'Rule of law' takes center stage at law school commencements

By Karen Sloan

May 21 (Reuters) - Defending the rule of law has emerged as a recurring theme on this year's law school commencement circuit, with speakers urging graduates to use their new degrees to protect freedom and democracy at a time of political strife.

A handful of speakers have condemned President Donald Trump by name from the dais, including Minnesota governor and 2024 vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who called Trump a “tyrant” during his Saturday address to graduates of the University of Minnesota. But a more common approach among 2025 law commencement speakers thus far has been to avoid naming Trump while alluding to his administration, which has come under fire for what critics say is a trampling of immigrants rights, overreach by the executive branch and attacks on the judiciary.

“We are living at an inflection point in American history," American Civil Liberties Union President Deborah Archer told Seattle University law graduates on Sunday. "Our democracy, our rights and the systems we rely on to protect them are under threat."

Former U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke did not mention Trump directly in his Friday address to University of Southern California law graduates but spent the bulk of his speech recounting the decades-long effort to secure civil rights and voting rights. Today's law graduates must similarly push back against efforts to "undermine" the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution, he said.

"Will we submit to the powerful and strong, or will we continue to be ruled by the law?" O'Rourke asked.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu on May 12 told graduates of the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco that it is both a challenging and important time to be a lawyer.

"You are officers of the court, guardians of the rule of law — with the fate of our democracy in your hands,” Liu said.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is among the handful of speakers to directly address Trump from the commencement podium. He focused his Sunday address to Suffolk University Law School graduates on what he called Trump’s attacks on the rule of law.

The president, he said, “is in the middle of bullying law firms into turning over their pro bono hours to him and revoking their security clearances because they took on clients that he perceives as enemies to himself.”

Trump has accused law firms of "weaponizing" the legal system, citing their connections to his legal and political adversaries and their work on cases he opposes related to voting rights and other issues. He has issued executive orders against four law firms that seek to cancel their contracts with the government and block their attorneys from accessing federal buildings and officials, though judges have blocked key provisions of the orders.

Virginia Supreme Court Justice Wesley Russell urged graduates of George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School to prioritize civility and engage in a meaningful way with people they disagree with. He lamented what he called the misuse of the words "unconstitutional" and "fascist."

"Just scream that it's unconstitutional and you never actually have to engage with the idea," Russell said.

Not all of this year's commencement speeches have centered on political turmoil, however.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar used her Monday address to Yale law graduates to share her five rules for oral argument — after the Harvard Law alumna noted that Yale law waitlisted her.

Among those rules is to "prize your integrity" and "always keep fighting."

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