School Notes: Yale Law School
March/April 2019

Pauli Murray portrait unveiled

On November 12, the Law School hosted an unveiling of a portrait of Pauli Murray ’65JSD. Speakers included the Honorable Inez Smith Reid ’62LLB, former DC corporation counsel and judge of the DC Court of Appeals; and University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Serena Mayeri ’01JD, ’06PhD. Dean Heather K. Gerken said the unveiling marked an occasion where the Law School could “proudly claim her as our own . . . not because we made her who she was, but because she epitomizes who we want our students to be.” The portrait, by Connecticut artist Daniel Mark Duffy, was made possible thanks to the generosity of Michael Varet ’65LLB and his wife Elizabeth. The ceremony paid tribute to Murray as a trailblazer in civil rights and women’s rights who contributed immensely to the dismantling of segregation and discrimination. Murray was the first African American to receive a JSD degree from the Law School.

Professor writes biography of his grandmother

In his latest book, Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster, Professor Stephen L. Carter ’79JD tells the moving story of the life and work of his grandmother, Eunice Hunton Carter (1899–1970), the mastermind behind the operation that successfully captured and prosecuted mobster Lucky Luciano. Carter’s portrait of his grandmother reveals a complex and inspiring life. 

Book explores balance between religious freedom and LGBT rights

In Religious Freedom, LGBT Rights, and Prospects for Common Ground, Professor William N. Eskridge Jr. ’78JD and coeditor Robin F. Wilson tackle the thorny problem of how to balance religious freedom rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. The compilation includes 35 essays that bring into dialogue leading voices in the faith and LGBT advocacy communities, together with equality and religious liberty scholars, to examine whether laws can be created that protect LGBT individuals from discrimination without encroaching on religious liberty. The contributors offer an expansive view of contemporary culture-war conflicts around faith and sexuality—from Obergefell to Masterpiece Cakeshop—and explore whether communities with significant differences in belief can reach mutually agreeable solutions.