- This event has passed.
Lecture Series: Voting Rights and Access to the Ballot
What is Birthright Citizenship?
November 12 @ 7:00 – 8:30 pm EST | Virtual presentation. Zoom. Free.
Join the presentation at https://kellogghubbard.org/calendar/league-of-women-voters-what-is-birthright-citizenship/#rsvp-now
The League of Women Voters of Vermont, in partnership with Kellogg-Hubbard Library, presents the 2025-26 Hertz/Rader Lecture Series, Voting Rights and Access to the Ballot.
The series opens with Birthright Citizenship, one of the most fundamental yet often misunderstood elements of American democracy. What does it mean to be granted citizenship by birth? How has this principle been interpreted, challenged, and defended over time? This program will examine the historical roots of the 14th Amendment, explore current debate surrounding citizenship, and consider what proposed changes could mean for the future of civil rights in the United States. Questions can be sent, in advance to league@lwvofvt.org.
Speaker: Julio A. Thompson, Assistant Attorney General for the State of Vermont and Co-Director of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Unit, will discuss the 14 th Amendment and President Trump’s Executive Order on birthright citizenship. Mr. Thompson spent his first 15 years of practice in Los Angeles— first as a judicial law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and later as partner in a downtown L.A. law firm, where he specialized in labor, employment, and civil rights law.
In its tenth season, the League of Women Voters of Vermont Lecture Series, is designed to bring outstanding speakers to discuss contemporary issues related to
democracy and social justice.
Upcoming presentations:
- December 10: History of the Voting Rights Act.
- January 14: Voter Suppression methods.
- February 11: Gerrymandering.
- March 11: John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the SAVE Act.
