 Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, commonly known as Mormons, will be the focal point of three
days of programs sponsored by the Illinois Supreme Court Historic
Preservation Commission and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
and Museum, a division of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
The two Illinois institutions are producing a rehearing and a panel
discussion to educate the public on the use of habeas corpus, a writ
carried over from English law that determines whether an individual
is being detained legally.
Smith used the writ in the 1800s to stop efforts by Missouri
officials to extradite him from Illinois for events arising from the
Missouri War of 1838.
On Sept. 24, the presidential museum will be the site for a
re-enactment of the three Smith habeas corpus hearings. The script
draws on Mormons' experiences in the early 19th century. Logan
Auditorium at the University of Chicago will be the site of an
encore presentation Oct. 14.
At each venue, the re-enactment will be followed by a panel
discussion on the use of habeas corpus over the last two centuries,
from Smith to Abraham Lincoln to Guantanamo Bay. President Lincoln
suspended the right of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Members
of the panel will be U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough of the
Central District of Illinois; Michael Scodro, solicitor general for
the state of Illinois; Jeffrey Colman, partner at Jenner & Block in
Chicago, who has worked on behalf of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay;
and Jeffrey N. Walker of the Joseph Smith Papers, Salt Lake City,
Utah.
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In addition to the rehearings and panel discussions, on Sept. 23,
experts will lead tours of the Nauvoo historic sites in central
Illinois near Quincy, one of the key settlements in the early years
of the Mormon faith. That evening, Dallin Oaks will speak at the LDS
Center in Nauvoo. Oaks is former dean of the University of Chicago
Law School, a former Utah Supreme Court justice and current member
of the Quorum of the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
The Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission and
the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum have assembled a
statewide group of lawyers and judges, led by Illinois Supreme Court
Justices Rita Garman and Anne Burke, to bring greater awareness of
historic legal events in Illinois and the lessons that can be
learned from them. Last year this group explored involuntary
commitment through a re-enactment of the case of Mary Lincoln, wife
of Abraham Lincoln, who was involuntarily committed by her son in
1875. Previously, the group explored the trial of Mary Surratt, who
was convicted of conspiring in the Lincoln assassination and who
became the first woman executed by the federal government.
Tickets will be available after July 15. For details on the
events, visit
www.josephsmithcaptured.com.
For more information, contact John Lupton, executive director of
the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, at
217-670-0890, ext. 1, or
John.lupton@illinoiscourthistory.org.
[Text from file received from the
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]
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