Abner Mikva | |
|---|---|
 Mikva in 1977 | |
| White House Counsel | |
| In office October 1, 1994 – November 1, 1995 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Lloyd Cutler |
| Succeeded by | Jack Quinn |
| Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
| In office January 19, 1991 – September 19, 1994 | |
| Preceded by | Patricia Wald |
| Succeeded by | Harry T. Edwards |
| Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
| In office September 26, 1979 – September 19, 1994 | |
| Appointed by | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Seat established |
| Succeeded by | Merrick Garland |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois | |
| In office January 3, 1975 – September 26, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel H. Young |
| Succeeded by | John Porter |
| Constituency | 10th district |
| In office January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1973 | |
| Preceded by | Barratt O'Hara |
| Succeeded by | Ralph Metcalfe (redistricted) |
| Constituency | 2nd district |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Abner Joseph Mikva (1926-01-21)January 21, 1926 |
| Died | July 4, 2016(2016-07-04) (aged 90) |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Washington University (BA) University of Chicago (JD) |
Abner Joseph Mikva (/ˈæbnərˈmɪkvə/AB-nərMIK-və; January 21, 1926 – July 4, 2016) was an American politician, federal judge, and legal scholar. He was a member of theDemocratic Party. After serving in the Illinois House of Representatives, Mikva ran for the U.S. Congress in 1966 but lost the primary to incumbent congressman Barrett O'Hara. In 1968, Mikva defeated O'Hara. Mikva served in theUnited States House of Representatives representingIllinois's2nd congressional district (1969–1973) and10th congressional district (1975–1979). He was appointed as aUnited States circuit judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by PresidentJimmy Carter, serving from 1979 to 1994. He served as theWhite House Counsel from 1994 to 1995 duringBill Clinton's presidency. He was one of the few people in modern timesto serve in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Federal government.
In his later career, Mikva taught at theUniversity of Chicago Law School, theGeorgetown University Law Center and theNorthwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He mentored futurePresident of the United StatesBarack Obama and futureUnited States Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland (who also succeeded him on the D.C. Circuit) during their early years in law. In 2014, Obama honored Mikva with thePresidential Medal of Freedom.
Mikva was born inMilwaukee,Wisconsin, the son of Ida (Fishman) and Henry Abraham Mikva, Jewish immigrants escaping from pogroms inUkraine.[1] Mikva and his parents spokeYiddish at home.[2] During theGreat Depression, his father was often unemployed and the family relied on welfare.[2] Abner attended local public schools. DuringWorld War II, he enlisted and was trained in theUnited States Army Air Corps, but the war ended the day before he was due to be deployed.[2] Afterward, theGI Bill enabled Mikva to attend theUniversity of Wisconsin–Milwaukee[3] before transferring toWashington University in St. Louis, where he met his future wife, Zorita Rose (Zoe) Wise. Both graduated in 1948 and soon married.[2]
The couple moved toChicago, Illinois, where Zoe had urged Mikva to enroll at theUniversity of Chicago Law School.[2] He graduated in 1951 with aJ.D. degree, having served as editor-in-chief of theUniversity of Chicago Law Review. The couple eventually had three daughters:Mary Lane (b. 1953), an Illinois Appellate Court judge in Chicago;[4] Laurie, who teaches atNorthwestern University and is on the board of directors of theLegal Services Corporation; andRachel, a rabbi and professor who teaches at theChicago Theological Seminary.[5]
After graduation, Mikva clerked forSupreme Court JusticeSherman Minton.[6] He also returned toChicago and began practicing law, at a firm which became Goldberg, Devoe,Shadur & Mikva after he made partner. The firm handles labor, real estate, commercial and civil rights cases, as well as some criminal defense.[2]
Nonetheless, his early interest in Chicago clearly was politics:
One of the stories that is told about my start in politics is that on the way home from law school one night in 1948, I stopped by the ward headquarters in the ward where I lived. There was a street-front, and the name Timothy O'Sullivan, Ward Committeeman, was painted on the front window. I walked in and I said, "I'd like to volunteer to work for[Adlai] Stevenson and[Paul] Douglas." This quintessential Chicago ward committeeman took the cigar out of his mouth and glared at me and said, "Who sent you?" I said, "Nobody sent me." He put the cigar back in his mouth and he said, "We don't want nobody that nobody sent." This was the beginning of my political career in Chicago.[7]
He spent ten years, 1956 to 1966, in theIllinois House of Representatives.[8] In the Illinois House, Mikva was part of the "Kosher Nostra", a group of independent, clean Democrats that included futureUnited States Senator and Presidential candidatePaul Simon, future Illinois Comptroller and candidate for GovernorDawn Clark Netsch, and RepresentativeAnthony Scariano.[9]
Mikva lost a primary challenge to machine-backed U.S. Representative Barratt O'Hara in 1966,[10] but "reinvented himself" as a community activist, winning election to theUnited States Congress in 1968.[11] He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969 to 1973 and 1975 to 1979.
He first represented Illinois's2nd District, which included theSouth Side's lakefront wards includingHyde Park, his residence and the University of Chicago.[12] Both parties attempted toredistrict Mikva out of Congress.[13] The redistricting for the1972 elections put Hyde Park in the1st District[13] for the first time since 1903. This would have pitted Mikva against Democratic incumbentRalph Metcalfe in a nearly 90% black district; moving to stay in the 2nd District would have matched him against Democratic incumbentMorgan F. Murphy, who had previously represented the3rd District.[14] Mikva instead moved to the North Shore's10th District.
After he was defeated byRepublicanSamuel H. Young in 1972,[12] he ran in the1974 Democratic wave election and beat Young with 50.9% of the vote; his status was enhanced in the predominantly Republican, suburban district because he was viewed as critical of the Chicago Democratic establishment.[15] In1976, he was reelected by 201 votes against Young in a rematch that was one of the most expensive congressional races up to that time.[12] When he defeated Republican State RepresentativeJohn Porter by 650 votes in 1978, he joked to supporters that he had "won by a landslide." Porter won the seat after Mikva resigned to become a federal judge.
Mikva was nominated by PresidentJimmy Carter on May 29, 1979, to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 92 Stat. 1629.[16] Despite opposition from anti-gun control interests that spent over $1 million to oppose his nomination, Mikva was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on September 25, 1979 and received his commission on September 26, 1979.[17][18] He served as Chief Judge from 1991 to 1994.[17] His service terminated on September 19, 1994, due to retirement, after which he becameWhite House Counsel to PresidentBill Clinton.[17][19]
During his 15 years as judge, including four as Chief Judge, Mikva used his experience in the legislative branch as well as with the conservative Justice Minton to craft his opinions. Mikva's most controversial decisions struck down the Pentagon ban against gay people serving in the U.S. military (overturned on appeal by the circuit sittingen banc, but the ban was ultimately overturned by Executive Order), and - in 1982 - upheld regulation of air bags in automobiles.[2]
In 1992, while serving as Chief Judge on the D.C. Circuit, Mikva appeared in theKevin Kline comedyDave as "Supreme Court Justice Abner J. Mikva," in a scene in which he administers the presidential oath of office to the Vice President (played byBen Kingsley).[20]
Mikva taught law atNorthwestern University and wasWhite House Counsel under President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 1995, finding himself the oldest member of the White House team, and eventually resigning due to exhaustion.[2] He then returned to the University of Chicago Law School, serving as the Schwarz Lecturer and the senior director of theMandel Legal Aid Clinic. While at the university, Mikva came to better know future presidentBarack Obama, whom he mentored and supported politically. Obama awarded Mikva thePresidential Medal of Freedom on November 24, 2014.[21] Mikva offered Obama alaw clerk position in his judicial office after Obama graduated fromHarvard Law School, but Obama declined.[citation needed] Future Obama appointee and United States Supreme Court JusticeElena Kagan did serve as one of Mikva's law clerks and was then a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.[22] Mikva also encouraged Obama to listen to preachers to understand public speaking, "listen[ing] to patterns of speech, how to take people up the ladders. It's almost a Baptist tradition to make someone faint, and, by God, he's doing it now."[22]
Mikva served as a mediator throughJAMS, and was co-chairman of theConstitution Project's bipartisan Constitutional Amendments Committee.[23] In November 2004, Mikva was an internationalelection monitor ofUkraine's contested presidential election.[24] In July 2006,Illinois GovernorRod Blagojevich named Mikva chair of the Illinois Human Rights Commission.[25] In 2009, Illinois GovernorPat Quinn requested that Mikva lead a commission investigating theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for admitting applicants[5] (many of whom were not very well qualified) whose relatives or backers had connections to and had donated money to Illinois state lawmakers.[5]
Mikva and his wife Zoe started the Mikva Challenge in 1997.[26] Mikva Challenge is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to develop youth to be informed, empowered, and active citizens and community leaders who will promote a just and equitable society.[27] Mikva Challenge has chapters inChicago, Illinois,Washington, D.C., andLos Angeles, California, and partner sites spanning the country includingCobb County, Georgia,Wilmington, Delaware,Rochester, New York,New York City, New York,Louisville, Kentucky,Riverside, California,New Hampshire,Detroit, Michigan, andMacomb County, Michigan,Madison, Wisconsin, andMilwaukee, Wisconsin.[28] The organization helps youth to expand their political desire by working as election judges, volunteering on campaigns, advising city officials, and creating local activism projects to improve their schools and communities.[29] Their motto is "Democracy is a Verb!" As of 2020, Mikva Challenge reaches 100,000 youth annuallyin programs in over 3,000 schools across the country.[28]
Mikva died underhospice care inChicago,Illinois, from complications ofbladder cancer on July 4, 2016, aged 90.[30] He was also suffering fromchronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the time of his death.[31]
Mikva's congressional and judicial papers are archived at theAbraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.[32] In 1998, Mikva received theChicago History Museum's "Making History Award" for Distinction in Public Service.[33] In 2016, Congress renamed theUnited States Post Office in downtownEvanston, Illinois, after Mikva, who had lived in Evanston and represented it as acongressional representative.[34]
He started his political career in 1956 in the Illinois House of Representatives, where he served five consecutive terms.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 2nd congressional district 1969–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 10th congressional district 1975–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| New seat | Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 1979–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 1991–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | White House Counsel 1994–1995 | Succeeded by |
