The gala was held
Thursday, April 24, 2025
at the
Bullock Texas State History Museum
1800 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701
PROGRAM
Click here to view the Gala program.
WELCOME
Susan C. Morse
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs,
The University of Texas School of Law
OPENING REMARKS FROM EVENT EMCEES
George E. Farenthold, II
Abby Rapoport
SPONSOR’S WELCOME
Lori Pelletier
Vice President, American Income Life
POETRY READING
Mónica A. Jiménez
Assistant Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies
DINNER
REMARKS FROM RAPOPORT CENTER CO-DIRECTORS
Karen Engle, Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law
Neville Hoad, Associate Professor, English
ANNIVERSARY VIDEO
KEYNOTE
Congressman Jamie Raskin
U.S. Representative
Maryland’s 8th Congressional District
Introduced by Karen Engle
About our Keynote Speaker:
CONGRESSMAN JAMIE RASKIN is serving his fifth term representing Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and a co-chair of the Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group of the House Democratic Caucus.
From 2019 to 2023, Rep. Raskin was Chair of the Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, where he zealously defended voting rights, free speech, the rights of labor and working people, and reproductive freedom and the rights of women. In addition, he was the lead impeachment manager in the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump and served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Raskin is Vice-Chair of Organizing for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the founder and leader of Democracy Summer, the Democratic Party’s acclaimed nationwide program that has engaged thousands of young people in training for political activism and leadership for strong democracy and freedom.
Before being elected to Congress, Rep. Raskin was a Maryland State Senator. In his three terms, he rose to become Majority Whip and became well-known for building bipartisan coalitions and leading complex floor fights to pass major legislation, including marriage equality, abolition of the death penalty, restoration of voting rights to former prisoners, and the first National Popular Vote measure in America.
Rep. Raskin was a professor of constitutional law for a quarter- century at American University’s Washington College of Law. He has written dozens of articles and several notable books, including, most recently, New York Times #1 best-seller Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy (2022). He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.