TEACHING CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND ILLINOIS STATE POLITICS

Chapter 5 TEACHING CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND ILLINOIS STATE POLITICS

There are times when I want to do everything and be everything. I want to have time to read and swim with the kids and not disappoint my voters and do a really careful job on each and every thing that I do. And that can sometimes get me into trouble. That’s historically been one of my bigger faults. I mean, I was trying to organize Project Vote at the same time as I was writing a book, and there are only so many hours in a day.

—Barack Obama In 1991, Barack graduated from Harvard Law School. Because of his posi-

tion with the Law Review and graduating magna cum laude, he was heav- ily recruited by numerous law firms and also by a chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., circuit, a very powerful and prestigious position. Judd Miner, a partner in a firm specializing in civil rights cases, read about Barack in a Chicago publication and decided to give him a call at the Law Review. Miner was told that Barack was un- available and was asked if he was making a recruiting call. When Miner said that he was, he was told he would be put on a list and that he was

number 643. 1 Despite being heavily recruited, Barack was determined to return to the South Side of Chicago. One of his motivations in attend- ing law school had been to gain knowledge that would make him a more effective leader. With his law degree and working in civil rights, as well as continuing to be a community organizer and representing victims of housing and employment discrimination, he believed he could effect real changes. He also wanted to be part of a community and put down roots in

52 BARACK OBAMA

Chicago. The call Miner made to Barack turned out to be quite fortuitous. After several discussions, Barack decided to join Miner’s firm because he felt it fit with his commitment to community work.

After law school, when Barack moved back to Chicago, he found that the South Side had continued to slide toward decay. The neighborhoods were shabbier, the children less controlled, and some middle-class fami- lies that he’d come to know and that were part of the foundation of his community activism were moving out of the area to the suburbs. The jails were at capacity, and too many people were living without prospects, di- rection, or the ability to support themselves.

While a student at Harvard Law, Barack worked as a summer law as- sociate at a Chicago law firm. There he met Michelle Robinson, a gradu- ate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School and a practicing attorney at the firm. Michelle, a product of Chicago’s South Side public schools, says her working-class parents sacrificed to put her and her brother through Princeton University. Michelle said of her parents, “I marvel at the level of commitment and sacrifice that they must have made to get us to achieve our dreams.” Of meeting Barack at the law firm, Michelle said she was ready to “write him off ” when she first met him. “His name was Barack Obama, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m sure this guy is weird, right?’ ” And when she learned he grew up in Hawaii and spent his formative years on an island, she thought, “Well, you’ve got to be a little nuts.” Barack, she says, quickly changed her mind after their first conversation. 2

Barack was mesmerized by Michelle and vowed to go out on a date with her. According to Michelle, “He made the first move. I was skeptical at first; everyone was raving about this smart, attractive, young first-year as- sociate they recruited from Harvard. Everyone was like, ‘Oh, he’s brilliant, he’s amazing and he’s attractive.’ I said, ‘Okay, this is probably just a Brother who can talk straight.’ Then I heard that he grew up in Hawaii. Weird background, so I said he’s probably a little odd, strange. I already had in my mind that this guy was going to be lame. Then we went to lunch that first day and I was really impressed. First, he was more attractive than his picture. He came in confident, at ease with himself. He was easy to talk to and had a good sense of humor.” Michelle also says she was impressed by Barack’s commitment to the community, yet for a month she refused to

go out with him. 3 Michelle finally relented, and on the couple’s first date they went to dinner and saw a movie. For his part, Barack says he knew almost immediately upon meeting Michelle that she was the woman he would marry. He was swept off his feet, but she needed more convincing; in fact, she thought he was too good to be true and thought about setting him up with a friend. She thought that it wasn’t appropriate to date some-

53 Later, after they were engaged to be married, Barack took Michelle to

T E A C H I N G C O N S T I T U T I O N A L L AW

Kenya. His family welcomed her with open arms. While there, they helped Auma, Barack’s half sister, with a film project and spent time listening to Granny’s stories. Barack learned that the inheritance fight remained un- resolved and that, because the economy and life in Kenya had become even more difficult since his trip a few years before, many members of his family had not yet found steady work. Barack and Michelle also visited Barack’s grandparents, Gramps and Toots, in Hawaii. Gramps described Michelle as “a looker,” and Toots thought Michelle seemed very sensible,

which Barack knew, coming from Toots, was very high praise. 5 Before they were married in 1992, Michelle’s father died, as did Gramps. After their marriage, Barack and Michelle moved to Hyde Park, located on Chicago’s South Side, and, in 1998, their first daughter, Malia, was born. Sasha, their second daughter, was born in 2001.

Barack had vowed when he left for law school to return to the South Side neighborhoods and effect change, and so he went to work. He was already known as a good organizer throughout the South Side through his work with the Developing Communities Project; however, not long after he returned from law school, Barack was noticed by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, one of the

largest community organizations in the United States. 6 They asked him to help with a lawsuit to challenge the state of Illinois’s refusal to abide by the National Voting Rights Act. At the time, Illinois did not allow for mass-based voter registration. Barack took the case, known as ACORN v. Edgar (Jim Edgar was the governor of Illinois at the time), and he won

it. 7 In 1992, Barack became the director of Illinois Project Vote, help- ing register nearly 50,000 voters, many of whom were low-income minorities. 8

In 1993, Barack went to work for a public interest law firm, where he worked as a civil rights attorney. Working on employment discrimination, fair housing, and voting rights issues, he essayed to effect real changes in the same neighborhoods where he had been a community organizer years before. While working at the law firm, he was named in Crain’s magazine’s

list of “40 under 40” outstanding young leaders in the city of Chicago. 9 Barack also joined the University of Chicago Law School as a senior lec- turer, teaching constitutional law. After three years of teaching and work- ing as a civil rights attorney, Barack decided to enter politics.