Season 2, Episode 9 (Show 61): Dellinger Departs, Jackson Arrives

March 2, 2022

The passing of a legal titan, Walter Dellinger, is cause for Professor Amar to reflect on his role models in the law.  Meanwhile, Dellinger’s last writings are discussed, as is the subject of that writing: President Biden’s nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson as Associate Justice.

The great Walter Dellinger, one of Professor Amar’s role models in the law and one of the great lawyers of the past century, moves Professor Amar to present and review his role models and why they matter to all of us.  Dellinger’s career was so enormous in its scope, so impactful in its action, that it forms a scaffolding for considering topics as varied as the most important SCOTUS footnote ever written; other momentous careers such as Earl Warren, Charles Black, and Telford Taylor; the lighter side of working for President Clinton; the last public statements of Benjamin Franklin and now Dellinger himself – and much more.  Fittingly, Dellinger’s last writing has impact beyond his demise, as he provided background and perspective for the momentous nomination by President Biden of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Associate Justice of the Supreme Court – and so we consider that.