Santa Clara University

Graduation 2005

Lessons of the Constitution

BY LARRY SOKOLOFF ’92, PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHARLES BARRY

During the School of Law commencement ceremonies on May 21, U.S. District Court Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. reminded graduates of the importance of judicial independence and the roles that judges play in society. Damrell, who attended Santa Clara University as an undergraduate in the 1950s, was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree.

The School of Law awarded 296 J.D. degrees and 20 LL.M. degrees at the 2005 commencement ceremony. Fiftythree percent of the degrees were awarded to women. In addition, 29 graduates received certificates in public interest and social justice law, 41 in high tech law, 1 in international high tech law, and 11 in international and comparative law. Mia Giacomazzi received the outstanding law graduate award. The $5,000 award is made possible through a gift from the Mabie Family Foundation. Trevor Dutcher received the American Law Institute-American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education Scholarship and Leadership Award.

2005 School of Law graduates celebrate the big day. Back: Natasha Chee, Alaric Degrafinried, Ryan McCarthy, Edward Alberola, Christopher Gibson, Susan O'Brien, Derek Austin, and Keishonna Harper. Front: David Luca and Monica Burneikis.
Vivian Ware has a smile that says it all.	Nicole Aeschleman was among the many grinning new graduates.
School of Law Professors Ellen Kreitzberg, Margalynne Armstrong, and Cookie Ridolfi share in the joy
U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. received an honorary doctor of laws degree at the ceremony.	Neil Fitzpatrick displays his hard-earned diploma.

In his address, Judge Damrell asked the graduates to take a walk back in history and understand the legacy of the United States Constitution and their role and obligation as lawyers to support and defend it.

“Sadly, for many Americans the Constitution has become a historical document sealed in some glass case on display in Washington,” he said. “The Constitution we live under was bequeathed to us at great sacrifice, and as citizens it is our obligation to bestow its promise upon succeeding generations,” he said.

Addressing the recent controversies over “activist judges,” he reminded the graduates that the issue of an independent judiciary is the most important constitutional debate of their time. “A handful of thirty-something lawyers who met in Philadelphia 218 years ago taught the world a most profound civics lesson that changed the course of history. We need that lesson to be taught again,” he said. Judge Damrell sits on the federal bench in Sacramento in the Eastern District of California. He was appointed to his position in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. He was appointed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist to the Judicial Branch Committee of the United States Judicial Conference, and by Chief Judge Mary Schroeder of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to the Circuit’s Education Committee. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of the National Conference on Citizenship.

Judge Damrell has devoted considerable time since he was appointed to the federal bench to encouraging a commitment among judges and lawyers to civic education. He has been a guest speaker at many conferences addressing the vital role of judges and lawyers in insuring that all Americans understand the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship. He has founded Operation Protect and Defend, in which teams of federal and state judges and lawyers visit high school government classes throughout the Sacramento region to discuss historical and current issues concerning constitutional and civic values.

In his speech to the law school graduates, he called for greater civic education in the nation’s schools. “We need to restore comity and mutual respect between the branches of government,” he said. “We need a reasoned national debate on the values of the Constitution, not incendiary soundbites that stir cultural and religious passions. None of this can be accomplished without the lawyers of this country. This is an enormous but not impossible task.”

In 2002, Judge Damrell chaired a national summit of all major civic organizations in Washington, D.C. The organizations have joined on a national level to foster and advance civic education throughout the nation’s elementary and secondary schools.

Judge Damrell has served on the Board of Visitors to SCU’s School of Law and the University’s Board of Visitors. He attended Santa Clara University and the Sacred Heart (Jesuit) Novitiate before graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1961. He earned his law degree from Yale, and was a deputy attorney general for the state of California and a senior deputy district attorney in Stanislaus County. He was in private practice from 1968 until his appointment to the federal bench.

Two of Judge Damrell’s children attended SCU as undergraduates: Frank C. Damrell II B.A. ’84, and Anne Damrell Suarez B.A. ’96, whose husband, Francesco, graduated in 1993.

Judge Damrell said he had returned to Santa Clara many times since he was an undergraduate. “I still find the campus a virtual oasis amid the onrushing urbanization of this region,” he said.