Monmouth College alumnus Dan Cotter to speak about his book on Supreme Court chief justices
Monmouth, IL (04/24/2019) — The author of a newly published book about the chief justices of the United States Supreme Court will return to his alma mater to speak to students on April 26.
Dan Cotter '88 will speak at 2 p.m. in Mellinger Commons on the first floor of Monmouth College's Center for Science and Business. Free and open to the public, the title of his talk is "The Chief Justices: Our Nation's History Through the Center Seat on the Supreme Court."
A partner at Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC in Chicago, Cotter said the subject of chief justices is "something that has fascinated me since my law school days." He recently authored a 484-page book about the position, The Chief Justices: The Seventeen Men of the Center Seat, Their Courts, and Their Times, published by Twelve Tables Press.
"The book provides a look at the position of chief justice, the men who have served, and where the Court and the nation has been and where it is headed," he said.
Each chapter also focuses on some key decisions of the chief justice's courts, including Brown v. Board of Education, Dred Scott v. Sandford and Roe v. Wade.
"I always enjoy coming back to campus and interacting with the Monmouth College family," said Cotter, who has been a member of the College's board of trustees since 2009. "Monmouth is a magical place for me. It instilled in me intellectual curiosity and the need to be a lifelong learner. My professors taught me to love history for the stories it tells."
An expert on corporate law and litigation, Cotter is past president of the Chicago Bar Association, is an adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School and writes a column for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.
"I love the opportunity to visit with the current students and confirm that the values, the teachings and the spark lit in me at Monmouth continue to be a part of the fabric of this school we love so well," said Cotter.
One of the "current students" Cotter will visit is his son, John, who's in his senior year at Monmouth.
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