Robert Drinan - Teaching, Writing, and Later Life

Teaching, Writing, and Later Life

Drinan taught at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. from 1981 to 2007, where his academic work and classes focused on legal ethics and international human rights. He privately sponsored human rights missions to countries such as Chile, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Vietnam. In 1987, he founded the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. He regularly contributed to law reviews and journals, and authored several books, including The Mobilization of Shame: A World View of Human Rights, published by Yale University Press in 2001.

Drinan continued to be a vocal supporter of abortion rights, much to the ire of the Catholic Church, and notably spoke out in support of President Bill Clinton's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 1996. In his weekly column for the Catholic New York, Cardinal John O'Connor sharply denounced Drinan. "You could have raised your voice for life; you raised it for death," the cardinal wrote, "Hardly the role of a lawyer. Surely not the role of a priest."

Drinan died of pneumonia and congestive heart failure on January 28, 2007 in Washington, D.C.

Upon Drinan's death, Georgetown University Law Center Dean, T. Alexander Aleinikoff, made the following statement: "Few have accomplished as much as Father Drinan and fewer still have done so much to make the world a better place. His passing is a terrible loss for the community, the country and the world."

John H. Garvey, Dean of the Boston College Law School, said, "It is difficult to say in a few words what Father Drinan means to this institution. It is safe to say that his efforts as Dean forever changed how the Law School does business, taking us from a regional school to a nationally recognized leader in legal education. He did this without diminishing the essential core of what makes BC Law special, maintaining our commitment to educating the whole person—mind, body and spirit—while nourishing a community of learners intent on supporting one another in reaching their common goal. When we say that Boston College Law School educates “lawyers who lead good lives,” we need look no further than Father Drinan to understand what those words mean. We are forever in his debt."

Following his death, many Georgetown Law School students and faculty shared their reminiscences of Father Drinan, and wrote of his influence on their lives, on Georgetown University's website. Georgetown Law Magazine published a special tribute supplement in Spring 2007.