Legal News

Harvard Law Prof, Reagan SG, Gives Obama His Vote

By Ashby Jones

LB Readers, please let us know if you hear tale of any famously liberal law profs throwing their weight behind the McCain/Palin ticket. For now, all we’ve come across is the flip-side: notable conservatives supporting Obama/Biden.

The latest: Harvard’s Charles Fried, who served as solicitor general under President Reagan and as recently as January was working on behalf of McCain, has publicly endorsed the Democratic ticket. Click here for the New Republic story written by Fried colleague Cass Sunstein.

According to TNR, in a letter to the McCain/Palin campaign, Fried asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision “is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis.”

In a note to TNR, Fried, who authored the book “Order and Law: Arguing the Reagan Revolution,” later explained himself, along the way rendering a not-so-hearty endorsement of Obama.:

I admire Senator McCain and was glad to help in his campaign, and to be listed as doing so; but when I concluded that I must vote for Obama for the reason stated in my letter, I felt it wrong to appear to be recommending to others a vote that I was not prepared to cast myself. So it was more of an erasure than a public affirmation — although obviously my vote meant that I thought that Obama was preferable to McCain-Palin. I do not consider abstention a proper option.

The Fried vote follows a similar endorsement by Pepperdine law prof Douglas Kmiec, made back in March. Back in March, Kmiec told the Law Blog:

President Reagan used to tell all of us in his administration, and the public generally, that his proudest achievement was making the country feel better about itself. I believe Obama is committed to giving us reason to feel better about ourselves. I’ve seen it in the classroom. I’ve been teaching for 40 years, and have not seen a more electric and engaged atmosphere with regard to the democratic process.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 24, 2008 (boomark / email).