From February 2-8, 2015, Austrian Federal Minister of Justice, Dr. Wolfgang Brandstetter, visited Washington, D.C. and New York City to engage with various members of Congress including Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa, the new Chair of the Justice Committee of the House of Representatives as well as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He also participated in the annual National Prayer Breakfast. His visit included a lecture on "Hate Speech Legislation in Austria and the European Union," which the Minister gave at the American Catholic University.
Following his days in D.C., the Minister headed to New York to meet the United Nations' Under Secretary for Legal Affairs as well as representatives of the judiciary. Ending his trip with some cultural highlights, Dr. Brandstetter visited the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art and traveled up to Stanford, Connecticut, to meet with legendary Jewish movie producer Eric Pleskow.
Minister Brandstetter with Justice of the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia