Happy Constitution Day, everyone! You may not have noticed this sacred holiday, but I cannot help but be aware of it. This is because every institution of higher learning is required to commemorate Constitution Day with some type of public event, as a condition of receiving federal funds — and I can hardly miss this event, not only because I teach at a very small school, but because I am in fact helping to coordinate this year’s discussion.
We Shimerians are planning to talk about privacy and surveillance, but what I want to discuss is the following question: is the requirement that colleges commemorate Constitution Day itself constitutional?
An und für sich 
That explains an email I received earlier…
I spent the day in a burn unit in Allentown.
The answer is apparently that no one cares. I guess I agree.
I didn’t know that! When was that rule made? (I graduated college in ’06, and have no memory of ever seeing any Constitution Day announcements or events … suggesting to me that either this wasn’t the law when I was in college or I was just not very observant.)
As far as whether the requirement that colleges mark Constitution Day is constitutional … I don’t know? It looks like the Constitution is silent on the matter, which to a Strict Constructionist would mean it’s unconstitutional, but I’m not sure what that means to everyone else.