Thomas W. Merrill, a legal scholar, is the Charles Evans Hughes professor at Columbia Law School. He has also taught at Yale Law School and Northwestern University School of Law. (wikipedia)
My most distinct memory is that he played his cards close to the vest. I briefed him for his first two days there, and he nodded and smiled. He didn't talk much. John never kicked back and philosophized about his view of the law.
I view it as a pragmatic issue rather than a political statement by the bank.
