Location: Laurel Hall 320 - Mount Laurel Campus -
Join RCBC Professor Ken Mariano as we celebrate the birthday of the United States Constitution. This year we welcome the Honorable Marianne Mele for a fantastic lecture on this groundbreaking document.
Speaker Bio:
Hon. Marianne R. Mele has over 45 years of legal experience, practicing in New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., Virginia and before the U.S. Supreme Court. She has taught as an adjunct professor of law in Washington D.C., Northern Virginia and Brooklyn Law School and gives lectures on the U.S. Constitution at local New Jersey colleges and high schools.
Ms. Mele was General Counsel at High Frontier which was an independent study creating the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) for President Reagan. In that capacity she defended SDI against LucasFilms, Ltd who accused High Frontier of misappropriating the use of George Lucas’s Star Wars trademark.
Ms. Mele’s victory over LucasFilms, Ltd won her the award for the “junk lawsuit of the year” and an appointment to the Senior Executive Service reporting directly to President Reagan’s White House. Her confirmation with the Advice and Consent of the U.S. Senate grants her the title of Honorable for life.
The Strategic Defense Initiative was discussed at the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks 2 (SALT 2) in Reykjavik, Iceland, where President Reagan walked out after he told USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev that he would continue with the SDI. Many credit that as the beginning of the end of the cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Strategic Defense Initiative systems are in use today, in Israel and soon in the U.S. part of which is Israel’s Iron Dome and soon to be President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome defensive systems.
For more information please contact:
Ken Mariano, Assistant Professor, Political Science
Allison Millward, Assistant Professor, History
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