Legal News

Harvard Prof. Rebuffs Notre Dame Over Handling of Obama Flap

By Ashby Jones

The dustup over Notre Dame’s decision to award President Obama an honorary degree took an interesting turn today — right into the halls of Harvard Law School. With this letter to Notre Dame’s president, Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon turned down an award from Notre Dame because she disagrees with the school’s decision to award Obama an honorary degree in connection with his invitation to speak at the school’s graduation. Glendon also makes clear she disagrees with the university’s use of her planned involvement in the graduation ceremonies as a way to balance Obama’s appearance.

In a letter to the university's president, Glendon explained her decision not to attend the commencement ceremony and not to accept the Laetare Medal from the university. She wrote:

"I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree." She also said that she considered the decision to give Obama an honorary degree a violation of a request from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that Catholic institutions not honor individuals who act in defiance of the church's fundamental principles or give awards or platforms that suggest support for the actions of such individuals.

Glendon followed up with an equally pointed message:

A commencement "is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame's decision . . . to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church's position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 27, 2009 (boomark / email).