Cleveland's Museum of Contemporary Art was the venue for our recent "Brush with the Law" program with the Cleveland Bar Association. Attorneys looked at the Constitution as a masterpiece through the lens of other American cultural masterpieces, not through the narrowing lens of politico-tribalism.

By Bruce Petrie

This week art and law came together in the Supreme Court in a case involving copyrights and cheerleader uniforms. (Varsity Brands vs. Star Athletica)

Copyrights generally can be used to protect artistic expression but not utility or functionality. To use Justice Roberts' example, you can stop someone from putting your ...

Around 1969 I imagined that a first guitar I didn't know how to play could at least "do Dylan" well enough to move me up the high school ladder-of-coolness. It didn't.

The thought that Dylan would one day win the Nobel Prize for Literature was as remote as the idea we would turn 60 some day. It wasn't just the songs, the belated "literature". He had the ...

By Bruce I. Petrie, Jr.

Here's an oil painting (36" x 36") entitled "Unfinished Democracy" I've recently done which is on exhibit at the Greenacres Artists Guild Show opening on October 14.

The painting uses Ohio references (Great Seal, cardinals, farmland, river) to encourage voting, and includes a painted trowel and tile-like imagery to ...

Inspire Your Constitutional Conversation

 

Especially in this election season, shouldn't we the people get to know our Constitution?

Want to upgrade your conversation about the Constitution? Want to see, in a readable and concise book, the many ways it relates to your life and the future of our communities? Want to see the Constitution through ...

Bruce Petrie Jr. is a partner at Graydon Head and author of a new book, "Constitutional Conversation: A New Lens on America's Best Masterpiece."

Looking for some inspiration during a dispiriting political season? Try the Constitution. In its third century of endurance, artfully concise at about 8,000 words, inspired by the revolutionary ...

This print co-designed by Erika Kohnen, daughter of Graydon Partner Monica Donath Kohnen, just won a prestigious design award in the 2016 Young Lions segment of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The image of a house with a kite flying from a bedroom window goes along with the message: "A future without limits starts with ...

Brush with the Law pop quiz time.  Which is (are) the only word(s) in the following list that appears in the Constitution?

1. Democracy

2. Right to Education

3. Judicial Review

4. Right to Privacy

5. Marriage

6. Political Party

7. Reproductive Rights

8. Republican Party

9. Guns, Gun Control

10. Democratic Party

11. One-Person-One-Vote

12. All Men ...

0358ac7a-e166-4bf9-b147-66ef080faac0" width="240" />

It's a perfect spring evening for baseball and the home town fans are on their feet for their team, behind 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth with their last-best-hope batter at the plate sitting on a full count. The home plate umpire is Chief Justice John Roberts calling balls and strikes. The ...

Bruce I. Petrie, Jr.

In its post-Scalia interregnum, the 8-Justice Supreme Court just isn't acting the way the Blue/Red Gogglers (i.e. those who view the Court only through the political lens of divided politics) predict they act. The 8-Justice Court isn't just deadlocking 4-4, liberals versus conservatives. We are seeing a Court of Eight that ...

Search this Blog

Media Contact

Key Authors

Recent Posts

Jump to Page

Necessary Cookies

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. We access and process information from these cookies at an aggregate level.