David J. Barron, whose distinguished academic career led him into public service and now to being Chief Judge of the US First Circuit Court of Appeals, will be Boston College Law School’s 2026 Commencement speaker. This year’s Commencement will be held in the Maloney Lawn Tent on BC’s Chestnut Hill campus on May 22.
Before being appointed to the First Circuit bench in 2014, Barron served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel for the US Justice Department. Prior to that, he had been a professor at Harvard Law School, where he continues to teach part time as the Louis D. Brandeis Visiting Professor of Law.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Barron clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court.
Areas of Barron’s teaching and scholarship have included war powers and national security law, constitutional separation of powers, administrative law, federalism, and local government law. In addition to many academic publications, Barron is co-author of a casebook on local government law and the author of the book Waging War: The Clash Between Presidents and Congress, 1776 to ISIS. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute.