The University of Notre Dame Club of Central Illinois, in partnership with the ECCE Speakers' Series at the University of Illinois-Springfield (UIS), will host Professor Richard Garnett as its 2013 Hesburgh Lecture series speaker at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, in Brookens Auditorium on the UIS campus.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

Garnett is an associate dean and professor of law at Notre Dame and will speak on "Law, Religion and Politics in the American Constitution and Tradition" as part of UIS' annual Constitution Day celebration. Organizers say the topic is especially timely in the wake of recent elections, the Pledge of Allegiance case, the contraception-coverage mandate, and the same-sex marriage controversy, and the debate about the appropriate role of religious believers and arguments in public life. Garnett's talk will address how citizens might understand the Constitution's prescription of a separation of church and state, and what is required of religious believers and institutions that engage in public and political life.

Garnett teaches and writes about the freedoms of speech, association and religion, and constitutional law. He is considered a leading authority on questions and debates regarding the role of religious believers and beliefs in politics and society. He is the author of dozens of law-review articles and book chapters and is the founding director of Notre Dame Law School's new program in "Church, State and Society," an interdisciplinary project that focuses on the role of religious institutions, communities, and authorities in the social order.

Garnett clerked for the late Chief Justice of the United States William H. Rehnquist during the Court's 1996 term and also for the late Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Richard S. Arnold.