Robert Drinan

Father Robert Frederick Drinan (b. November 15, 1920, Boston, Massachusetts) is a Jesuit Catholic priest, lawyer, human rights activist, and a former U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts. He is currently a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Drinan received a BA and an MA from Boston College in 1942 and joined the Jesuit Order the same year; he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1953. He received an LLM and LLB from Georgetown University Law Center in 1950, and a doctorate in theology from Gregorian University in Rome in 1954, in addition to receiving 21 honorary degrees throughout his life. He studied in Florence for two years before returning to Boston, where he was admitted to the bar in 1956. He served as dean of the Boston College Law School from 1956 until 1970, during which time he also taught as a professor of family law and church-state relations. During this period, he was also a visiting professor at other schools including the University of Texas law school, and served on several Massachusetts state commissions convened to study legal issues such as judicial salaries and lawyer conflicts of interest.

In 1970, Drinan sought a seat in Congress on an anti-war platform, narrowly defeating longtime Representative Philip J. Philbin, who was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in the Democratic primary. Drinan won election to the U.S. House of Representatives and was reelected four times, serving from 1971 until 1981. He sat on various House committees and was the chair of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the House Judiciary Committee. Drinan was the first to introduce a resolution in Congress calling for the impeachment of President Nixon over the Watergate scandal, though many of his colleagues thought that it was poorly timed before sufficient support and evidence could be gathered against Nixon. Regardless, as part of the Judiciary Committee, Drinan played an integral role in the subsequent congressional investigation. He was also a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

Drinan's consistent support of abortion rights drew significant opposition from Church leaders throughout his political career, who had also repeatedly requested that he not hold political office in the first place. Drinan attempted to reconcile his position with official Church doctrine by stating that while he was personally opposed to abortion, its legality was a separate issue from its morality. This argument failed to satisify his critics. In 1980, Pope John Paul II unequivocally demanded that all priests withdraw from electoral politics. This was framed as a general order, but it seemed clear to most observers that Drinan in particular was the target. Drinan complied and did not seek reelection. However, he continued to be a vocal supporter of abortion rights much to the ire of the Church, and notably spoke out in support of President Clinton's veto of the so-called Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 1996.

Drinan has taught at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC since 1981, where his academic work and classes focus on legal ethics and international human rights. Drinan has also privately sponsored human rights missions to countries such as Chile, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Vietnam. He regularly contributes to law reviews and journals, and has authored several books, including The Mobilization of Shame: A World View of Human Rights, published by Yale University Press in 2001.

Drinan currently serves as a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates and was chair of the ABA Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities. In 2004, Drinan received the ABA Medal, the organization's highest honor for distinguished service in law. Drinan serves on the Board of Directors of the International League for Human Rights, the Lawyer's Committee for International Human Rights, the Council for a Livable World Educational Fund, Americans for Democratic Action, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.