George

Tom's former father-in-law, George Anastaplo, died last night at his home in Hyde Park, a few blocks from the University of Chicago. He was born to Greek immigrants in 1925 and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He earned both his BA and JD at the University of Chicago and held countless academic honors.

George was an internationally respected expert on Constitutional law. He is perhaps most famous for refusing to answer questions about whether or not he had been a member of the Communist Party, part of the routine examination before being admitted to the Illinois bar in the heady days of the Red Scare of the early 1950s. The resulting denial of his admission to the Illinois state bar became a Supreme Court case, In re Anastaplo, in which he insisted that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the privacy of political affiliations; in particular, he refused to answer questions about membership in the Communist Party. His stand was based on Constitutional principles and consequent rejection of McCarthyism, and nobody alleged that he had membership in the Communist Party. The Supreme Court's majority upheld the lower courts' ruling in favor of the Illinois Bar, although Justice Hugo Black dissented. After his Supreme Court case and denial of admission to the Bar, Anastaplo supported his family by teaching at the University of Chicago and other universities and colleges and by writing many books and articles. He had been honored by the University of Dallas, where I did my own MA, and when I worked at the downtown campus of Loyola University in Chicago, I often saw him going and coming in the Law School across from my office.

Because he took a firm stand on a matter he regarded as principle and was willing to accept the consequences, and perhaps as a nod to his Greek heritage, admirers referred to him as the "Socrates of Chicago."

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.