So as I learned about things like this growing up, I developed a sense of the enormous, great luck in managing to survive, giving me a strong feeling that I had an obligation to pay it forward. They all spoke German, and they all knew Gilbert and Sullivan. Gazette: It sounds like they adjusted pretty quickly. I loved Federal Courts with Henry Hart. Tribe: He was a car salesman. How do you see your role? At the beginning, we rented an apartment on Clay Street, in downtown San Francisco. So I grew up surrounded by people who spoke only Russian. Unreasonable! Let us get started. It would be joyless. Tribe: Andrew Gleason was one of the main people. Youre not fragmented into silos. He said, Larry, youre being immature. In addition to the thought that I couldnt compare with guys like Saul Kripke and wouldnt discover anything truly fundamental, and I would be off in a kind of silo having nothing to do with the world, and I couldnt talk to people about what I was doing. Gazette: Youve taught thousands of people; quite a few have gone on to accomplish lots of things in different arenas. Im also absolutely fanatical about silence. I found and copied color photos of brains and hearts and livers. I had a very unbalanced education at Harvard College. Gazette: How do you think that ordeal shaped you? It hasnt been as fancy, and I dont have a black robe, but Im very glad that I went the path I did. Justice Stewart agreed with me that ideally electronic surveillance would be treated as a search and would require a search warrant. How digital misinformation may keep you from a good nights sleep, Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. One of the first cases that I argued in the Supreme Court about that, which is not a case thats too well known, is called Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. National Gay Task Force. But also my best friends in the world are people youve probably never heard of whom Ive taught, people who I got to know and love by teaching them. Paul Freund was wise and experienced, but many of the people who taught con law for example, my con law professor in the main course was a guy named Ernest Brown. But he thought that we were stuck with that precedent, and he was very much somebody who believed in precedent. It was very unpleasant in that way, and there was a lot of this humiliation stuff. Laurence H. Tribe. They can tell if youre just phoning it in. [16][17], On May 22, 2013, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Columbia University during its Class of 2013 commencement. New York, NY 90210. He graduated from Harvard Law in 1966 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude. This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed for length. [26], In the 1985 National Gay Task Force v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, Tribe represented the National Gay Task Force who had won an Appeals Court ruling against an Oklahoma law that would have allowed schools to fire teachers who were attracted to people of the same sex or spoke in favor of civil rights for LGBT people. I asked Tribe if his guideline about speaking his mind. I dont know what anti-Semitism would have felt like, although Im sure there was plenty of it. But then I met this kid, whom I still know, Benn Sah. A document signed by Obama and Hillary Clinton is framed in his home. Gazette: You felt like your world was just going to get narrower and narrower? Even though that was the time of the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King and there were riots in the streets, things felt so much more normal then. What was that transition like? Tribe: Well, it would depend. My dad, when he was in his 20s, left China and came to the United States. Then, not long after, we moved to the Sunset District, not far from the beach. What I like about mathematics is that its about the way things hang together, the architecture, the structure of it. All I can say is I liked school, but I also was pretty rebellious. US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday granted Trump's request that a special master. Eventually, I figured that I had better learn. There are a number of things I believe in: I believe in certain aspects of human rights and checks and balances, above all, and preservation of rule of law and constitutional democracy. I think that such supporters would not want to discourage provocative, daring thinkers, and they reason that the world today contains few realistic threats of the kind that Judge Bork might theoretically uphold. He said that a judge might be compelled simply to ignore the amendment and I use his words exactly as if it were nothing more than a water blot on the document. But it is more than a water blot. I do not have that view of the Judge. An unbelievably high-powered panel-- Professor Laurence Tribe, Dean Erwin Chemerinksy, and Congressman and Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin--take up an incredibly important topic, "High Crimes and Misdemeanors." The three set aside some common misconceptions and agree on important aspects of the constitutional term. His father was from Poland and his mother was born in Harbin to immigrants from Eastern Europe. I love that teaching can become a part of the rest of your life. I have to do this because this seems like the right thing to do.. Tribe: Where else could you find the combination of something making a difference, something of consequence, something truly fundamental, something that is at the base of everything, but also something that has a deep history and something in which theres extraordinary writing and thinking The Federalist Papers, some of the great opinions of justices, Thurgood Marshalls lawyering, John Marshalls writing, Robert Jacksons mastery of prose? The Literary Theory Handbook introduces students to the history and scope of literary theory, showing them how to perform literary analysis, and providing a greater understanding of the historical contexts for different theories.. A new edition of this highly successful text, which includes updated and refined chapters, and new sections on contemporary theories And the other law clerks were wonderful to work with. I remember they would have teas over there, and Id join some of the mathematicians for tea. But I didnt feel myself victimized by it. So I knew I had to leave. He previously served as the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard Law School. The math department used to be on Divinity Avenue. Tribe: He was a loyal and distinctly patriotic American. It is not news to this committee that Judge Borks writings and speeches up through last year treat those rulings as indefensible because they do not derive closely enough from specific provisions of the Constitution. Tribe:Right. Youve been involved in legal actions challenging his administrations actions on the Constitutions emoluments clause and on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Nothing like the [General Education] requirements or the core curriculum existed at that time. Not interdisciplinary, not nearly as experimental and open-minded and conceptually adventuresome as it became in later years. After graduating from high school in 1958 at age 16, Tribe went to Harvard University, where he majored in mathematics and was a member of the Harvard Debate Team that won the intercollegiate National Debate Tournament in 1961. Among his law students and research assistants while on the faculty at Harvard have been former President Barack Obama (a research assistant for over two years),[19] Chief Justice John Roberts,[20] US Senator Ted Cruz,[20] former D.C. She became a dental assistant. Thats what Im proudest of. Some students liked flashy professors who were very entertaining, like Arthur Miller, whos now at N.Y.U. Follow. (Honorary) 1988, New York University LL.D. Now, understandably, the notion that judges cannot draw that line has led some to be fearful. [10] His family is Jewish. Does it feel strange to have your career bookended by such chaos? He solved Hilberts fifth problem. Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe explained on Tuesday why the selection of which federal jurisdiction might prosecute Donald Trump for taking classified government documents could signal the former president's legal peril. Gazette: After being immersed in math for so long, how did you find Law School? That had to have been quite a culture shock for everyone. Tribe: My grandparents were born in Belarus, and some of my great-grandparents came from Ukraine. Gazette: Did you realize how much of a target for Republican fury you would soon become? Tribe: I didnt detect that big a difference. And he would say, Well, Ill try. Anyway, after 25 years there, they gave him this wonderful watch. Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard law professor who served as an adviser in the process that led to Judge Sotomayor's selection for the Supreme Court, said the White House had found concerns about . Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University, said Saturday that he believes Donald Trump is "demonstrably guilty" of committing a crime on January 6, 2021 . [47][48] Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan harshly criticized Tribe, saying that he "has become an important vector of misinformation and conspiracy theories on Twitter. My Jewish mother wanted her son to be a doctor. And in response, Judge Bork tells this committee that he will listen to new arguments designed to show that some of these rights rights, perhaps, to things like birth control, maybe even abortion may be derived, he suggests, by a method that he would find satisfactory from the Constitutions specific text and history. Youre somebody who might be on the court at some point, but you will completely burn bridges with this. Actually, I thought that the main reason not to do it was not that, but that he would be confirmed anyway and that I would be making an enemy of him. It is for that reason that I believe the Constitution counsels Senators to view with some skepticism any apparent shift in a nominees previously stated belief once that nominee has been selected by the President. In a tweet on Sunday, the professor, Laurence Tribe, an expert on constitutional law, commented on Trump's video message to the House select committee on January 6, 2021. At least in the earlier years, I was kind of unpopular because I didnt want to speak English and, of course, the other kids in my public school didnt speak Russian. Thats worse than an F. I didnt show up for the exams. But I didnt really imagine that would be an open path. Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe joins MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell to discuss why it's "impossible to not indict Donald Trump" for withholding top secret government information. I just couldnt stand it. The other thing that got me was that I like language, and I like communicating. When I tried to take it up again a few years ago, I found it so frustrating, just the technique. Gazette: Could you have attended Harvard without that scholarship? I do remember being interviewed by some very pompous Harvard alumni in San Francisco. I was scared [expletive] of them all. I served food. Laurence Tribe: Thank you, Senator. But I didnt think it would happen. I still have some of the nudes that I drew when I was about 12 or 13. It was very monochromatic, almost no minorities, just a small smattering of women, and much more rigid. Justice Stevens himself, whom Judge Bork invokes for this new, fluid, open-ended, unpredictable test, was very explicit in joining Justice OConnors opinion saying that we need heightened scrutiny in the case involving discrimination in medical education. A new syllabus every time I teach, even a course with the same name. Most of the time when I was growing up, we lived in a two-bedroom rented apartment. I was good at the craft and could create highly realistic portraits and seascapes, but none of it was terribly creative or original. All these things tend to converge for me, and I think the country is in graver danger than it has been in my lifetime. The infamous Butcher of Warsaw [Josef Albert Meisinger] was known to have wanted to get rid of all the Jews in Shanghai. The idea that somebody who was an inveterate, nonstop liar could become president of the United States just didnt seem to figure. Birth Name: Laurence Henry Tribe Occupation: Lawyer Born In: Shanghai, China Birthdate: October 10, 1941 Age: 81 years old (as of 2023) Ethnicity: Unknown Nationality: American Sexuality: N/A Laurence Tribe was born on the 10th of October, 1941. Although, come to think of it, I did really enjoy my course in federal income taxation with Professor Bernard Wolfman, who was visiting from Penn. The reasons that these hearings present a difficult issue is that it is not clear and I am the first to admit it not clear that Judge Bork would actually do any of those things. How did your family come to live there? I am here simply on my own behalf as a professor of constitutional law. But then a couple of things happened that made that seem implausible. I remember being aghast at what it looked like. So that was a wonderful experience. Tribe then received a National Science Foundation fellowship to pursue doctoral studies in mathematics at Harvard, but dropped out after one year. The whole course was all about taxation and commerce. I loved that. So some students flocked to particular professors and loved them, like Paul Freund or Archibald Cox. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, your name was often on speculative short lists for the court. ", "Larry Tribe and Mitch McConnell's Flagrant Constitutional Error", "A decision on suspended Trump Facebook account this week", "'Personhood' Redefined: Animal Rights Strategy Gets at the Essence of Being Human", "Next president will shape Supreme Court", "Tribe named Senior Counselor for Access to Justice", "Laurence Tribe to return to Harvard Law School in January", "Lessig, lawyers to offer support to anti-Trump electors", "When Plagiarism's Shadow Falls on Admired Scholars", "Harvard Reprimands Law Professor Over Book", "2 Professors Walk Into a Dumpster Fire ", "Why Is A Top Harvard Law Professor Sharing Anti-Trump Conspiracy Theories? Justice White concurred in that decision because of the birth control laws impact on the disadvantaged citizens of Connecticut. None of those yellowed notes for me. Laurence Henry Tribe (born October 10, 1941) is an American legal scholar who is a University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. Since the mid-1990s, Tribe has represented a number of corporations advocating for their free speech rights and constitutional personhood. I had no realization, of course, that that was the standard thing nations did with enemy aliens. [11][14] His family settled in San Francisco, and he attended Abraham Lincoln High School. Tribe:They are things that are under threat. I taught constitutional law and realized that people hadnt systematically tried to integrate the subject in a coherent, cohesive way, so I ended up having to write my own outlines of things. Not to gamble on whether Judge Bork is a sexist; I do not believe for a minute that he is. So many of the students were careerists in those days. Harvard Constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe explained why he thinks former President Trump should be brought to trial on charges of "insurrection" as a result of the January 6 Capitol riot . Harvard Law School provides unparalleled opportunities to study law with extraordinary colleagues in a rigorous, vibrant, and collaborative environment. But she was somehow admitted to a medical school in Milan, and she desperately wanted to go medical school, which you were able to do in the late 1930s without having more than a high school education. A constitutional law scholar,[6][7] Tribe is co-founder of the American Constitution Society. I still have it somewhere. When he first arrived at Harvard College in 1958, the precocious but awkward 16-year-old was certain that mathematics was where he would make his name in the world. Gazette: After graduating magna cum laude from HLS, you clerked for Justice Mathew Tobriner on the California Supreme Court in 196667, and then for Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 196768, just after he had dissented on two significant civil rights cases, Miranda v. Arizona and In re Gault. Tribe was part of Al Gore's legal team regarding the results of the 2000 United States presidential election. Make money! That was the mantra. Its the same as what I have always heard about being a parent that you have this family that goes out and affects the world. My mother was born in Harbin, in Manchuria, in 1915. No, I couldnt possibly have come without a full scholarship. But they didnt seem sufficiently aware of the open-ended nature of the inquiry, so I yearned for more. I have a report card from kindergarten when I was in the English school in Shanghai when I refused to speak English. So its one of the things I care most about. It is true that he would have only one vote out of nine, but his might often be the decisive vote; and even when it is not, his potential influence on the future development of constitutional law and on the role of the Supreme Court in protecting constitutional rights would be too great to warrant confirmation if the positions that he has long crusaded for seriously endanger the traditional role of the Court as a principal defender of liberty and equality. Gazette: What do you recall about your fathers imprisonment during the war? Larry Tribe (center) teaching students at the Harvard Law School. More recently, he said that perhaps literature should be included as well and perhaps some civil disobedience should be protected. Are you an activist, as critics contend? Barack Obama, John Roberts and Elena Kagan are among Tribe's former Harvard students. But how plausible is it that, after all these years, someone will uncover a new constitutional argument in those fundamental areas? Police did not intervene, which. He has worked as a Carl M. Loeb University law professor as Harvard Law School, and helped to draft South Africa and the Czech Republic. I thought the idea of coming back to the classroom writing, teaching that sounded exciting. My grandfather and father went from Belarus to Manchuria when my dad was just a teenager. [8] Tribe was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2010.[9]. Oh, hes doing that? I drafted a dozen opinions for Stewart, and some of them, including Katz and Jones v. Mayer, which was really important [it held that Congress could regulate sales of private property, such as real estate, to prevent racial discrimination], came out pretty much as I wrote them. And I see myself as doing anything and everything I can within the law to resist losing it and to help remember and restore the norms that make constitutional democracy and a viable republic possible. 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