(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Bill Barr is presumably not concerned about losing a fake degree. He may not even know where he’s stashed the honorary degree that George Washington University Law School gave him in 1992. His J.D. from the same school in 1977 is a more important keepsake. In the end, that’s the only chit they won’t be able to take from him as his legacy as “dumb John Mitchell” solidifies and he becomes just another obscure Jeopardy! response.
But when a law school faculty is fed up watching their good name get sullied by dint of association with a guy, they feel compelled to do something and there’s no act more drastic in legal academia than initiating an internal faculty debate.
The George Washington Law faculty is in turmoil this week as a “serious” effort is underway to strip Barr of the honor the school afforded him years ago:
The push, which one source described as “serious,” was met by opposition from other members who argued that Barr’s actions—while aggressive and controversial—did not merit such a punishment from the university. For now, it appears Barr will keep his degree, amid warnings that it could send the university down a slippery slope of politically motivated degree-rescinding.
The slippery slope, paved by a thousand “Stonewall Jackson Avenues,” is always the last refuge of casual violence. It continues its undefeated reign as the logical fallacy of choice for anyone interested in draping immorality in the faux high-minded vestments of amorality. “We’re not saying we agree, but we just think the real injustice would be disagreeing.”
This one really isn’t that hard. A law school doesn’t have to stand for much but it at least has to stand for the rule of law or it’s just $200K and three years of reading Enlightenment fan fiction. Gassing peaceful protesters, illegally bringing National Guard troops into Washington, and hiring… whoever the hell these paramilitary shocktroops are, all safely fall outside the confines of “respecting the rule of law.” Taking away a fake degree — and perhaps the “William P. Barr Dean’s Suite” that graces the school — would seem the very least that the school could do to protect their legacy.
But a better question is what prompted the school to award Barr an honorary degree at all? He received this honor in 1992 when he was Attorney General the first time, a tenure marked by aggressively covering up the Iran-Contra scandal where Republicans gave weapons to folks arming terrorists so they could arm their own band of terrorists. Even then we weren’t exactly talking about an upstanding defender of the rule of law.
Maybe if some faculty find the present circumstances too slippery, they can find purchase asking if the school should have given Barr an honorary degree in the first place.
George Washington University Law School Faculty Tried To Get Bill Barr’s Honorary Degree Revoked [Daily Beast]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.