May 2025 eNewsletter

Give Big CHQ Approaches!

Give Big CHQ is a 24-hour online fundraising event that connects individuals with causes they care about in the community! This year it’s happening June 12. For Give Big CHQ 2025, every dollar you contribute today fuels the Jackson Center Intern Program—an integral part of our mission.

Hosted by the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, this day of giving is a special opportunity to come together as a community to celebrate the important work of local nonprofits, helping to raise dollars and awareness for their missions

This year’s goal: $10,000 to Transform Tomorrow’s Leaders.

The Robert H Jackson Internship Program

Each summer, we welcome passionate college students who don’t just learn about civic engagement—they live it.

These future leaders become powerful ambassadors for equity and justice, champions for peace, human rights, and the rule of law. Your support doesn’t just fund an internship; it ignites a lifelong commitment to community involvement, critical thinking, and meaningful change.

We’re eager to introduce you to our next cohort of exceptional students. But talent like this has options. To deliver education opportunities and resources worthy of these students and the Jackson legacy, we need you.

Your Give Big CHQ donation directly strengthens our program that connects young leaders with Robert H. Jackson’s enduring vision of justice under law.

Join us today. Help build a world where fairness and justice prevail for all.

Scholar lecture illuminates evolution of DOJ

Join us in-person on Thursday, June 5, at 6 p.m., as the Robert H. Jackson Center proudly presents an illuminating discussion on “The U.S. Department of Justice, Then & Now” featuring legal scholars: Barbara L. McQuade and John Q. Barrett.

Professor McQuade is a University of Michigan Law School Professor and former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She brings her wealth of experience as an MSNBC columnist, NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst, and co-host of the popular #SistersInLaw podcast. She is also the author of Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America. Copies of her book will be available for purchase.

Professor Barrett is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, a former U.S. government lawyer and investigator, and a regular media commentator on law, government, and history topics. He teaches constitutional law, criminal procedure and legal history courses as the Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law at St. John’s University and is the Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow at the Robert H. Jackson Center.

This thought-provoking conversation begins at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a reception and book-signing, offering attendees an opportunity to meet these remarkable legal scholars in person.

Join us for what promises to be an engaging and insightful examination of the Justice Department’s evolution and its role in American democracy.

Meet the author of Ghosts of Honolulu

Join us in-person on June 12, 6:30 pm in the RHJC’s Cappa Theatre for an exciting evening with Leon Carroll, Jr., co-author of Ghosts of Honolulu, a riveting, real-life espionage story set in the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Carroll brings his extensive background in naval intelligence and counterintelligence to discuss the high-stakes world of spycraft during World War II. 

Ghosts of Honolulu dives into the fascinating lives of two key figures: Douglas Wada, a Japanese-American agent working in U.S. naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy tasked with gathering intelligence on the American fleet in Hawaii. This event will provide an in-depth look at their hidden stories and the deadly game of intelligence leading up to the pivotal moment of December 7, 1941.

Students welcome to put on the robes of justice!

Bob’s Pop-Up Court is part of Civic Season, a nationwide initiative from Made By Us that connects history with action from Juneteenth to July 4.

In this hands-on mini-exhibit, visitors will hear short arguments on real-world civic dilemmas and cast their rulings. Should schools be allowed to punish students for off-campus social media posts? Can teens be trusted with the right to vote at 16? Are youth curfews fair?

After you’ve made your decisions, add your voice to the Justice Tree with a personal reflection, and make a civic pledge for the year ahead. Snap a selfie in our makeshift courtroom, and, if you’re feeling bold, record your verdict for social media.

To kick things off, we are partnering with Made By Us, Pizza to the Polls, and Frontline Builders to host A Slice of History on Saturday, June 14, starting at Noon!

Free pizza and snacks while they last, first come, first served!  

Lunch-and-Learn: Ukraine Update

As Russia’s war against Ukraine challenges global norms, a new legal effort emerges: the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression. In this virtual program, you’ll hear directly from the architects of the tribunal’s founding concept and statute. These top international law experts will explore the tribunal’s creation, its legal authority, and its broader impact on global justice.

July 9, 12:00 pm EDT

Online only

We’ll examine the tribunal’s political and legal foundations, the challenges of prosecuting heads of state, and what this effort means for accountability and the international rule of law.

Panelists:

David M. Crane: former Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone and Founder, Global Accountability Network, distinguished scholar in residence at Syracuse University, and an adjunct professor with the Washington College of Law of American University

Hon. Irwin Cotler: International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and longtime Member of Parliament, Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University

Amb. Hans Corell: Former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations

Inna Liniova: International Operations Advisor and Director of the Institute of Human Rights (IHR) of the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA)

Dr. Scheppele, expert on authoritarianism, is 21st Jackson Lecturer at Chautauqua

Tickets on sale now

Video now online!

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