Press ReleaseNeutral2026-05-18

Raskin Delivers Commencement Address at American University's Washington College of Law

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This press release from Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) was published on 2026-05-18 and titled "Raskin Delivers Commencement Address at American University's Washington College of Law".

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Raskin Delivers Commencement Address at American University's Washington College of Law

Washington College of Law Commencement Address May 16, 2026 Good morning, Class of 2026! I'm very honored to be invited to spend the next hour and 45 minutes with you providing my analysis of the rise and fall of substantive due process jurisprudence between Griswold v. Connecticut and the Dobbs decision. Take out your notepads. Graduates, Moms and Dads, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, husbands and wives, friends and cousins. Nico Menacho-Foronda, that was quite a speech man, that was really quite a speech. President Jonathan Alger, Provost Vicky Wilkins, Dean Heather Hughes, your very cool Board President Charlie Lydecker Members of the Board of Trustees, Trustee Mehdi Heravi, Members of the President's Council, faculty, staff, graduates, and families, and above all, residents of Maryland's beautiful 8 th Congressional District. Professor Stephen Wermiel, Professor Brenda Smith, Adeen Postar. And fellow Emeritus professors, "emeritus" being Latin for "you no longer have an office, but you can keep your email address." I know a great story about Oliver Wendell Holmes, the famously absent-minded professor and Supreme Court Justice who was taking the train north from Union Station. When the Conductor came down the aisle collecting tickets, Justice Holmes could not find his ticket anywhere - he's checking his pockets, his suit coat, his overcoat. But the conductor recognized him and said: "No problem, Justice Holmes. You ride all the time, and we know you have a ticket." He walked on but Holmes kept searching, under the seat, overhead, on the floor. The Conductor returned and said: "Justice Holmes, honestly, we know you have a ticket and you need not worry another minute about finding it." And Holmes said to him: "Good Sir, you seem to think the problem is where is my ticket? The problem is where am I going?" So where are you going today? It's the question of the hour. But before we get there, permit me to say something personal about WCL because I was a ConLaw professor here for 25 years when our kids were small and my career was just starting out. With the sainted Tom Sargentich, I co-founded the Program on Law and Government. With Steve Wermiel, a luminous teacher, constitutional patriot, and WCL graduate himself, I co-founded the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. I was adviser to the American Constitution Society and to the Federalist Society. I had remarkable students, not to mention great Dean's Fellows, moot court advisees, and, most importantly, very reliable babysitters. All of these fine WCL grads today are judges, public defenders, prosecutors, managing partners of law firms, lawyers who make me proud, business people, and an impressive array of elected officials including a Boston City Councilwoman, a Nebraska State Senator, a Member of Congress I serve with from the Virgin Islands, the Majority Leader of the Maryland State House, a D.C. City Councilman and the Shadow Senator from the disenfranchised Capital City. I served with extraordinary Colleagues under remarkable Deans. I wrote books and law review articles. In fact, I was even the Academic Dean myself for awhile, although I confess I never figured out what I was supposed to do be doing in that job. But I left the safety of our dazzling new campus in January 2017 to go to Congress, the same day Donald Trump was elected President. And since leaving the warm, supportive, and intellectually vibrant environment of WCL, I have lived through the following public events: - A mass violent insurrection and attempted political coup at the Capitol; - three total government shutdowns and two partial ones; - a global pandemic; - an unconstitutional war and several failed War Powers Act Resolutions; - a Judiciary Committee hearing with the Attorney General of the United States who called me "a washed-up loser lawyer" and "not even a lawyer;" - and a presidential assassination attempt several weeks ago just down the road a bit in April, during which I got thrown to the ground by a Secret Service Agent; So my main message is, hell no, do not graduate . Stay right here at beautiful and safe WCL . Get an LLM or an SJD. Stay as long as you can ! In fact, do you guys know whether they've found someone to take Steve Wermiel's classes in the Fall yet? because I've brought my resume with me today. But, alas, for both you and me, and fortunately for your parents, time rolls on, it stops for no one. You can't stay on campus in the glory of youth forever. Academia has its place in our lives, and it dwells close in many hearts, especially the further away you get from it. But I assure you that there are other ways to keep learning and perhaps even better ways to contribute, to make your life count. Now, distinguished graduates of 2026, maybe some of you believe we inhabit a Golden Age of peace, prosperity and fairness for all. And if you do, well, all I can say is more power to you. But for the rest of you, I don't need to tell you that we're in

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Raskin Delivers Commencement Address at American University's Washington College of Law Washington College of Law Commencement Address May 16, 2026 Good morning, Class of 2026! I'm very honored to be invited to spend the next hour and 45 minutes with you providing my analysis of the rise and fall of substantive due process jurisprudence between Griswold v. Connecticut and the Dobbs decision. Take out your notepads. Graduates, Moms and Dads, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, husbands and wives, friends and cousins. Nico Menacho-Foronda, that was quite a speech man, that was really quite a speech. President Jonathan Alger, Provost Vicky Wilkins, Dean Heather Hughes, your very cool Board President Charlie Lydecker Members of the Board of Trustees, Trustee Mehdi Heravi, Members of the President's Council, faculty, staff, graduates, and families, and above all, residents of Maryland's beautiful 8 th Congressional District. Professor Stephen Wermiel, Professor Brenda Smith, Adeen Postar. And fellow Emeritus professors, "emeritus" being Latin for "you no longer have an office, but you can keep your email address." I know a great story about Oliver Wendell Holmes, the famously absent-minded professor and Supreme Court Justice who was taking the train north from Union Station. When the Conductor came down the aisle collecting tickets, Justice Holmes could not find his ticket anywhere - he's checking his pockets, his suit coat, his overcoat. But the conductor recognized him and said: "No problem, Justice Holmes. You ride all the time, and we know you have a ticket." He walked on but Holmes kept searching, under the seat, overhead, on the floor. The Conductor returned and said: "Justice Holmes, honestly, we know you have a ticket and you need not worry another minute about finding it." And Holmes said to him: "Good Sir, you seem to think the problem is where is my ticket? The problem is where am I going?" So where are you going today? It's the question of the hour. But before we get there, permit me to say something personal about WCL because I was a ConLaw professor here for 25 years when our kids were small and my career was just starting out. With the sainted Tom Sargentich, I co-founded the Program on Law and Government. With Steve Wermiel, a luminous teacher, constitutional patriot, and WCL graduate himself, I co-founded the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. I was adviser to the American Constitution Society and to the Federalist Society. I had remarkable students, not to mention great Dean's Fellows, moot court advisees, and, most importantly, very reliable babysitters. All of these fine WCL grads today are judges, public defenders, prosecutors, managing partners of law firms, lawyers who make me proud, business people, and an impressive array of elected officials including a Boston City Councilwoman, a Nebraska State Senator, a Member of Congress I serve with from the Virgin Islands, the Majority Leader of the Maryland State House, a D.C. City Councilman and the Shadow Senator from the disenfranchised Capital City. I served with extraordinary Colleagues under remarkable Deans. I wrote books and law review articles. In fact, I was even the Academic Dean myself for awhile, although I confess I never figured out what I was supposed to do be doing in that job. But I left the safety of our dazzling new campus in January 2017 to go to Congress, the same day Donald Trump was elected President. And since leaving the warm, supportive, and intellectually vibrant environment of WCL, I have lived through the following public events: - A mass violent insurrection and attempted political coup at the Capitol; - three total government shutdowns and two partial ones; - a global pandemic; - an unconstitutional war and several failed War Powers Act Resolutions; - a Judiciary Committee hearing with the Attorney General of the United States who called me "a washed-up loser lawyer" and "not even a lawyer;" - and a presidential assassination attempt several weeks ago just down the road a bit in April, during which I got thrown to the ground by a Secret Service Agent; So my main message is, hell no, do not graduate . Stay right here at beautiful and safe WCL . Get an LLM or an SJD. Stay as long as you can ! In fact, do you guys know whether they've found someone to take Steve Wermiel's classes in the Fall yet? because I've brought my resume with me today. But, alas, for both you and me, and fortunately for your parents, time rolls on, it stops for no one. You can't stay on campus in the glory of youth forever. Academia has its place in our lives, and it dwells close in many hearts, especially the further away you get from it. But I assure you that there are other ways to keep learning and perhaps even better ways to contribute, to make your life count. Now, distinguished graduates of 2026, maybe some of you believe we inhabit a Golden Age of peace, prosperity and fairness for all. And if you do, well, all I can say is more power to you. But for the rest of you, I don't need to tell you that we're in