Stanford Law School and constitutional law have always been a pair in my mind, like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Of course he danced with other partners too, but some matches are just incomparably elegant. 

I didn’t know this at first, since I went to Harvard Law School. But while I was there, two books with links to Stanford Law School changed my life forever. In my second year, I studied constitutional law from the ninth edition of Gerald Gunther’s casebook. The book asked a lot of questions. It didn’t have many answers. But it beautifully mapped a blueprint of the field that I decided I wanted to work in for life.

 In my third year, I had the exhilarating experience of reading Democracy and Distrust, a new book by then–Harvard professor John Hart Ely. Crisp and astringent, witty in its prose, this book brilliantly expounded a theory of judicial review that tried to get the role of the Supreme Court in American democracy just right. Little did I know at the time that I would one day know both men as colleagues. Little did I know that I would inherit the honor of editing the great casebook that Gerry wrote. 

Little did I know that I would have the privilege of succeeding John as the third in a continuous line of four constitutional scholars appointed to serve as Dean of Stanford Law School. 

And little did I know that we would lose them both in such quick succession, Gerry in July 2002 and John the following fall. It’s a good thing we can still revisit them by reading aloud their writings, which conjure up Gerry’s Old Testament visage softened by his irrepressible charm, and John’s deadpan delivery belied by his lopsided grin. 

In the intervening years, it was my thrill and privilege to become a constitutional lawyer. It’s difficult to hang out a shingle in this field. Wills? No. Closings? No. But interpreting privacy, speech, religion, equal protection, federalism and separation of powers? Absolutely, at your service. 

I was lucky, then, that I got the chance to become a constitutional law professor. I have loved teaching two decades of students these topics. I have loved writing articles and op-eds in the field. I have loved talking about constitutional issues not only with John and Gerry but also with my other Stanford colleagues—Bill Cohen, Tom Grey, Pam Karlan, Larry Lessig, and of course my illustrious predecessor Paul Brest. 

Now that I’m passing on the deanship this autumn to yet another distinguished constitutional scholar, Larry Kramer, I look forward to launching a new center to celebrate and continue the Law School’s extraordinary constitutional legacy. 

There could hardly be a more urgent time to create a constitutional law center than the present. The impact of 9/11 has posed new, extraordinarily difficult challenges in balancing the interests of security and individual rights. The impact of digital technology has posed vexing new challenges in balancing property rights with the breathing room needed for creativity and freedom of speech. And globalization has created a new imperative to understand and appreciate other national and international constitutional systems. 

A new constitutional law center will be an important vehicle for tackling these issues. I envision the center as a lively hub of activity where scholars will gather to engage in discussions of constitutional theory, academics and government officials will gather with broader audiences to engage in public debate, and foreign judges and lawyers will gather to engage in comparative constitutional conversation. 

Most of all, I hope the center will be a place where talented Stanford law students and recent graduates will work with me on real constitutional cases. In my career I’ve had the chance to litigate a variety of constitutional matters that have informed my scholarship and enlivened my teaching. Nothing would please me more than to help teach the next generation of Stanford law students to do the same. 

I have been greatly honored to be your dean these past five years, and am deeply grateful to you for all we have accomplished. Now that I’m at last hanging out a new shingle that actually does say “constitutional law,” I hope we’ll see each other in this new setting for many years to come.