In addition to his memorable name, remarkable frame, and being one of Alabama’s statewide leaders during a tumultuous time in state politics, former U.S. Senator and state Attorney General Luther Strange is still building a legacy.

The Luther Strange public service lecture at UA Law officially launched last week, marking the creation of a new speaker series focused on public service and leadership.

Strange established the lecture series to emphasize the role of public service in shaping the nation’s legal, governmental, and social landscape. The inaugural lecture took place Feb. 16 at the UA School of Law.

“…My hope is that our speaker series will inform and inspire you, our law students, to consider public service some point in your legal careers,” Strange said at the launch. “The state needs it, and I promise you will not regret it.”

The Attorney General Luther Strange Public Service Lecture Series will feature prominent public figures who have demonstrated exemplary public service, offering insights from their careers to students, faculty, alumni, and members of the broader legal community, reinforcing the importance of legal professionals serving the public good.

The inaugural keynote speaker was Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter Jonathan Skrmetti, who was sworn into office in September 2022. Prior to becoming attorney general, Skrmetti served as chief counsel to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and as chief deputy attorney general.

The theme of Skrmetti’s address was the importance of our nation’s constitutional system, stressing the importance of the rule of law.

“We have an obligation to the people who came before us and to the generations that will follow us, to reinforce the rule of law and leave our country better than we found it. So how do we do that? Well, to reinforce and revitalize the rule of law in America, we have to understand it. The most fundamental principles of American government are popular sovereignty and separation of powers. Everything in American law is downstream of the consent of the governed. The animating force behind every legal authority you encounter is ultimately the American people…But what harms our country are elite constraints on democratic processes that appear invented out of whole cloth, law, not of the people, by the people and for the people, but imposed on the people. This all contributes to a more general resentment that the law is getting stricter and stricter for the people who follow it, while those who break the law have an easier and easier time.”

This judicial activism has corroded the democratic process and civic engagement, Skrmetti argued.

“Instead of having a tiny group of rogue Magi dictate the law, the people have to engage with one another and arrive at the answer,” he said. “Each side brings its best arguments, and if there’s no clear winner, they find a compromise, or they keep trying to win. They try to win over adherence through either argument or election. And there’s an empirical component there, too. If things don’t work, if the answer they arrive at is the wrong answer, they can go back and change it.”

Skrmetti went on to lament that this ideal process has not only been warped by the judiciary, but because “shifting all meaningful decision-making to the executive branch is contributing to unprecedented polarization in our country.”

However, Skrmetti says, law students play an important role in salvaging the nation’s institutions.

“So I leave you with this charge, leave the law better than you found it,” Skrmetti said. “You have been blessed with a gift millennia in the making, and you have the opportunity to make it even better for those yet to come. I have no doubt you will thank you.”

After concluding his address, Skrmetti took questions from students both asking for insight on current affairs and pushing back on his arguments, engaging in the very civic discourse his address championed.

Carter Ashcraft is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News. He is a graduate of The University of Alabama, a rising law student, and has worked professionally across roles in Alabama state government. He can be reached at [email protected]