Legal Commentary

Senator Christmas

By Eugene Volokh

Who is the highest-level government official in the U.S. whose last name is also the name (whether full or conventionally shortened) of a religious holiday?

And, yes, I realize that the various levels of government officials aren?t always directly comparable, but they often are; a state supreme court justice, for instance, would in my view comfortably beat a city council member (though if you want to argue about how to rank the Wyoming Supreme Court and the Los Angeles City Council, be my guest).

UPDATE: Just to clarify, saints? days don?t count as religious holidays, at least unless they are routinely celebrated as religious holidays. So people with the last name of Valentine and Patrick don?t qualify.

FURTHER UPDATE: I should also note that I?m looking for someone who?s name is the name, whether full or conventionally shortened, of a religious holiday; so even if St. Patrick?s Day is treated as a religious holiday, the person?s last name would have to be St. Patrick?s Day and not just Patrick (since to my knowledge Patrick is not the conventionally shortened name of a religious hoilday).

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on January 06, 2010 (boomark / email).