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Akron Law School dean participates in White House meetings
FRANK GEORGE
Legal News Reporter
Published: June 15, 2016
In May, Matthew Wilson, dean of the The University of Akron School of Law, paid a visit to the White House where he participated in meetings regarding the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Wilson’s attendance was part of an event called Ohio Day at the White House, a two-part occasion consisting of meetings at the Eisenhower building in the morning and an informal tour of the White House in the afternoon. Though a variety of Ohio leaders — from politicians to public interest group members — gathered to discuss the Supreme Court vacancy, Wilson was the only participant to represent a law school.
Dean Wilson’s Contributions to Ohio Day at the White House
Wilson said he suspects he was invited to attend these meetings because he, along with 40 other law school deans from across the country, recently signed a letter addressed to members of the Senate. This letter urged the Senate to take action to fill the vacancy that former Justice Antonin Scalia’s death left on the Supreme Court.
“There was a group of law school deans that started to communicate about not the nominee but about the nomination process and about the institution of the Supreme Court and the importance of having a fully staffed court,” Wilson said.
Since the death of Scalia in February, the Supreme Court has operated with just eight members on the court, rather than nine. Though President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the court in March, the Senate has not yet held a hearing concerning his nomination.
While some members of the Senate argue that President Obama is in the last year of his presidency and a new justice should not be selected until after the 2016 election, the letter signed by Wilson — and other law school deans — reaches a different conclusion.
“The Senate has no good reason to wait to consider a nominee until after the next president is elected, assumes office, and selects a nominee; such delay poses real harm to individuals, businesses, and the legal system itself,” the letter reads. “The Senate should fulfill its constitutional duties and established traditions not only to preserve the functioning of our nation’s judicial branch, but also to demonstrate and fulfill the important role of our legislative branch in this process.”
The meetings that took place at Ohio Day at the White House were off-the-record. While Wilson could not discuss the specific content of these meetings, he did make general comment on his contributions at the meeting. Specifically, Wilson said that he expressed an opinion that focused not on politics but on the importance of promptly filling the court’s vacancy.
“My admonition to the group was to find ways to work together across the political spectrum, across political ideologies, and basically come together for a common cause, which is the betterment of the country,” he said.
Matthew Akers, director of government relations at The University of Akron, made positive comment on Wilson’s involvement in Ohio Day at the White House.
“Dean Wilson’s participation in the meeting highlights the high regard with which both he and The University of Akron’s School of Law are held, especially since he was the only representative from any law school to participate in that meeting,” Akers said. “The White House sought out his academic and real world knowledge of how the law works to deal with an important political issue affecting the highest court in the land.”
Though Wilson would not provide his personal thoughts on the president’s Supreme Court nominee, he did say that there are problems associated with a Supreme Court that is not functioning at full capacity. Specifically, a court with only eight members can lead to tied decisions, which have a weakened degree of precedential value and pose questions as to how lower courts should apply these decisions.
Wilson said he also worries that the longer it takes the Senate to approve a nominee the more likely contentious nomination processes will arise again in the future. This could result in a precedent that makes it difficult for a president nearing the end of his or her tenure to select a Supreme Court justice.
A University’s Role in Governmental Proceedings
A university seeks to educate; according to Wilson, this sometimes means educating not only individual students but also society as a whole.
“[The university] is a place to learn; it’s a place to grow. It’s a place to take ideas and really inspect those ideas from inside and out and to challenge natural assumptions — really a place to grow and expand your mind,” Wilson said.
Wilson indicated, then, that he wants universities to make facts and information available to the public, present both sides of any given issue, and encourage “free and open discourse” regarding a host of current issues. Wilson said he believes his participation at meetings at the White House aligns well with these goals.
“The University of Akron School of Law being represented at a discussion at the White House regarding the nomination process...is part of the contribution a university can make to the overall public discourse,” Wilson said.
Akers also commented on the relationship between institutions of higher education and the government. He said that Wilson’s participation in Ohio Day at the White House “raises the profile and stature of The University of Akron and demonstrates that our law school and dean have an excellent reputation in our nation’s capital.”
Wilson concluded that he hopes his visit to the White House helped forward a message of unity.
“Here I am as an individual with my own ideas and my own opinions really seeing if I can’t, through my mere words, try to get individuals and parties that are fighting to see the good in one another, to see the value and understand the importance of the institution, and try to find a middle ground to come together to work as one,” Wilson said.