Lebanon Valley College welcomes Judge John E. Jones III as part of Constitution Day Sept. 17

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Judge John E. Jones III of the Unites States Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania to speak at LVC on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

ANNVILLE, PA (09/09/2014)(readMedia)-- Lebanon Valley College will welcome Judge John E. Jones III of the United States Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Leedy Theater, as part of the College's Constitution Day events. Jones will present "The United States Constitution and the Values of an Open Society." The event is free and open to the public.

Jones commenced his service as a United States District Judge on Aug. 2, 2002. He is the 21st judge to sit in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Jones was appointed to his current position by President George W. Bush in February 2002, and was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on July 30, 2002. Jones was born and raised in Schuylkill County, Pa. He is a graduate of the Mercersburg Academy, Dickinson College, and The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University.

Jones has presided over several noteworthy and high profile cases. In 2005, he presided over the landmark case of Kitzmiller v. Dover School District, after which he held that it was unconstitutional to teach intelligent design within a public school science curriculum. In 2014, Jones resolved the matter of Whitewood v. Wolf by striking down as unconstitutional Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage.

In 2007, Jones and the Kitzmiller case were featured in the two-hour Nova special "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial," televised nationally by PBS. In April 2008, "Judgment Day" won a Peabody Award, which is the oldest and most distinguished honor in electronic media. Jones has also appeared as a guest on national television shows and networks such as Today on NBC, the NewsHour on PBS, C-SPAN's America & The Courts, CNN, and locally on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by 39 delegates of the Constitutional Convention on Sept. 17, 1787. Lebanon Valley College will celebrate Constitution Day as part of its international symposium on Karl Popper and the Open Society. Events are held Tuesday, Sept. 16 through Thursday, Sept. 18. For more information, visit www.lvc.edu/popper. Lebanon Valley College's commemoration of Constitution Day 2014, which features the lecture by Judge Jones, is made possible by the generous support of Buzgon Davis Law Offices.