Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

Senator Jeff Bingaman
UNM School of Law
Commencement Speech - May 16, 2009

Thank you for that kind introduction.  Dean Romero, esteemed faculty, parents, family, Class of 2009: I am honored to speak to you today.  It seems like quite a few years ago when my wife, Anne Bingaman, was a member of this distinguished faculty.  I can assure you that she has fond memories of her time at the law school.  To all of you who are graduating today: congratulations on what you have accomplished.

Today is an exciting day in your lives, the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice.  I was certainly excited when I graduated from law school 41 years ago.  Today is also a moment of relative calm for you, sandwiched as it is between the rigors of school and the unpredictability of what lies ahead.  It is a day for joy and reflection.  So I want to take this opportunity to make three brief points about the profession that you have chosen.

First, lawyering is an honorable and essential profession, with a rich history of contributions to our society.  Many lawyers have been titans in our country’s history -- Jefferson; Lincoln; Roosevelt; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.; Louis Brandeis; Thurgood Marshall – even though we remember them not as lawyers but as the presidents and justices that they later became.  While the accomplishments of these six men are rare, they are but the tips of a deep iceberg.  Justice Brandeis saw this a century ago when he observed that “[t]here is a call upon the legal profession to do great work for this country”. 

Many great lawyers have answered this call.  They have labored in relative anonymity, but the effects of their work are readily apparent today.  Burnita Shelton Matthews, before she became the first woman appointed to the federal bench, was a strong advocate for women’s rights in state legislatures and in Congress.  Charles Hamilton Houston, a mentor to Thurgood Marshall, devised the NAACP’s strategy to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson, culminating in Marshall’s arguments before the Supreme Court.  James De Anda, a Mexican-American lawyer, pushed Hernandez v. Texas through the courts, winning Latinos equal rights protection under the 14^th Amendment.  Working with few resources, Judge De Anda had to collect donations to pay the filing fees at the Supreme Court for this landmark case.

There are, of course, many others.  It is no accident that lawyers so often become prominent leaders our republic.  As Justice Brandeis said, “The paramount reason why the lawyer has played so large a part in our political life is that his training fits him especially to grapple with the questions which are presented in a democracy.” 

Put another way, lawyers feel a responsibility not only to their client, but to something greater.  Like an engineer who knows how a complicated machine is designed and built, lawyers can’t help but try to improve the law, the administration of justice, and the functioning of our government.  Lawyers are the guardians of the rule of law.  This is part of the great work of which Justice Brandeis spoke. 

The recent habeas corpus cases are notable examples of lawyers doing this great work even when it was the hard thing to do.  Over the past eight years, the Executive Branch asserted the right to detain individuals indefinitely.  People were held without charges based on unilateral designations that they were “enemy combatants.”  American citizens were included in this detention.  The government argued that the courts had no role in reviewing the factual or legal basis of the government’s claims, and that those imprisoned by the government were not entitled to challenge the basis for their detention.

These circumstances brought to mind a scene from the play, “A Man for All Seasons,” by Roger Bolt.  In this scene, Sir Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers, and his son-in-law, William Roper, heatedly argue about law and morality and about which of the two should prevail.  Roper, the son-in-law, accuses More of forsaking morality and says of himself, “I’d cut down every law in England” to get to the Devil.  More responds, “And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide, Roper...?  [I]f you cut [the laws] down … do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?”  More continues, “Yes, I’d give the Devil the benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.”

The courts ultimately rejected the administration’s arguments in the habeas cases as being inconsistent with our constitution and fundamental notions of law.  But it was through the dedication of lawyers working throughout the legal system that these principles were advanced.  Attorneys working in the private sector took cases on a pro bono basis; legal academics educated the public about the importance of rights such as habeas corpus, and public interest lawyers came together to represent clients under difficult circumstances.  Two of those lawyers are right here in Albuquerque, Nancy Hollander and Theresa Duncan, who are both alumni of this law school.  As was said in the play, it is for our “own safety’s sake” that lawyers defend the rule of law, and the law itself.

I know many of you also hear Justice Brandeis’s call to do great work.  You have spent these past years preparing for it.  You are trained to take the text and structure of the law, apply it to the facts of the case, develop your best legal argument and seek to persuade others that your position is the one that best serves justice.  To do this, the first person you persuade is you. 

Which leads me to my second point, which is actually a piece of advice, and that is: remember that you could be wrong.  Question the assumptions you make.  Listen to your opponents’ arguments as carefully as you listen to your own.  Take care that your zealous advocacy does not drown out the greater truth.

This is not new advice, but it is worth repeating because it is so hard to practice.   There are too many sirens who would lure you away from the clear path and into troubled waters.  It could be the pressure of a deadline, or the ardent desire to win.  Or it may seem that the Devil himself is your adversary, and cutting down a few laws would be a fair price to pay to get at him.  I think this is probably what happened with the torture memos: the authors were certain that they were right because they believed their cause was just.  It was tunnel vision, and the consequences have been a dark chapter in our history.

My third and final point is that you, because of your legal training, have immense potential to do good and contribute to society.  To quote Justice Brandeis again, “Those of you who feel drawn to [this] profession may rest assured that you will find in it an opportunity for usefulness which is probably unequalled.”  He meant that the law is an uncommonly varied field with rich and diverse opportunities, whether you choose litigation, or taxes, or immigration law, or human rights.

Your potential for usefulness is particularly high right now.  Significant changes are afoot in our economy, our health care system, in immigration law, energy policy, and with regard to the earth’s climate.  You can influence these changes and be a part of making them happen.  Or you can take up another cause in which you strongly believe.  In the private sector, there is a need for people with your training beyond the traditional career paths.

And in addition to those opportunities, you can also serve the public good by working in government.  Federal departments, state agencies, and local governments employ many thousands of lawyers.  These dedicated civil servants help to ensure that our government runs smoothly, without the wheels coming off.  They see to it that our legal code is applied sensibly and fairly by translating convoluted laws into sensible explanations.  As a member of a body that makes many of those convoluted laws, I can assure you that there will always be plenty of work for you to do.

Here in New Mexico we have a tradition of fine attorneys who become public servants.  I was delighted that President Obama nominated Hilary Tompkins, who was born just west of here in Zuni, to be the chief legal officer for the Department of Interior.  She is Navajo and will be the first woman and first Native American to be the Department’s Solicitor General.  Of course many of you know her because she is an adjunct professor at this university.  Justice Pam Minzner was also a beloved professor and mentor at this school.  As you know, Justice Minzner was the first female chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court.  These are just two examples but I am sure you can name other New Mexicans whom you admire for their public service.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that capable, intelligent people serve in government.  I have personally seen the damage that lawmakers have wrought upon the public interest by passing unworkable or ill-conceived laws.  On the other hand, many of the smartest, toughest, most honorable policymakers in Washington are lawyers who have dedicated their lives to public service.  My point is that the quality of our government -- how efficient it is, how effectively it serves the needs of the people, how well it respects the rights that we cherish -- these qualities rise and fall with the efforts of people like you.

Now it is your time.  Your training makes you a part of a rich tradition, which is now entrusted to you.  At this calm moment before life spins forward, remember Justice Brandeis’s call to do great work.  Remember the titans in our history and the countless other lawyers who have contributed to our society.  They once sat where you sit today.  I have no doubt that 41 years from now the person standing at this podium will speak some of your names to honor what you have done.

Thank you, and good luck with the great work ahead of you.