William Cohen, RIP

I just learned that William Cohen, the C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law Emeritus at Stanford Law School, died last month at age 81.  He clerked for Justice Douglas, and taught at Minnesota, UCLA, and then Stanford from 1970-99.  He taught Torts, Constitutional Law, and Federal Courts with an exceptional combination of scholarly depth, practical wisdom and good humor.  Obit here.  

Requiescat in pace, Bill.

Comments

[Jeff Lipshaw]

I had Bill for Con Law in 1977 and for Federal Courts in 1978. He wasn't everybody's cup of tea but I liked him a lot. Hence, my choosing to take him for an elective. Perhaps we thought alike because I did well in his classes. "You could move the Capitol to the bottom of the Potomac. It would be stupid but it wouldn't be unconstitutional."

[Bernie Burk]

Jeff, I agree that Bill did not enjoy universal adoration. He addressed hard topics with respect for their complexity, which tried some folks' patience. I confess I found his Federal Courts class enthralling. But I'm a geek.

Bernie

[Mike Madison]

I had Bill Cohen for 3 classes: Torts (in which his favorite quotation, summing up any particularly obtuse body of cases, was "Who are those guys?," from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), Con Law II, and Federal Courts. To this day I make good use of some things that he taught me in that class. But just as I remember his fondness for Butch Cassidy, I remember his characterizing the then-members of the Supreme Court in sci fi terms. Byron White, for example, was Mr. Spock: Pure logic! William Rehnquist was Darth Vader. And William Brennan was Yoda. In Bill Cohen's words, attributed with an appropriately high-pitched squeak to Justice Brennan: "Make you a liberal, I will!"