James Madison's Montpelier We The People Fall 2015 | Page 10

WE THE PEOPLE

Where Theory and Practice Intersect
“I’ve recently been pounding the idea of the
Constitution as the floor and not the ceiling,” said
Charlottesville Chief of Police Timothy Longo,
who helped design the Center’s law enforcement
curriculum.
“Sometimes we
have to look beyond
what it says we
can do and look
at what we should
do, particularly
in light of the
community
expectations
and the mistrust
of government,
specifically law
enforcement.”

“The Supreme Court may be the final arbiter of
the Constitution, but the guy or gal who makes the
law is the cop at 3 a.m. on the side of the road who
either makes a decision or fails to make a decision,”
Longo said.
“The underlying
circumstances
make their way
through the
appellate circuit
before the Supreme
Court and then
they hand down
the rule of law.”

Longo would like
to see the Center
push beyond
the basic set of
Since its inception,
Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo speaks at a law enforcement seminar at the Center. issues currently
the Center has been a
addressed in the
venue where scholars interface with constitutional
curriculum to the growing edges of constitutional
practitioners across multiple professional
practice in law enforcement. Issues including
disciplines. The law enforcement curriculum has
self-incrimination in investigation of government
been a dramatic success, engaging local, state, and
employees, the application of the Brady laws and
federal agencies nationwide in a residential training disclosure of exculpatory evidence to prosecutors,
program.
the enforcement of the exclusionary rule, and many
other more nuanced issues continue to emerge.
The Center’s emphasis on constitutional
practitioners, Longo said, isn’t just altruistic; it’s an
“The Center can be a Camp David, if you will,
acknowledgement that the people who enforce the
convening law enforcement leaders to address
law are more often than not the ones who set the
important issues around reform, and how the rule
Constitution in motion.
of law and the Constitution can guide that work,”
Longo said.

Upcoming Programs at the Center
The Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution
offers world-class on-site and web-enabled
educational programming for teachers, law
enforcement, elected officials, international
visitors, and the general public.

Learn more at www.montpelier.org/center

10

U.S. Citizenship: History, Meaning, and Conflict
November 20-22, 2015

Explore the meaning of citizenship and nationhood
in different historical contexts, amidst competing
constitutional interpretations, and at the center of
contemporary policy debates. Dr. Noah M. Pickus,
Director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and
Associate Research Professor of Public Policy Studies,
at Duke University.