David Baldus: Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, and Friend

• Author: Gail B. Agrawal
• Position: Professor of Law, University of Iowa
• Pages: 1867-1870

1867

David Baldus: Scholar, Teacher, Mentor,

and Friend

Gail B. Agrawal

In early spring 2010, my colleagues Jim Tomkovicz and Margaret

Raymond (who since has become dean of the University of Wisconsin law

school) began planning an academic conference to commemorate the 25th

anniversary of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in

Batson v. Kentucky. As accomplished teachers and scholars in criminal law

and procedure, they wanted to examine Batson’s legacy—the ways in which it

has changed, and failed to change—the law governing jury trials in criminal

cases. Our colleague David Baldus, world-renowned empirical legal scholar

of the death penalty, readily accepted an invitation to participate in the

conference, despite a recent diagnosis of colon cancer and the physical

challenges that accompany surgery and chemotherapy.

As plans for the Batson conference progressed, David Baldus’s health

deteriorated. In his typical fashion, he soldiered on with his academic work,

exhibiting incredible energy but having no illusions about the reality that his

time was limited. Producing his article for the Batson conference was one of

the projects he was determined to complete.

Soon, Professors Raymond and Tomkovicz approached me to ask

whether we might expand the Batson event to include some speakers and

papers in tribute to David Baldus and his remarkable body of work. Of

course my answer was “yes.” The difficult question was whether Professor

Baldus could be persuaded to agree. Eventually, our carefully crafted and

persistent attempts to persuade him bore fruit. He graciously, if somewhat

reluctantly, consented to the plan with the understanding he would develop

the list of those invited to participate.

As we began to plan the “Baldus festschrift” that was to accompany the

Batson conference, we held on to the hope that David would be present to

take part in the program organized in his honor, to engage in a thoughtful

dialogue with his academic colleagues, and to share the burdens of those

who represent clients facing the death penalty. It was not to be. David

Baldus, the Joseph B. Tye Professor of Law, died peacefully at home on June

13, 2011. Many of the invitations to participate in the program in his honor

 Dean and F. Wendell Miller Professor of Law, University of Iowa.