U.S. Supreme Court Justice to participate in Benedictine Library dedication

ATCHISON, Kan. (KQTV) -- The Independence Hall-inspired library at Benedictine College is complete and a formal dedication will take place, featuring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

The library will be formally dedicated at 10 a.m. on Sept. 26 during the college's Family Weekend, in the courtyard south of the library.

The Moritz Library in D'Aniello Hall will be the center of attention at a ceremony free and open to the public that includes remarks from Justice Barrett.

“This is an exciting milestone for Benedictine College,” said Benedictine College President Stephen D. Minnis. “The library will not only demonstrate our commitment to academic excellence and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, but it will also be a symbol of our love for this great country of ours.”

In a news release, the college said it is pleased to have Justice Barrett as part of the dedication ceremony.

Originally from New Orleans, she received her undergraduate degree from Rhodes College and her Juris Doctor degree from The University of Notre Dame Law School.

She served as a law clerk for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States.

After two years in private practice in Washington, D.C., she joined the faculty of the Notre Dame Law School in 2002.

She was appointed a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017. President Donald J. Trump nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat on October 27, 2020.

The new library was built to resemble Independence Hall in Philadelphia and includes museum-quality reproductions of the Liberty Bell and the Assembly Room, where the Declaration of Independence was U.S. Constitution were debated and signed.

The 58,000-square-foot library is home to the college’s Department of History and Department of Political Science, as well as the collection of more than 230,000 bound volumes, multiple classrooms, a large coffee shop and three times the study space of the old facility.