Stephen Gillers

Last updated

Stephen Gillers is a professor at the New York University School of Law. He is often cited as an expert in legal ethics.

Contents

Biography

After graduating from Brooklyn College with a B.A. in 1964, he received his J.D. in 1968 from the New York University School of Law. [1]

Gillers annually co-authors Regulation of Lawyers: Statutes and Standards (with Professor Roy Simon of Hofstra).

Gillers' political activism includes calling on then-presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004 to name former U.S. President Bill Clinton as his running mate in a New York Times op-ed. [2]

Gillers has also been critical of U.S. Supreme Court Justices accepting paid trips to legal seminars. [3]

In 2024, after a "Stop The Steal" flag was hoisted at Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr's home, Gillers said he found it "impossible to believe" that Alito, who blamed the flag on his wife, did not know about the flag. [4] Gillers said, no "objective observer would question Alito’s impartiality based on this incident." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of the United States</span> Highest court of jurisdiction in the US

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." The court holds the power of judicial review: the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalist Society</span> American conservative legal organization

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has chapters at more than 200 law schools and features student, lawyer, and faculty divisions; the lawyers division comprises more than 70,000 practicing attorneys in ninety cities. Through speaking events, lectures, and other activities, it provides a forum for legal experts of opposing conservative views to interact with members of the legal profession, the judiciary, and the legal academy. It is one of the most influential legal organizations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Breyer</span> US Supreme Court justice from 1994 to 2022 (born 1938)

Stephen Gerald Breyer is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and replaced retiring justice Harry Blackmun. Breyer was generally associated with the liberal wing of the Court. He is now the Byrne Professor of Administrative Law and Process at Harvard Law School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McGill University Faculty of Law</span> Canadian law school in Montreal, Quebec

The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada. 180 candidates are admitted for any given academic year. For the year 2021 class, the acceptance rate was 10%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Alito</span> US Supreme Court justice since 2006 (born 1950)

Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated to the high court by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served on it since January 31, 2006. After Antonin Scalia, Alito is the second Italian American justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Fried</span> American judge (1935–2024)

Charles Anthony Fried was an American jurist and lawyer. He served as Solicitor General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. He was a professor at Harvard Law School and a visiting professor at Columbia Law School. He also served on the board of the nonpartisan group, the Campaign Legal Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Roberts</span> Chief Justice of the United States since 2005

John Glover Roberts Jr. is an American jurist who has served since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Dellinger</span> American attorney, law professor, and government official (1941–2022)

Walter Estes Dellinger III was an American attorney and legal scholar who served as the Douglas B. Maggs Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law. He also led the appellate practice at O'Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C., and the Harvard Law School's Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Clinic. He served as Acting United States Solicitor General under the administration of President Bill Clinton, from 1996 to 1997.

Recusal is the legal process by which a judge, juror, or other adjudicator steps aside from participating in a case due to potential bias, conflict of interest, or appearance of impropriety. This practice is fundamental to ensuring fairness and impartiality in legal proceedings, preserving the integrity of the judiciary, and maintaining public confidence in the legal system. Historical and modern legal frameworks outline specific grounds for recusal, such as personal or financial conflicts of interest, prior involvement in a case, or demonstrated bias. Applicable statutes or canons of ethics may provide standards for recusal in a given proceeding or matter. Providing that the judge or decision-maker must be free from disabling conflicts of interest makes the fairness of the proceedings less likely to be questioned, and more likely that there is due process.

In American law, unitary executive theory is "an expansive interpretation of presidential power that aims to centralize greater control over the government in the White House." The concept often comes up in jurisprudential disagreements about the president's ability to remove employees within the executive branch; transparency and access to information; discretion over the implementation of new laws; and the ability to influence agencies' rule-making. There is disagreement about the doctrine's strength and scope, with more expansive versions of the theory becoming the focus of modern political debate. These expansive versions are controversial for both constitutional and practical reasons.

Alexander Mordecai Bickel was an American legal scholar and expert on the United States Constitution. One of the most influential constitutional commentators of the twentieth century, his writings emphasize judicial restraint.

Adam G. Ciongoli is a government and private lawyer, and was the Counselor to United States Attorney General John Ashcroft during the September 11, 2001 attacks and in the period that followed.

Geoffrey Cornell Hazard Jr. was Trustee Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he taught from 1994 to 2005, and the Thomas E. Miller Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. He was also Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin D. Ginsburg</span> American legal scholar (1932–2010)

Martin David Ginsburg was an American lawyer who specialized in tax law and was the husband of American lawyer and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He taught law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and was of counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of the American law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011), is a legal dispute that was decided by the United States Supreme Court. On April 27, 2011, the Court ruled, by a 5–4 margin, that the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 preempts state laws that prohibit contracts from disallowing class-wide arbitration, such as the law previously upheld by the California Supreme Court in the case of Discover Bank v. Superior Court. As a result, businesses that include arbitration agreements with class action waivers can require consumers to bring claims only in individual arbitrations, rather than in court as part of a class action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael H. Park</span> American judge (born 1976)

Michael Hun Park is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito. Prior to becoming a judge, Park was a named partner at Consovoy McCarthy, a prominent law firm in the conservative legal movement. While at the firm, Park represented the state of Kansas in its efforts to cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Judge Park was appointed by President Trump and is a member of the Federalist Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Remus</span> American lawyer

Dana Ann Remus is an American lawyer who served as White House counsel for U.S. President Joe Biden from January 2021 to July 2022. Prior to her appointment as White House counsel, Remus was general counsel for Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. Earlier in her career, she was deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel for ethics during the presidency of Barack Obama, was general counsel for the Obama Foundation from 2017 to 2019, and was counsel to Michelle Obama.

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), abbreviated NYSRPA v. Bruen and also known as NYSRPA II or Bruen to distinguish it from the 2020 case, is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court related to the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The case concerned the constitutionality of the 1911 Sullivan Act, a New York State law requiring applicants for a pistol concealed carry license to show "proper cause", or a special need distinguishable from that of the general public, in their application.

Lauren Windsor is an American progressive political consultant and self-described "advocacy journalist". She focuses primarily on Wall Street reform, money-in-politics corruption, and climate change. She is executive director of American Family Voices. She is a partner in Democracy Partners and Mike Lux Media.

Moore v. Harper, 600 U.S. 1 (2023), is a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that rejected the independent state legislature theory (ISL), a theory that asserts state legislatures have sole authority to establish election laws for federal elections within their respective states without judicial review by state courts, without presentment to state governors, and without constraint by state constitutions. The case arose from the redistricting of North Carolina's districts by its legislature after the 2020 United States census, which the state courts found to be too artificial and partisan, and an extreme case of gerrymandering in favor of the Republican Party.

References

  1. "Biographical Sketches of Participants Conference on the Commercialization of the Legal Profession 45 South Carolina Law Review 1993-1994". South Carolina Law Review. 45. Heinonline.org: 879. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  2. Gillers, Stephen (March 3, 2004). "The Next Best Thing to Being President". The New York Times.
  3. Ross, Brian (January 23, 2006). "Supreme Ethics Problem?". ABC News.
  4. 1 2 Jouvenal, Justin; Marimow, Ann E. (2024-05-17). "Upside-down flag flew at Justice Alito's house after neighbor dispute". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286.

Further reading