Academic

President Taps Law Professor To Be Ambassador

By Tim Zinnecker

Last week, President Obama nominated Pepperdine law professor Doug Kmiec as ambassador to Malta.  The White House press release is here.  Kmiec (pictured), a well-known constitutional law scholar, is a devout Catholic who angered some members of his faith with his support of the Obama campaign (see, e.g., stories here and here), prompting one member of the clergy to go so far as to deny Kmiec the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Malta is a predominantly Catholic nation.  Hmmmmm.

?Where?s Malta?? you ask.  It?s a three-island country in the Mediterranean, just south of Sicily.  (Perhaps you recall from Sunday School that St. Paul was shipwrecked there.  See chapters 27 and 28 of the book of Acts.)  South Texas has a summer foreign program in Malta that is quite popular with our students (no doubt the popularity reached its zenith in June 2000 when I taught International Banking Law).  The official tourism site is here.  Take it from one who has been there.  If you?re in that area of the world, try to schedule three or four days in Malta (and be sure to visit the island of Gozo).

While President Obama is poring over the Pepperdine faculty roster, perhaps we could encourage him to nominate Ken Starr to fill the next Supreme Court vacancy.  Who?s with me in this campaign?

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on July 06, 2009 (boomark / email).