I
wanted to record the passing of my wonderful friend Frank Cross, a longtime
faculty member at the University of Texas, Austin. Other obituaries will recall that he was one
of the best (NDT) college debaters of the 1970s and a gifted teacher. I wish to highlight the tremendous loss to
academia and legal scholarship. Frank
contributed enormously by continually challenging himself. Already a UT faculty member, he embarked on a
course of study in statistics that transformed his work and gave us new
insights. He began an extraordinary run of
publication in leading law reviews with an article that questioned work that
downplayed the contribution of lawyers to the economy. He published many noteworthy books including Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of
Appeals (2007); Measuring Judicial
Activism (2009)(with Stefanie A. Lindquist); The Failed Promise of Originalism (2012); The Theory and Practice of Statutory Interpretation (2012); and Constitutions and Religious Freedom
(2015). Frank contributed as long as he
could. Robert Prentice, his friend on
the UT faculty, said in his obituary: “Frank bravely battled adrenoleukodystrophy
his entire adult life. This cruel
disease slowly robbed Frank of his ability to move, but never took away his
love of life or sense of humor. ALD
ultimately defeated Frank, but it did not define him.” Everyone who knew Frank will miss him. He had this rare gift: an independent mind and
an independent heart.