University of Texas School of Law - Peregrinus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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the administration. Confidential copies of the petition will be ent to the law school administrators, the UT jystem Board of Regents and UT President : rry Faulkner. Morales delays final decision on appeal Monday, April 20, 1998 By Jennie Kennedy, Daily Texan Staff Texas State Attorney General Dan Morales ielayed making a final decision on whether to ppeal the Hopwood ruling Friday. Morales did file a notice of appeal in the iopwood case, however, at the request of UT ystem officials. Appeal likely for Hopwood decision Monday, April 27, 1998 By Amy Strahan, DaUy Texan Staff The UT System ' s top attorney said Friday he Hopwood ruling will be appealed even if exas Attorney General Dan Morales refuses 3 take the case. While UT students, officials and state groups ask for a reevaluation of the ruling, Morales has said he might not appeal on behalf of the UT System because he doesn ' t think the University ' s case to reinstate affirmative action in higher education can be won. Morales refuses to appeal Hopwood case Wednesday, April 29, 1998 By Jennie Kennedy, Daily Texan Staff Texas Attorney General Dan Morales announced Tuesday he will not appeal the Hopwood ruling on behalf of the UT System, stating that race-neutral policies are more equitable than affirmative action. But Morales said he will consider allowing the University to seek outside pro bono coun- sel. Regents to consider appeal at meeting Tuesday, May 12, 1998 By Jennie Kennedy, Daily Texan Staff The UT System Board of Regents will con- sider the fate of an appeal of the Hopwood ruling at Wednesday ' s meeting in Odessa. After Texas Attorney General Dan Morales decided last month he would not seek an appeal of the 5th Circuit ruling in the anti- affirmative action case, he said he would con- sider allowing the University to seek outside pro bono counsel. UT officials hope an appeal of the Hopwood settlement will lead to a reevaluation of affii ' - mative acfion pohcies in Texas. Regents choose to appeal Hopwood case Wednesday, May 13, 1998 The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System chose Wednesday to appeal the Hopwood case on behalf of the University of Texas and to request Attorney General Dan Morales authorize the University to retain outside counsel to handle the appeal. The Daily Texan Grappling with Hopwood - 13

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Plaintiffs in the affirmative action suit that ended the use of race in admissions and financial aid at the University said Sunday they will appeal a $1 settlement issued by a federal judge last week. A U.S. district ju dge ruled Friday that each of the four plaintiffs in the March 1996 Hopwood vs. Texas case would receive $1, not nearly $5 million they demanded in their lawsuit against the UT System for its affirma- tive action policies. After being rejected for admission by the UT School of Law in 1992, the four white plain- tiffs successfully challenged the University ' s law school admissions policies created to boost minority enrollment. Texas law journals will be debating standardized test Friday, March 27, 1998 By Jarred Dunn, Daily Texan Staff Two Texas law journals will hold a discus- sion at the UT School of Law in April to debate the legitimacy and application of stan- dardized tests in admissions. Claiming that similar talks organized by UT administrators failed to acknowledge alterna- tives to affirmative action in countering declining minority enrollment at the law school, editors of the journals decided to orga nize their own event. The April 7 talks are organized by the Texas Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy and the Texas Forum on Civil Liberties Civil Rights. The discussion will center on the Law School Admissions Test, the standardized test all law school applicants must take. UT wants appeal of Hopwood settlement Thursday, Aprill6, 1998 By lennie Kennedy, Daily Texan Staff UT System officials said Wednesday they hope an appeal of the settlement ruling in the Hopwood case will lead to a re-evaluation of affirmative action policies in Texas higher education. In a letter Tuesday, UT System Chancellor William Cunningham asked Texas State Attorney General Dan Morales to appeal the settlement issued March 20 by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, UT System General Counsel Ray Farabee said Wednesday. In Sparks ' settlement ruling, he issued an injunction against the UT School of Law pro- hibiting it under a higher court ruUng from using race as a factor in admissions. 624 students demand review of law school Friday, April 17, 1998 By Krissah Williams, Daily Texan Staff UT law students said they will submit a pefi- tion to UT officials Friday demanding an external review of the law school ' s adminis- trative practices. The pefition has garnered 624 student signa- tures. Contents of the petition were not disclosed because supporters feel it contains informa- tion which could be potentially embarrassing 4 Morale 12 - Grappling with Hopwood

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Professor Charles Alan Wright Retires After 42 Years at the UT School of Law With a career spanning more than a third of the Law School ' s history, Charles Allan Wright is retiring this year after 42 years at The University of Texas School of Law. Professor Wright arrived at the University as a tenured Associate Professor from Minnesota in 1955. He was a northeasterner, a Republican, and an inte- grationist -- all foreign qualities as far as Austinites were con- cerned. Even his speech, dress, and demeanor were somewhat formal compared to Texas local style, but his self confi- dence put him at ease in his new environment. At the age of 28, Wright had already pub- lished as much as anyone at the School of Law. Considered a regional institution when he arrived, the law school was just beginning its third year in Townes Hall. Three years later Wright was elected to the American Law Institute. The Law School Foundation was still in its early stages at that time, and salaries were well below the national average. Wright, howev- er, remained loyal to Texas over the years, accepting only visiting appointments at Harvard, Penn, Yale and Cambridge. Wright ' s distinguished career of over four decades has earned him a reputation that rests on both the quality and quantity of his work. Federal Practice and Procedure is considered by many to be his great- est contribu- tion to the law. It is the essential ret erence work on federal courts, and though It now has almost fifty volumes and he has a team of distin- guished co- authors working with him, Wright is the orga- nizer of the entire project, and the only author common to all volumes. Since the publication deals with procedure, and every liti- gated case potentially raises procedural issues, it is an indispensable ref- erence for lawyers. Charles Wright ' s repu- tation as a Supreme Court advocate also has brought him fame. He won ten out of the twelve Supreme Court cases that he has argued, sever- al considered landmark cases. Though unsuc- cessful in arguing that Congress could not sub- ject the states to the Fair Labor Standards Act in Maryland v. Wirtz, he successfully attacked Congress ' power to lower the voting age to eigh- teen in state elections in Oregon v. Mitchell. Wright unsuccessfully defended the constitu- tionality of the Texas capital punishment statute in Fiirman v. Georgia, but he success- fully defended the power of circuit judicial coun- cils to remove federal judges from active duty in Chandler v. Judicial Council. He also success- fully argued in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez that local vari- ations in educational funding were beyond the reach of the Equal Protection Clause. Perhaps most spectacularly, Wright suc- c e s s f u 1 1 y argued for reversal of a default judgement against Howard Hughes in excess of $145 million in Hughes Tool Co. V. Trans World Airlines. Though he may be most widely known for his representation of Richard Nixon on con- stitutional issues pertain- ing to Watergate, Wright ' s association with the President may have brought him fame, but seems to have ended his career at the Supreme Court. He has only argued one case since Watergate, successfully defending the free speech rights of a citizen in City of Houston V. Hill. He also has garnered a reputation from his work for the American Law Institute. In 1963 he became one of the reporters for the Institute ' s Study of the Division of Jurisdiction Between State and Federal Courts. He later became an active member of the Council, and he is now the first academic to serve as president of the Institute. Wright has also served for many years on count- less committees, boards and commissions from the national to the local level. He has served on three Presidential Search Committees, and he played a critical role as the chair of the Appointments Committee after the dean ' s search at the law school in 1979. He put his credibility and repu- tation on the line by assuring future candi- dates that the law school and its alumni would work together in the future to make a great law school. Professor Wright will continue to teach half- time, and he wiU contin- ue his scholarship and his American Law Institute work for as long as he is able, but as long as students come to Texas to seek knowledge of the law, his presence and influence will be felt at The University of Texas School of Law. To Professor Wright, the 1998 Peregrinus Law School Yearbook is respectfully dedicated. 14 — Charles Alan Wright