With the word “lie” already being tossed around mere days into this administration, the White House is working overtime to keep everything transparent and above board in order to win back the trust of the American people.
No, just kidding, they held a press conference to refute the time-honored maxim that a picture of an inauguration is worth 1,000 words.
And this mendaciousness — or alternative forthrightness — appears to carry over to the customarily benign biographies on the whitehouse.gov website:
The Law Firm’s Guide To Trust Accounting And Three-Way Reconciliation
Proper trust accounting and three-way reconciliation are essential for protecting client funds and avoiding serious compliance risks. In this guide, we break down these critical processes and show how legal-specific software can help your firm stay accurate, efficient, and audit-ready.
For the record, there’s nothing untrue in that passage (UPDATE: the bio’s “He later he” typo notwithstanding). But legal industry observers probably notice the critical omission that renders the passage laughably misleading. Pence did graduate from Indiana University, but it’s all about his “long-form diploma.” Indiana University boasts two different law schools. The Vice-President attended the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, not to be confused with the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington.
On the subject of confusion, why would someone try to gloss over this distinction in their official bio? Well, Indiana University Maurer is currently tied for 25th in the U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings. Indiana University McKinney is tied for… 100th (Maurer is 48th in our ATL law school rankings, and McKinney did not make the top 50). This distinction in relative quality hasn’t changed much since Pence was drawing cartoons instead of learning about constitutional law.
So one can see why Pence might be eager to let people jump to some conclusions about his education.
Free Attorney Time Tracking Template For Smarter Billing
Tired of messy time logs? This free attorney time tracking template helps you bill with confidence and accuracy. Learn more in the full article.
Look, don’t take our mockery of Pence’s vanity as a slight on McKinney. If anything, Pence is the one disrespecting McKinney by refusing to publicly admit that he attended Indiana’s less prestigious law school. Hell, even Dan Quayle is willing to admit he went to McKinney, and oh my God we’re now looking up at the Quayle as a role model for the office!
UPDATE: A tipster says that Pence didn’t go to Hanover in 1981, but rather graduated in 1981, suggesting there may be some sloppy editing all the way around on this bio.
UPDATE: Apparently, other folks have noticed Pence’s liberal use of “Indiana University School of Law.” At the Women’s March on Washington last weekend, someone captured a picture of this sign:
The final hashtag, #PenceDidNotGo2Maurer, may be the least socially important, but it’s certainly near and dear to a lot of students’ hearts.
Earlier: Mike Pence Is As Unfunny As Every Other Law Student
Joe Patrice is an 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.