Dear Friends,

Over the weekend, we celebrated the 250 year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  To help commemorate this special occasion, I was honored to be invited by the federal judges of the Northern District of California to offer my reflections on the Declaration in the San Jose Courthouse and to join the courthouse family in a collective reading of its stirring words. 

I shared that the Declaration is of course a powerful testament to the Rule of Law, which includes a 27 count indictment of the King for violating the Rule of Law’s fundamental precepts, including denial of fair elections, obstruction of the legislative process, and usurpation of an independent judiciary. But I also shared that the Declaration proclaims that the Rule of Law and even the consent of the governed will only secure a just society when they live out our common creed that every human being is created equal and endowed with natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Living out our common creed requires not just our independence, but our interdependence. The Declaration established an intergenerational covenant that creates sacred duties on the government, but also on the governed. All of us must pledge our patient attentiveness to each other, as well as our honor, humility, vigilance, prudence, civic education, civic engagement, civic virtue, and dedication to the common good. These ideals are not static or transactional, but living relational commitments that call on each generation to reaffirm, protect, and strengthen what we have built together. As stewards of justice, it is both a great privilege and responsibility to share the blessings of liberty, guided always by our enduring Jesuit values on our path toward a more equal, just, and humane common home. 

It is this same spirit that inspires and connects our Santa Clara Law community, and we are blessed that so many of you continue to pour your time, talent, and treasure into our students and future lawyers. As you may have seen, we recently announced that Dorian Daley, J.D. ’86 has made a transformative gift to our law school, endowing what is now called the Daley Center for Conflict Resolution. Dorian’s remarkable support, counsel, and wisdom has blessed our community for decades, and this gift will now equip our students with state-of-the-art education in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation, and reflective discourse. 

We are incredibly grateful to Dorian for her generosity and to our strong and talented alumni community. I have loved meeting with our alumni across the country in-person over the past few weeks and witnessing firsthand the joy of reconnecting with classmates and meeting fellow Santa Clara Law graduates from different years. I invite all Chicago-based alumni to join me next week on July 15 and Denver-based alumni on July 23 for our joyous Alumni mixers. 

With warm regards and great gratitude,   

 

Michael J. Kaufman
Dean and Professor of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law