Last month, former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson voluntarily withdrew from his scheduled commencement address at USC’s Gould School of Law after law professors and students protested Secretary Johnson’s role in the detention of asylum-seekers during his time with the Obama administration. Rather than allow the protest to become a distraction for the graduating class, Johnson did the mature thing that far too many speakers don’t and stepped back because commencement isn’t the time or place to litigate the finer points of immigration policy.
This weekend, the Secretary spoke to the graduating class at St. John’s Law, offering everyone a peek at the speech that might have been if he’d ultimately spoken at USC. Or maybe not. In a lot of ways, the remarks feel like a speech shaped by the experience with USC, but not in a negative way. Unlike a lot of “calls for civility,” Johnson isn’t taking a swipe at his detractors as much as defending the legal profession as a place where honest policy disagreement and critique should thrive.
He opens the speech with some strong humor:
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I’m one of the few Democrats left who appears on MSNBC and is not running for President, or anything else.
Well played.
In his most direct acknowledgment of the USC speech, Secretary Johnson admits that there is ground for criticism before explicitly turning the blame not on students, but on political leaders poisoning the process of discourse:
In 2019 you enter our profession at a time when public confidence in our leaders, many of whom are lawyers, is extremely low.
The administration in which I served was not perfect. We had our shares of mistakes and setbacks. But, like many Americans, I watch with growing despair and alarm as the standards of behavior, decency and ethics among our nation’s political leaders spiral downward.
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From Trump to Roy Moore to the oft-forgotten Greg Gianforte, Johnson described the disturbing trend of a public willing to shrug its shoulders at misconduct and wallow in spectacle over substance. It’s a theme that makes his decision to walk away from the USC speech make a lot of sense. It feels as if Johnson would love to engage in a debate about his tenure in the cabinet and to explain why the administration took the stances it did, based on the information it had at the time, even if some of those calls turned out wrong. But he also knew that trying to have that discussion was going to be swallowed up into Tucker Carlson bleating about “out of control campuses” for the benefit of a primetime ratings bump that he’d rather not feed.
His advice for keeping the legal profession above the morass that consumes the rest of public discourse? Keep your word, offer no compromise in demanding truth and accuracy, respect the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege, and constantly rededicate oneself to treating others with respect and, by extension, diversity:
Next, rededicate yourselves to treating others with respect. Treat others, superiors and subordinates, men and women, associates, as you would be treated, or as you would want your child or your spouse to be treated. Never forget what it was like to be the scared first-year law student, the new kid in the dorm, the new clerk in the judicial chambers, or the new first-year associate in the firm, and how you were treated then. Recall those who took the time to mentor you and treat you with courtesy and patience, and, on the other hand, those others who took the opportunity to put you down to build themselves up.
As bleak as things look now, Johnson is optimistic that it can turn around if the legal profession holds true to its principles. He encouraged the class to take a long-view. As he put it, he’s a guy once terrified of public speaking and struggling in school has a distinguished Biglaw career and a stint in a presidential cabinet. Who knows what the future holds?
But not a presidential campaign… that’s a field he’s happy to steer clear of.
Earlier: Law School Professors Protest Graduation Speaker — Prepare For Fauxtroversy Over Free Speech
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.