Thomas MacMillan Photo
Drew Days representing the Proprietors of the Green in a meeting with “Occupy New Haven” protesters in 2012.
Drew Saunders Days III, a leading civil-rights attorney and former U.S. solicitor general who also broke barriers at home in New Haven, died Sunday at the age of 79.
The cause of death was complications from dementia, according to Janet Conroy, a spokesperson at Yale Law School, where Days had been a faculty member since 1981.
Days originally attended Yale Law as a student with the intention of becoming a civil-rights lawyer. He achieved that goal — and made a difference.
He was part of the legal team that successfully pressed a suit to desegregate the schools in Tampa, Florida, where he grew up. He oversaw the enforcement of federal civil rights laws as the first African-American assistant attorney general for civil rights, serving under President Jimmy Carter. He returned to Washington to serve as U.S. solicitor general (who argues the government’s cases before the Supreme Court) under President Bill Clinton.
New Haven was his home base, Yale Law his home office, from which he pursued and wrote books and journal articles on Supreme Court jurisprudence and civil-rights law. He served as founding director from 1988 – 1993 of the law school’s Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights.
Paul Bass Photo
Drew Days and Ann Langdon at a 2013 campaign event for mayoral candidate Henry Fernandez.
In New Haven, Days was named a New Haven “proprietor” — a member of The Committee of the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands at New Haven, a self-perpetuating body which has owned the New Haven Green since the 17th century. He was the first African-American member of the group. He also served as its public face during two high-profile moments: The Occupy New Haven protests of 2012 (read about that here) and the 2013 opening of century-old time capsules discovered after Hurricane Sandy toppled a Lincoln Oak on the Green.
Days is survived by his wife of 54 years, artist Ann Langdon-Days; two daughters, Alison L Days (Sergio Rico) & Elizabeth J Days (Donald Karr); granddaughters Frida & Georgia Rico; and sister Jacquelyn D Serwer (Daniel).
Following is an obituary published Monday by Yale Law School:
Harold Shapiro Photo
Drew Saunders Days III ’66 LL.B, the Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law at Yale Law School, died on November 15, 2020 at the age of 79.
“Drew was a beloved member of our community, and we were lucky to teach and learn with him for nearly four decades,” said Dean Heather K. Gerken. “He had a profound impact on the legal profession and this institution, and we will always honor his legacy and hold his family in our hearts.”
Drew S. Days IIIBorn in Atlanta, Georgia on August 29, 1941, and raised in Tampa and New York, Days graduated from Hamilton College with an A.B. in English Literature in 1963. Inspired by civil rights leaders, Days attended Yale Law School to pursue a career as a civil rights lawyer, graduating in 1966.
While in law school, Days fostered his interest in singing by joining the Yale Russian Chorus. It was through the chorus that he met his future wife, Ann Langdon, then a student at Connecticut College studying Russian.
Following law school, Days worked briefly for a labor firm in Chicago before entering the Peace Corps, where he and Ann served together as volunteers in Comayagua, Honduras from 1967 – 1969.
In 1969, Days began work at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York City as its First Assistant Counsel, where he litigated cases in the areas of school desegregation, police misconduct, employment discrimination, and prisoners’ rights until 1977.
At the age of 30, Days won a lawsuit that desegregated his childhood Tampa schools as part of the trial team in Mannings v. Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, Florida.
President Jimmy Carter nominated him to be the first African American Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice in 1977. In that capacity, he was responsible for nationwide enforcement of federal civil and criminal civil rights laws. In 1978, he led the successful effort to endorse affirmative action programs in the landmark case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.
Days joined the Yale Law faculty in 1981. At Yale, his teaching and writing was in the fields of civil procedure, federal jurisdiction, Supreme Court practice, antidiscrimination law, comparative constitutional law (Canada and the United States), and international human rights. In 1991, he was named Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law. From 1988 to 1993, he was also the founding director of the Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. From 1993 – 1996, Days served as the Solicitor General of the United States for the Clinton Administration.
From 1996 to 2008, Days served as a board member of the MacArthur Foundation. He also served on the board of trustees at Hamilton College, which named its Days-Massolo Center for him in 2011. The Center promotes diversity awareness and fosters dialogue among the growing number of cultures on the Hamilton campus.
In 2003, Days received the Award of Merit from the Yale Law School Association, the alumni organization of Yale Law School, in recognition of his public service and contributions to the legal profession.
Days is the author of two volumes on United States Supreme Court jurisprudence, practice, and rules: Moore’s Federal Practice, Third Edition (1997). In addition, he is the author of numerous journal articles, including “‘Feedback Loop’”: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Its Progeny,” 49 St. Louis U.L.J. 981 (2005).
Drew was such a wonderful man. I had the fortune of having him as a professor and staying friends for the following 3 decades. His daughter Alison, who is now a pediatrician, was a LEAP counselor. As such, he and Ann were then and remained supporters of LEAP. He brought a quiet dignity and fierce commitment to human rights to every interaction. I left every visit feeling better about the world. He was one of the people that made New Haven a unique place. Our family will miss him.