Pepperdine University has named Tenth Circuit Judge Deanell Reece Tacha as its new dean. Tacha has been on the federal bench for 25 years, appointed in 1985 by Ronald Reagen. Before joining the bench, she was a law school professor and associate dean, and vice chancellor for academic affairs, at the University of Kansas.
Pepperdine is now developing a tradition of tapping conservative federal judges as dean. Tacha, of course, follows on the heels of Judge Kenneth Starr. Much like Starr, Tacha's name surfaced as a possible Supreme Court nominee. In 2005, the Washington Post reported that President Bush was considering her as a replacement for Justice O'Connor. Handicapping the next Pepperdine dean search, Michael Luttig certainly comes to mind! (Although it would be awfully tough to match Luttig's $2+ million Boeing salary…)
As a proud Pepperdine alum and former Kansas resident, I am delighted to hear this news. As an interesting side note, Judge (and soon-to-be Dean) Tacha will probably be the only law school Dean in the country with "Dean" in her first name.
I don't think I would describe Judge Tacha as "conservative" as that term is presently understood; "moderate" or "Eisenhower Republican" would be a more apt characterization.
Dan,
Thanks for posting about Dean Tacha, we are very excited about her appointment. With that said, I'd like to register my disagreement with your characterization of her as a conservative akin to Starr or Luttig (or with the fact that 2 of anything counts as a "tradition").
On the conservative assertion, perhaps the best counterargument is the fact that Emily Bazelon and David Newman writing at Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2122079/) created a shortlist of candidates as a counter to the lists of "radical right wing" candidates being kicked around at the time. Their criteria for their shortlist were distinguished jurists who believe in moderation, judicial restraint, and deference to Congress. I doubt Bazelon and Newman would count Starr or Luttig as having such qualifications, and I'm sure they wouldn't put either on their *preferred* shortlist of Bush SCOTUS appointments. An Emily Bazelon endorsement does a lot of things, but as a conservative I can confidently state that it doesn't warm the hearts of conservatives and I think calls into question the notion that we've appointed a "conservative federal judge."
More importantly, let's look at Tacha's merits. What impressed us as a faculty, and what I'm certain would have impressed many law schools were her experiences as:
– a law professor
– an associate dean at a law school
– an associate vice chancellor
– a vice chancellor (provost)
– a federal appellate court judge, with administrative experience as chief judge.
She will also be the first female dean in the history of our law school, and we are proud to add gender diversity to our list of important considerations.
You follow these searches closely enough to know that the pool of law dean candidates with her profile and any one of those significant administrative experiences is pretty limited (it may even be a class of one). To reduce her appointment to "conservative judge" is a bit simplistic and unfair. I get that you were joking, but I think it's important to not caricature people, especially as in this case when it suggests that politics or ideology somehow trumped her substantial qualifications.