Seth P. Waxman
This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (March 2019) |
Seth Waxman | |
---|---|
41st Solicitor General of the United States | |
In office November 13, 1997 – January 20, 2001 | |
President | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | Drew S. Days III |
Succeeded by | Theodore Olson |
Personal details | |
Born | Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. | November 28, 1951
Political party | Democratic |
Education | Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD) |
Seth Paul Waxman (born November 28, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 41st Solicitor General of the United States from 1997 to 2001. He then returned to private legal practice, and serves as the co-chairman of the appellate and Supreme Court litigation practice group at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Early life[]
Waxman was born in 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut. His family was Jewish and lived in West Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Conard High School in 1969.[1] Waxman then attended Harvard University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in social studies in 1973. Afterwards, Waxman spent a year in Kenya as a Rockefeller Fellow. Waxman then attended the Yale Law School, where he became managing editor of the Yale Law Journal and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1977.
Career[]
After law school, Waxman spent one year as a law clerk to Judge Gerhard A. Gesell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Thereafter, he entered the private practice of law with the boutique law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin (now part of Baker Botts), where he specialized in complex criminal, civil, and appellate litigation. Waxman has received substantial recognition for his pro bono work, including the American Bar Association's Pro Bono Publico award and the Anti-Defamation League's Benjamin N. Cardozo Certificate of Merit.
Waxman joined the United States Department of Justice in May 1994. Prior to being appointed Solicitor General, he served in a number of other positions in the Department of Justice, including Acting Solicitor General, Acting Deputy Attorney General, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, and Associate Deputy Attorney General.
Waxman made the oral argument to the Supreme Court on behalf of the petitioners in Boumediene v. Bush, in which the court upheld habeas corpus rights for detainees at Guantanamo Bay.[2] Waxman also made oral arguments to the Supreme Court regarding arbitrary application of FCC sanctions on public nudity. In these arguments he used the friezes decorating the courtroom to illustrate how some nudity is acceptable in a public setting.[3]
Affiliations[]
Waxman has long been active in Bar, community and school organizations. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the ABA's Standing Committee on Professionalism, a current and past ex officio member of several committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States, an ex officio member of the American Law Institute, and a member of the Visiting Committee for Harvard College.
Personal life[]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (June 2019) |
Waxman is married with three children—Noah, Sarah and Ethan—and makes his home in the District of Columbia, where he practices law as a partner with the law firm WilmerHale.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Mindell, Cindy (1 April 2014). "Seth Waxman journeys from West Hartford to the Supreme Court and (briefly) back". Jewish Ledger.
- ^ Wilmer Hale press release "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-06-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), retrieved on June 13, 2008.
- ^ Slate report [1], retrieved on January 11, 2012.
External links[]
- 1951 births
- American democracy activists
- Georgetown University Law Center faculty
- Guantanamo Bay attorneys
- Harvard College alumni
- Living people
- Lawyers from Hartford, Connecticut
- United States Solicitors General
- Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
- Yale Law School alumni
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners
- Members of the American Law Institute