--- title: Cassandra Butts: Barack Obama's Eulogy for Friend, Adviser description: President Obama gave the eulogy for a law-school friend who advised him in the White House. canonical: https://time.com/4360811/barack-obama-eulogy-cassandra-butts/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-08T01:45:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:27:24.760Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Eulogy for His Friend and Adviser og:description: They met in law school and she worked for him in the White House. og:url: https://time.com/4360811/barack-obama-eulogy-cassandra-butts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896925ee6eb509a0/698896de196cf4895d03beba/barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn before boarding Marine One and departing the White House June 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Eulogy for His Friend and Adviser twitter:description: They met in law school and she worked for him in the White House. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896925ee6eb509a0/698896de196cf4895d03beba/barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Eulogy for His Friend and Adviser > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jun 8, 2016 1:45 AM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn before boarding Marine One and departing the White House June 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn before boarding Marine One and departing the White House June 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jun 8, 2016 1:45 AM UTC President Obama gave the eulogy for [a law-school friend who advised him in the White House](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cassandra-q-butts-obama-law-school-classmate-and-adviser-dies-at-50/2016/05/28/20950d2c-24e1-11e6-9e7f-57890b612299%5Fstory.html) and died while waiting two years for a Senate vote to confirm her as ambassador to the Bahamas. Cassandra Q. Butts, 50, died of undiagnosed leukemia at her home in Washington, D.C., on May 25\. She was a member of an informal group of Obama advisers sometimes called the “Sisterhood” and served at one point as deputy White House counsel. Her appointment as ambassador was [blocked for more than 820 days](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/opinion/an-obama-nominees-crushed-hopes.html) by Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton over unrelated political disputes with the President. Obama gave the eulogy at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 7\. 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