I was very sorry to learn that Yale Law School Prof. Robert A. Burt ("Bo") passed away on August 3. Here is a bit from Yale's announcement (quoting Prof. Anthony Kronman):
"The range of Bo's interests and accomplishments is startling enough. But what is more amazing still is that all of his writings express Bo's unfaltering belief in the value of conversation, dialogue and the continuing struggle to find common ground, and an abiding suspicion of authoritarianism in all its forms, whether it be a doctor's imperious prescription, or the Supreme Court's deaf assertion of power, or even God's declaration that he need not explain himself to anyone at all."
Kronman continued, "Bo's humane resistance to the reliance on mere power and his insistence that every type of authority, human or divine, is an interactive achievement, is the theme of all his writings. It represents the enduring achievement of this noble human being. It is there in his work for all to see. Still, I miss the man himself, and count his friendship among the best things that have ever happened to me."
Bo was a gentle, thoughtful, caring, generous, and deeply good man. He was also my teacher, mentor, and friend. I learned so much from him and he shaped profoundly what I think of as my academic vocation. He set, and lived, a standard for teacher-scholars that I wish I could meet.
I first "met" Bo in the pages of Prof. Joseph Goldstein's strange, but fascinating and provocative, Criminal Law casebook , in which his brief in the Michigan case of Kaimowitz v. Michigan Department of Mental Health -- which involved experimental psychosurgery on a prisoner -- was excerpted. He became for me, over the course of many conversations, a few classes, and my reading of several of his books, including The Constitution in Conflict, a model and an always-welcome challenge. My first law-review article, 19 years ago, was inspired by him. Our last face-to-face conversation, during a visit by him to Notre Dame for a workshop, was about a chapter on Job in what became his fascinating political-theory work, In the Whirlwind: God and Humanity in Conflict.
The Yale Law School was fortunate, and many hundreds of YLS graduates are blessed, to have known, worked with, and learned from Robert Burt. May the memory of this righteous one be a blessing.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Here. Among other things, Douthat explains why the often-lodged-but-still-not-sound claim that "pro-lifers are hypocrites unless they enthusiastically endorse extensive public funding for contraception" is, well, still-not-sound.
John Inazu (WUSTL), Michael McConnell (Stanford), and I have this piece, "How To Protect Endangered Religious Groups You Admire," up at Christianity Today. It's about the First Amendment Defense Act specifically and, more generally, about the importance of not moving, post-Obergefell, to pressure or penalize religious institutions and agencies that do important and valuable work . . . and that continue to embrace standard Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality. Check it out. Comments welcome. Here's a bit:
Today, tens of thousands of religious organizations, and tens of millions of Americans, continue to believe and teach that the proper understanding of marriage is a union of one man and one woman. But they do far more than believe and teach this and other views.
They also give food, clothing, shelter, counsel, and comfort to millions of Americans in need. They offer some of the most important and desperately needed health, educational, and social services in the country. And they provide billions of dollars and thousands of full-time workers for international relief aid that serves vulnerable migrants, refugees, and persecuted minorities. The work of religious organizations has long been and continues to be central both to religious believers’ lives and to the welfare of others. Our communities—and, indeed, communities around the globe—would be much worse off without these organizations and their faith-informed good works.
