Douglas Ginsburg | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2005 | |
| Senior Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
| Assumed office October 14, 2011 | |
| Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
| In office July 16, 2001 – February 11, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Harry T. Edwards |
| Succeeded by | David B. Sentelle |
| Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
| In office October 14, 1986 – October 14, 2011 | |
| Appointed by | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | J. Skelly Wright |
| Succeeded by | Cornelia Pillard |
| United States Assistant Attorney General for theAntitrust Division | |
| In office 1985–1986 | |
| Preceded by | Paul McGrath |
| Succeeded by | Charles Rule |
| Administrator of theOffice of Information and Regulatory Affairs | |
| In office 1984–1985 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Christopher DeMuth |
| Succeeded by | Wendy Lee Gramm |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Douglas Howard Ginsburg (1946-05-25)May 25, 1946 (age 79) |
| Education | |
Douglas Howard Ginsburg (born May 25, 1946) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a seniorUnited States circuit judge of theU.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is also a professor of law at theAntonin Scalia Law School ofGeorge Mason University.
Ginsburg was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in 1986 by PresidentRonald Reagan, and he served as its chief judge from 2001 to 2008. In 1987, Reagan announced his intention to nominate Ginsburg as anassociate justice of theU.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg withdrew his name from consideration two weeks later in the wake of news reports that he had smokedmarijuana in the past.[1][2][3][4] Reagan instead nominatedAnthony Kennedy.
Ginsburg tooksenior status in October 2011, and joined the faculty ofNew York University School of Law in January 2012.[5] In 2013, he left NYU and began teaching at George Mason University. He is the author of scholarly works onU.S. antitrust law andconstitutional law.[6]
There is no relation between Ginsburg and the former Supreme Court JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg.[7]
Ginsburg was born on May 25, 1946, inChicago, Illinois, to Katherine (née Goodmont) and Maurice Ginsburg.[8] After graduating from theLatin School of Chicago in 1963, he enteredCornell University as aclassics major. He dropped out in 1965 due to "boredom" and co-foundedOperation Match, an earlycomputer dating service based inBoston, Massachusetts. Ginsburg sold the company in 1968 and returned to Cornell, graduating in 1970 with aBachelor of Science degree inindustrial relations.[9][10]
Ginsburg then attended theUniversity of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of theUniversity of Chicago Law Review along with future federal judgeFrank Easterbrook and future billionaire investorDavid Rubenstein. He graduated in 1973 with aJ.D. degree and membership in theOrder of the Coif.
After law school, Ginsburg was alaw clerk to JudgeCarl E. McGowan of the D.C. Circuit from 1973 to 1974 and to U.S. Supreme Court justiceThurgood Marshall from 1974 to 1975.[11] He then became a professor atHarvard Law School, where he taughtlabor law,administrative law, antitrust law, and other subjects.
In 1983, Ginsburg joined the administration of President Ronald Reagan as a deputy assistant attorney general in theU.S. Department of Justice'sAntitrust Division. In 1984, he became the administrator of theExecutive Office of the President'sOffice of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and in 1985 he was appointedAssistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division.
From 1988 to 2008, Ginsburg was an adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Law (now Antonin Scalia Law School), where he taught a seminar called "Readings in Legal Thought".[12] Until 2011 he was also a Visiting Lecturer and Charles J. Merriam Scholar at theUniversity of Chicago Law School inChicago,Illinois. Ginsburg has been a visiting professor atColumbia University Law School (1987–1988) and a visiting scholar atNew York Law School (2006–2008).
Ginsburg is currently a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School. He was previously a visiting professor at University College London Faculty of Laws.[13] He serves on the advisory boards of the Global Antitrust Institute (Chairman), the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics and the Centre for Law, Economics, and Society, both atUniversity College London, Faculty of Laws. His academic articles and writing has appeared inCompetition Policy International, theJournal of Competition Law & Economics; theJournal of Law, Economics & Policy; theSupreme Court Economic Review; theUniversity of Chicago Law Review; and theHarvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Ginsburg was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 23, 1986, to a seat on the District of Columbia Circuit vacated by JudgeJ. Skelly Wright. He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on October 8, 1986, and received his commission on October 14, 1986. He served as Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit from 2001 to 2008, and he assumedsenior status on October 14, 2011.[14]
He was a member of theJudicial Conference of the United States, 2001–2008, and previously served on its Budget Committee, 1997–2001, and Committee on Judicial Resources, 1987–1996;American Bar Association, Antitrust Section, Council, 1985–1986 (ex officio), 2000–2003 and 2009–2012 (judicial liaison); Boston University Law School, Visiting Committee, 1994–1997; and University of Chicago Law School, Visiting Committee, 1985–1988.
On October 29, 1987, President Reagan announced his intention to nominate Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the retirement ofLewis Powell,[15][16] which had been announced on June 26.[17] Ginsburg was chosen after theUnited States Senate, controlled by Democrats, had voted down the nomination of JudgeRobert Bork after ahighly controversial nomination battle which ended with a 42–58 rejection vote on October 23.[18]
Ginsburg's nomination collapsed for entirely different reasons from Bork's rejection, as he almost immediately came under some fire whenNPR'sNina Totenberg revealed that Ginsburg had usedmarijuana "on a few occasions" during his student days in the 1960s and while an assistant professor at Harvard in the 1970s. It was Ginsburg's continued use of marijuana after graduation and as a professor that made his actions more serious in the minds of many senators and members of the public.[19] Ginsburg was also accused of a financial conflict of interest during his work in the Reagan Administration, but a Department of Justice investigation under theEthics in Government Act determined the allegation was baseless.[20]
Due to the allegations, Ginsburg withdrew his name from consideration on November 7,[2][3] and remained on the Court of Appeals, serving as chief judge for most of the 2000s.Anthony Kennedy was then nominated on November 11 and confirmed in early February 1988 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.[21][22]
Ginsburg married the public relations consultantDeecy Gray in 2007 in a ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court performed byChief JusticeJohn Roberts.[23] He has three daughters from two previous marriages.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Administrator of theOffice of Information and Regulatory Affairs 1984–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Paul McGrath | United States Assistant Attorney General for theAntitrust Division 1985–1986 | Succeeded by Charles Rule |
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 1986–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 2001–2008 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
