Dr Harry Melkonian
Honorary AssociateUnited States Studies Centre
Biography
Dr Harry Melkonian is an Honorary Associate at the United States Studies Centre. He is a practicing lawyer and legal educator, specialising in the US Constitution. Melkonian was previously a partner at the law firm White & Case in the US, and is licensed to practice law in the jurisdictions of New York, California, England and New South Wales. He is now an Honorary Associate at Macquarie Law School, specialising in US constitutional issues as well as media and defamation law.
Publications, media and events
Dr Harry Melkonian writes on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obama-care) for the Macquarie Law Journal. The article presents an analysis of the various aspects of the Supreme Court decision.
Traditionally, freedom of speech has been justified as necessary for democratic government and as an essential individual right. This study by Dr Harry Melkonian departs from traditional legal and philosophical theories and breaks new ground by demonstrating that well-established and contemporary social theory explains the essential role of speech in highly differentiated modern societies.