Douglas Kmiec

Dean Douglas W. Kmiec at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Douglas W. Kmiec (born September 24, 1951) is an American legal scholar and author. He is currently the Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University School of Law. Kmiec came to prominence during the United States presidential election, 2008 when, although a Roman Catholic and a Republican, he endorsed Democrat Barack Obama. In July 2009, he was nominated by President Obama to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Malta.

Education and career

Kmiec received his undergraduate degree with honors from Northwestern University in 1973 and his law degree from the University of Southern California in 1976. He was a member of the school's law review and was awarded the Legion Lex Commencement Prize for Legal Writing.^[1]

Kmiec was a member of the faculty at Valparaiso University School of Law, then taught at Notre Dame Law School from 1980 to 1999, with several leaves to serve in the Office of Legal Counsel for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. At Notre Dame, he directed the Thomas White Center on Law & Government and founded the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. From 2001 to 2003, Kmiec was the Dean and St. Thomas More Professor of the law school at the Catholic University of America. Following his Catholic University of America deanship, Kmiec assumed the endowed chair in constitutional law at Pepperdine University School of Law.^[2]

Scholarship and legal thought

Kmiec has been a White House Fellow and a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar on the Constitution in Asia. His published works include The Attorney General's Lawyer (1992), three books on the American Constitution, a two-volume legal treatise, related books, and hundreds of published articles and essays. He is a frequent guest in the media on programs such as PBS's NewsHour, Meet the Press, and NPR, analyzing constitutional questions. He writes the Faith and Precedent column for the Catholic News Service.^[1]

When asked what it "mean[s] to teach within a Catholic framework", Kmiec responded:

Just consider the first year course in contracts. The Catholic emphasis of the study of this course explores not just how contracts are formed or what remedies exist for breach, but also the justice of keeping one’s promises and paying a just or family wage, for example. By contrast, most law schools have become entirely utilitarian and consequentialist – believing that ends justify means – and they’ve cast aside first principles, the most prominent of which is the belief that moral reality can be known and understood by men and women. Although our students are not all Catholic, they all have a sincere desire to explore the relationship of faith and law, and to be of service through the legal profession.^[2]

Proposition 8

Days before the arguments in front of the Supreme Court of California on Proposition 8, the amendment to the state constitution which limited marriage to opposite-sex couples, Kmiec and his colleague Shelley Ross Saxer, co-wrote an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle. They opened by explaining "One of us (Saxer) opposed Prop. 8 for civil rights reasons; Kmiec supported it for reasons of religious liberty. Today, both of us believe the arguments in support of Prop. 8 fail each of these interests."^[3] They offer two reasons for "resisting" Proposition 8: 1) it could be read too broadly; 2) it ignores the different religious practices of the citizenry. "Marriage", they argue, "is of religious origin; it should remain there."^[3] Therefore, in order to retain the separation of church and state, they suggest that the state use consistent terminology for all couples, gay and straight, extending the same bundle of secular rights. If a couple wanted "marriage," Proposition 8 should prevent the state from dealing with the topic, which means it could again become the sole province of religious bodies.^[3] Of this view, Time wrote: "The Pepperdine idea puts into a play a new way of thinking — and whether it's part of the court's decision in the Prop 8 case or whether it makes its way into a new referendum, the idea of getting governments out of the marriage business offers a creative way of thinking about a problem that is otherwise likely to be around for a long, long time.^[4]

2008 U.S. presidential election and aftermath

Kmiec and then-presidential candidate Barack Obama

The Republican Kmiec "caused a stir" when he endorsed Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election in a piece on Slate.^[5] As he explained in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, "One of the things I kept discovering...was that Obama was sounding more Catholic than most Catholics I know."^[6] The issues that drew Kmiec's attention were wages, health care, and the cost of the Iraq War.^[6] To those fellow Catholics and pro-life advocates who were surprised at his position, he argued that Obama's desire to "alleviate social conditions that correlate with abortion", such as poverty, was convincing.^[6] In the endorsement itself, Kmiec explained his disagreements with Obama, especially over the issue of abortion, but indicated that it was time to find common ground on this and other topics. Kmiec opened his piece by praising Obama's "integrity, intelligence, and genuine good will".^[7]

As a result of endorsing the pro-choice Obama, Kmiec was denied Communion in May 2008 at a Red Mass for Catholic business people in California.^[8] Kmiec confirmed the incident with Nina Totenberg, NPR's legal correspondent ^[9] and E. J. Dionne of The Washington Post wrote a column ^[8] noting how John Kerry and other Catholic public officials had been threatened with communion denial in 2004 because of their pro-choice position,^[10] but the first actual denial was experienced by Kmiec, a Catholic layman.^[11] After review, Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles called the action "shameful and indefensible" and asked the priest to write a letter apology to Kmiec.^[12]

In the midst of the election, Kmiec proceeded to write Can A Catholic Support Him?: Asking the Big Question About Barack Obama (2008) to explain his support for Senator Obama in light of Catholic principles.^[13] The book's introduction was written by West Wing actor Martin Sheen. Sheen and Kmiec would do a series of radio and video commentaries for the Matthew 25 network in support of Obama.^[14] Kmiec also campaigned for the candidate as part of his "Faith, Family and Values Tour".^[15]

Obama was invited to speak at Notre Dame's commencement, which stirred controversy due to his pro-choice stance. Kmiec supported Obama speaking at the university^[16] and suggested to the administration that they use the speech as an opportunity to discuss the issues on which both sides of the abortion debate already agree: "we both respect life, we both view abortion as a moral tragedy".^[17]

In November 2008, Michael Sean Winters of the Catholic magazine, America, called Kmiec "the perfect candidate" for United States Ambassador to the Holy See.^[18] The Catholic News Agency, citing a Vatican source, has since reported that Kmiec will not become the ambassador "due to his stance on life issues".^[19] The official is quoted saying Kmiec's candidacy "is closed" and that "[Kmiec] nailed the last nail in his coffin with his disappointing position on embryonic stem cell research".^[19]

After David Souter retired from the Supreme Court, Kmiec authored a lead article in the National Catholic weekly, America, making the case for "empathy" as a necessary value in the selection of a nominees for the high court.^[20]

On July 2, 2009, President Obama nominated Kmiec as Ambassador to Malta.^[21]

Personal life

Kmiec is married to Carolyn Keenan and together they have five children.^[2]

See also

• Republican and conservative support for Barack Obama in 2008
• List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Pepperdine University profile of Douglas W. Kmiec". Pepperdine University School of Law. http://law.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/kmiec.html. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "A New Administrative Team". CUA Lawyer 19 (1). Winter 2002. http://law.cua.edu/Alumni/CUAlawyer/issues/winter2002/newteam.cfm. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Kmiec, Douglas W.; Shelley Ross Saxer. "Equality in substance and in name". San Francisco Chronicle (March 2, 2009). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/01/EDFU166H0A.DTL. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
4. ^ Lindenberger, Michael A. (2009-03-16). "A Gay-Marriage Solution: End Marriage?". Time. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1885190,00.html. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
5. ^ Decker, Cathleen (November 9, 2008). "Religious voters helped Obama to victory". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/09/nation/na-godgap9. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Schmich, Mary (October 8, 2008). "GOP Catholic backs Obama". Chicago Tribune (Access World News (subscription required)). 
7. ^ Kmiec, Douglas W. (2008-03-23). "Endorsing Obama". Slate.com. http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/convictions/archive/tags/speech/default.aspx. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Dionne, Jr., E. J. (June 3, 2008). "For an 'Obamacon,' Communion Denied". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060202591.html. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
9. ^ Totenberg, Nina (2008-06-02). "Priest Snubs Lawyer over Obama Endorsement". NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91087067. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
10. ^ Hancock, David; David Paul Kuhn (April 6, 2004). "Kerry’s Communion Controversy: Candidate's Pro-Choice Stance Riles Catholic Leadership". CBS. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/06/politics/main610547.shtml. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
11. ^ Zapor, Patricia (June 5, 2008). "Pro-life law professor stunned by priest's refusal of Communion". Catholic News Service. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0803004.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
12. ^ Kmiec, Douglas W. Kmiec (2008). Can A Catholic Support Him?: Asking the Big Question About Barack Obama. New York: Penguin. ISBN 9781590202043. 
13. ^ Lampman, Jane (October 29, 2008). "Can antiabortion Catholics support Obama? Some do.". Christian Science Monitor. http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/10/29/can-antiabortion-catholics-support-obama-some-do/. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
14. ^ "Conversations on Faith and Politics with Martin Sheen and Doug Kmiec". The Matthew 25 Network. http://matthew25.org/about/a-message-from-martin-sheen/. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
15. ^ Kisken, Tom (January 18, 2009). "Change comes … even for a conservative". Ventura County Star (Access World News (subscription required)). 
16. ^ AP foreign (May 28, 2009). "Obama Notre Dame invite stirs Catholic debate". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8427275. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
17. ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (May 14, 2009). "On Abortion, Obama Is Drawn Into Debate He Hoped to Avoid". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15abortion.html?_r=1&ref=us. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
18. ^ Winters, Michael Sean (November 23, 2008). "Kmiec for Vatican Ambassador". America. http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=CBCE4400-1321-AEAA-D38BB214E0D504BA. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
19. ^ ^{a b} "Obama's candidates for Vatican ambassador failing 'simple standard'". Catholic News Agency. 2009-04-09. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15656. Retrieved 2009-05-17. 
20. ^ Kmiec, Douglas W. (May 11 2009). "The Case for Empathy". America 200 (15). http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11649. Retrieved 2009-05-22. 
21. ^ Catholic News Agency, July 3, 2009