Rodger D. Citron*
Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship& Professor of Law
2014 © Posted with permission from the author.
Drew S. Days, III, lived an extraordinary life in the law. Born in the segregated South, Days graduated from Yale Law School in 1966 and pursued a career as a civil rights lawyer. In 1977, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
After his stint in the administration of President Jimmy Carter, Days became a professor at Yale Law School. In 1993, Days returned to the federal government after President Bill Clinton appointed him Solicitor General of the United States. He served in that position until 1996 then returned to Yale Law School as a professor.
Days died earlier this month at the age of 79. Regarding Days, former Yale Law School Dean and Sterling Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh said, “Drew was a gentle, courageous lawyer of principle, deeply committed to human and civil rights. He always spoke quietly and modestly, but with such moral authority.” Koh added that Days “cared nothing for titles or recognition because his client was always the Constitution, not the political powers of the moment. His life will be remembered as a reminder of the moral urgency of putting principle first.”
In 2011, Days visited Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center to deliver the Howard A. Glickstein Civil Rights and Public Policy Lecture. As part of his visit, Professor Days was interviewed by Professor Rodger Citron about his life and career. An edited transcript of their conversation, published in the Touro Law Review in 2014, follows.
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