SCRANTON — Graham Spanier, the former president of Penn State University, asked a federal magistrate judge Thursday to overturn his child endangerment conviction with less than a week left before he is set to start serving a two-month sentence.

Spanier’s lawyers argued his conviction under a 2007 law for mishandling a complaint about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy in 2001 violated the U.S. Constitution. They also assert that the statute of limitations was not properly applied.

The state attorney general’s office wants U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick in Scranton to do what state courts have done and uphold Spanier’s misdemeanor conviction for a single count of child endangerment.

Mehalchick did not indicate when she will rule, and it was unclear whether she might order a new trial or take some other action.

Spanier was charged under a version of the child endangerment law that was revised in 2007 to specify that it can apply to defendants who supervise people who are responsible for the safety and well-being of children.

He argues that his conviction based on actions in 2001 violates the “ex post facto” constitutional ban on charging people under laws passed after the alleged crimes.