At an award ceremony held at Harvard Law School in September 2006, Dean Elena Kagan introduced the winner of the annual Peter Gruber Foundation Justice Prize, newly-retired President Aharon Barak of the Supreme Court of Israel. In her remarks, Dean Kagan called Aharon Barak “my judicial hero.”[1]

The press release issued by the Gruber Foundation announcing the award stated: “President Barak is renowned for championing an activist judiciary and the rule of law and democracy.”[2]

In her introduction, Ms. Kagan noted there have been many “famous and great judges Harvard Law School [has been] associated with”....