Chuck Cooper | |
---|---|
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel | |
In office 1985–1988 | |
President | Ronald Reagan |
Deputy | Samuel Alito |
Preceded by | Theodore Olson |
Succeeded by | Douglas Kmiec |
Personal details | |
Born | Dayton,Ohio,U.S. | March 8,1952
Political party | Republican |
Education | University of Alabama (BA,JD) |
Charles J. "Chuck" Cooper (born March 8,1952,in Dayton,Ohio) [1] is an appellate attorney and litigator in Washington,D.C.,where he is a founding member and chairman of the law firm Cooper &Kirk,PLLC. He was named by The National Law Journal as one of the 10 best civil litigators in Washington. [2] [3] The New York Times described him as "one of Washington’s best-known lawyers." [4] He has represented prominent American political figures,including Attorney General Jeff Sessions,in response to the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections; [5] Attorney General John Ashcroft; [6] and former National Security Adviser and United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. [4]
Cooper has more than 40 years of legal experience in government and private practice,with numerous cases in trial and appellate court. He has argued several cases before the United States Supreme Court and been described as "one of the most prominent and aggressive Supreme Court litigators in the country." [7]
Cooper was born on March 8,1952,in Dayton,Ohio,and was raised in Alabama. He attended local schools and received his Bachelor of Arts in business in 1974 from the University of Alabama. He earned his J.D. degree in 1977 from the University of Alabama Law School. He was editor-in-chief of the Alabama Law Review and ranked first in his class. He passed the bar in Alabama and Washington,D.C. He had two clerkships with judges. From 1977 to 1978,he clerked for Judge Paul Roney of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,and from 1978 to 1979,he clerked for Justice William H. Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court.
A member of the Republican Party,he started working in 1981 in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington,D.C. In 1985,during the Reagan administration,he was appointed as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel,United States Department of Justice,the office responsible for providing legal opinions and informal advice to the White House,the Attorney General,and Executive Branch Departments and Agencies on issues of statutory,regulatory,constitutional and international law.
At a lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill with Attorney General Ed Meese and other administration officials,he saw documents showing the administration's role in the Iran–Contra affair of 1986. [8] He was Meese's chief aid in the so-called weekend investigation that discovered Lt. Col. Oliver North's plan to divest funds from the CIA's covert sale of missiles to Iran to the Nicaraguan Contras. [9]
After his government service,in 1988 he entered private practice in the office of McGuireWoods. In 1990 he became a partner at Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman),where he headed the firm's Constitutional and Government Litigation Group. He worked there until co-founding Cooper &Carvin,now Cooper &Kirk,in 1996. His practice focuses on constitutional,commercial,and civil rights litigation. [10]
Cooper led the legal team for the defendant-intervenors in Hollingsworth v. Perry, defending California Proposition 8 in 2008,which banned same-sex marriage in the state. He argued the case before the US Supreme Court. [11] He has testified before Congress or Congressional committees on more than a dozen occasions.
He received the Republican National Lawyers Association's "Edwin Meese III Award" in 2016,and the group's "Republican Lawyer of the Year Award" in 2010. [12]
Cooper was touted as a possible Solicitor General nominee in 2017. [13] During this process,a self-professed left leaning registered Democrat and Biglaw partner explained his reasons for supporting Cooper. [14] He described Cooper as “thoroughly devoted to drawing principled constitutional lines,”“an immovable rock”for upholding the rule of law,and “one of the most principled lawyers you’ll ever encounter.” [15]
Cooper &Kirk was described by The National Law Journal in 2021 as "one of the most influential firms in Washington",and "a player in many of the major events in American history over the past quarter-century". [16] The firm's clients have included two former U.S. attorneys general,five U.S. senators,and a former national security adviser to the President. [16]
Alumni of the firm Cooper founded include U.S. senators such as Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, [14] federal judges such as James Ho, [16] Victor J. Wolski [17] and Howard C. Nielson Jr., [18] and a solicitor general Noel Francisco. [19] In 2022,legal commentator David Lat wrote that Cooper &Kirk may have the "most impressive and influential alumni" of any law firm,especially adjusting for size. [20]
Cooper has argued nine cases in front on the United States Supreme Court.
Federal Election Commission v Ted Cruz for Senate
On January 19,2022,Cooper argued on behalf of Ted Cruz in Federal Election Commission v Ted Cruz for Senate. [21] In this case,the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). [22] Cooper on behalf of Cruz contended section 304 and the corresponding regulations violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
On May 16,2022,by a vote of 6-3,in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts,the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Ted Cruz. [21]
Virginia Uranium v. Warren
On Number 6,2018,Cooper argued Virginia Uranium v. Warren. [23] In that case,Cooper represented the owner of a uranium mine arguing that Virginia's ban on uranium mining was preempted by federal law and was therefore unenforceable. [24]
On March 26,2013,Cooper argued Hollingsworth v. Perry. [25] The substantive question in that case was whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state of California from defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Cooper represented the proponents of Proposition 8,a ballot initiative adopted by the voters of California that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.
South Central Bell Telephone Company v. Alabama
On January 19,1999,Cooper argued the case South Central Bell Telephone Company v. Alabama. [25] In this case,the Supreme Court considered whether Alabama's franchise tax discriminates against interstate commerce,in violation of the Commerce Clause,and whether the Alabama Supreme Court's refusal to permit the South Central Bell Telephone Company and others to raise their constitutional claims because of res judicata deprives them of the due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Cooper argued the case on behalf of the State of Alabama.
On April 27,1998,Cooper argued the case Clinton v. City of New York. [26] In that case,the Supreme Court considered whether the President's ability to selectively cancel individual portions of bills,under the Line Item Veto Act,violated the Presentment Clause of Article I. Cooper argued this case on behalf of the City of New York.
This case has been called “the blockbuster separation of powers case of the Rehnquist years.” [27]
United States v. Winstar Corp.
On April 24,1996,Cooper argued the case United States v. Winstar. [28] In that case,the Supreme Court considered the question of whether the federal government can be sued by thrifts that were sent into financial trouble when Congress changed the computation of required reserves after the Federal Home Loan Bank Board encouraged actions based on the premise that the rules would not change.
This case has been described as “enormously important”and creating an “important precedent on the interpretation of Government contracts.” [29]
Federal Election Commission v. NRA Political Victory Fund
On October 11,1994,Cooper argued Federal Election Commission v. NRA Political Victory Fund [30] This case raised various questions regarding whether portions of the Federal Election Campaign Act violated the Constitutionally mandated separation of powers. Cooper represented the NRA Political Victory Fund.
On November 6,1991,Cooper argued the case Lee v. Weisman. [31] The question in that case was whether the inclusion of clergy who offer prayers at official public school ceremonies violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. This case is credited for introducing the “coercion test”that has subsequently gained greater prominence in Establishment Clause jurisprudence. [32]
Cooper has published many articles in law reviews and other scholarly publications.
Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-American justice. Prior to his judicial service,he was an attorney who fought for civil rights,leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court,culminating in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education,which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967. A staunch liberal,he frequently dissented as the Court became increasingly conservative.
Gideon v. Wainwright,372 U.S. 335 (1963),was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own. The case extended the right to counsel,which had been found under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to impose requirements on the federal government,by imposing those requirements upon the states as well.
Tennessee v. Lane,541 U.S. 509 (2004),was a case in the Supreme Court of the United States involving Congress's enforcement powers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti,435 U.S. 765 (1978),is a U.S. constitutional law case which defined the free speech right of corporations for the first time. The United States Supreme Court held that corporations have a First Amendment right to make contributions to ballot initiative campaigns. The ruling came in response to a Massachusetts law that prohibited corporate donations in ballot initiatives unless the corporation's interests were directly involved.
Nix v. Whiteside,475 U.S. 157 (1986),was a United States Supreme Court decision that dealt with the effective assistance of counsel during a criminal trial.
Laird v. Tatum,408 U.S. 1 (1972),was a case in which the United States Supreme Court dismissed for lack of ripeness a claim in which the plaintiff accused the U.S. Army of alleged unlawful "surveillance of lawful citizen political activity." The appellant's specific nature of the harm caused by the surveillance was that it chilled the First Amendment rights of all citizens and undermined that right to express political dissent.
South Dakota v. Dole,483 U.S. 203 (1987),was a case in which the United States Supreme Court considered the limitations that the Constitution places on the authority of the United States Congress when Congress uses its authority to influence the individual states in areas of authority normally reserved to the states. The Court upheld the constitutionality of a federal statute that withheld federal funds from states whose legal drinking age did not conform to federal policy. The dissent argued that the minimum drinking age condition for states to receive federal highway funds was not sufficiently related to Congress' interests in expending the funds and consequently exceeded Article 1,Section 8,spending power.
Faretta v. California,422 U.S. 806 (1975),was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that criminal defendants have a constitutional right to refuse counsel and represent themselves in state criminal proceedings.
Cruz v. Beto,405 U.S. 319 (1972),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court upheld a Free Exercise claim based on the allegations that the state of Texas had discriminated against a Buddhist prisoner by "denying him a reasonable opportunity to pursue his Buddhist faith comparable to that offered other prisoners adhering to conventional religious precepts."
United States v. Ortiz,422 U.S. 891 (1975),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Fourth Amendment prevented Border Patrol officers from conducting warrantless,suspicionless searches of private vehicles removed from the border or its functional equivalent.
Keller v. State Bar of California,496 U.S. 1 (1990),was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that attorneys who are required to be members of a state bar association have a First Amendment right to refrain from subsidizing the organization’s political or ideological activities.
William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 16th chief justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005,having previously been an associate justice from 1972 to 1986. Considered a staunch conservative,Rehnquist favored a conception of federalism that emphasized the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states. Under this view of federalism,the Court,for the first time since the 1930s,struck down an act of Congress as exceeding its power under the Commerce Clause.
Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Co. of Puerto Rico,478 U.S. 328 (1986),was a 1986 appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States to determine whether Puerto Rico's Games of Chance Act of 1948 is in legal compliance with the United States Constitution,specifically as regards freedom of speech,equal protection and due process. In a 5–4 decision,the Supreme Court held that the Puerto Rico government (law) could restrict advertisement for casino gambling from being targeted to residents,even if the activity itself was legal and advertisement to tourists was permitted. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Puerto Rico Supreme Court conclusion,as construed by the Puerto Rico Superior Court,that the Act and regulations do not facially violate the First Amendment,nor did it violate the due process or Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Legal Services Corp. v. Velazquez,531 U.S. 533 (2001),is a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning the constitutionality of funding restrictions imposed by the United States Congress. At issue were restrictions on the Legal Services Corporation (LSC),a private,nonprofit corporation established by Congress. The restrictions prohibited LSC attorneys from representing clients attempting to amend existing welfare law. The case was brought by Carmen Velazquez,whose LSC-funded attorneys sought to challenge existing welfare provisions since they believed that it was the only way to get Velazquez financial relief.
NAACP v. Button,371 U.S. 415 (1963),is a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the reservation of jurisdiction by a federal district court did not bar the U.S. Supreme Court from reviewing a state court's ruling,and also overturned certain laws enacted by the state of Virginia in 1956 as part of the Stanley Plan and massive resistance,as violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The statutes struck down by the Supreme Court had expanded the definitions of the traditional common law crimes of champerty and maintenance,as well as barratry,and had been targeted at the NAACP and its civil rights litigation.
Bounds v. Smith,430 U.S. 817 (1977),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court tested the basic constitutional right of prison inmates’access to legal documents prior to court. Prison authorities would consequently be required to provide legal assistance or counsel to inmates,whether it be through a trained legal professional or access to a legal library. Multiple prisoners alleged that they were denied access to the courts due to lack of an adequate legal library and assistance with court related documents.
In the United States,a public defender is a lawyer appointed by the courts and provided by the state or federal governments to represent and advise those who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. Public defenders are full-time attorneys employed by the state or federal governments. The public defender program is one of several types of criminal legal aid in the United States.
Lafler v. Cooper,566 U.S. 156 (2012),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court clarified the Sixth Amendment standard for reversing convictions due to ineffective assistance of counsel during plea bargaining. The Court ruled that when a lawyer's ineffective assistance leads to the rejection of a plea agreement,a defendant is entitled to relief if the outcome of the plea process would have been different with competent advice. In such cases,the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment requires the trial judge to exercise discretion to determine an appropriate remedy.
Peel v. Attorney Disciplinary Commission of Illinois,496 US 91 (1990),was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that Illinois' rule against attorneys advertising themselves as "certified" violated their freedom of speech under the First Amendment. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (IARDC) had found that Peel's letterhead,which stated that he was "Certified Civil Trial Specialist By the National Board of Trial Advocacy," had broken state professional rules,and the Illinois Supreme Court had adopted their recommendation of public sanction. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed,saying the letterhead was truthful,and the First Amendment favored disclosure over concealing information.
Kimmelman v. Morrison,477 U.S. 365 (1986),was a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that clarified the relationship of the right to effective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment to other constitutional rights in criminal procedure. In this case,evidence against the defendant was probably seized illegally,violating the Fourth Amendment,but he lost the chance to argue that point due to his lawyer's ineffectiveness. The prosecution argued that the defendant's attempt to make a Sixth Amendment argument via a habeas corpus petition was really a way to sneak his Fourth Amendment argument in through the back door. The Court unanimously disagreed,and held that the Fourth Amendment issue and the Sixth Amendment issue represented different constitutional values,and had different requirements for prevailing in court,and therefore were to be treated separately by rules of procedure. Therefore,the habeas corpus petition could go forward. In its opinion,the Court also gave guidance on how to apply its decisions in Stone v. Powell and Strickland v. Washington.