Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) encouraged an addition to an appropriations bill for the departments of Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education, which required all institutions receiving federal funding to commemorate Constitution Day on September 17, 2005. Several activities were held on campus. WUOT hosted an open broadcast on September 16, highlighting conversations that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner and Stephen Breyer had with high school students regarding the constitution. WUOT also made available a National Public Radio video broadcast discussing free speech in a digital age that was shown at the College of Law and in Hodges Library. Hodges Library had a display in the reference room, and those who visited it were able to pick up free pocket-sized facsimiles of the constitution.