Susan Estrich

Last updated

Susan Estrich
Born (1952-12-16) December 16, 1952 (age 71)
Marblehead, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education Wellesley College (BA)
Harvard University (JD)
Political party Democratic
Spouse Marty Kaplan (Divorced)
Children2

Susan Estrich (born December 16, 1952) is an American lawyer, professor, author, political operative, and political commentator. She is known for serving as the campaign manager for Michael Dukakis in 1988 (being the first woman to manage the presidential campaign of a major party nominee since Belle Moskowitz managed Al Smith's campaign in 1928) and for serving in 2016 as legal counsel to the former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes.

Contents

Early life and education

Estrich was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, [1] the second of three children of Helen Roslyn Freedberg, a medical office manager, and Irving Abraham Estrich, an attorney. [2] She grew up in Marblehead on the Massachusetts North Shore, where she attended the Dr Samuel C Eveleth School. [3]

Estrich graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College in 1974, and received her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1977. [4] [5] [2] In 1976, Estrich was elected the first female president of the Harvard Law Review , where she ran against Merrick Garland. [6] [7] In 1983, Estrich was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board.

Career

Estrich served as a law clerk for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978–1979. In 1988, she was the campaign manager for Michael Dukakis' presidential run, even though she had never before managed a political campaign. She was the first female campaign manager of a major presidential campaign, and the first female campaign manager of the modern era. [8]

Estrich appears frequently on Fox News as a legal and political analyst, and also substituted for Alan Colmes on the debate show Hannity & Colmes . [9] She has served on the Board of Editorial Contributors for USA Today . [10] She writes a nationally syndicated print column distributed through Creators Syndicate. [11]

She is currently a law professor at the University of Southern California School of Law and a political science professor at its affiliated undergraduate school. Before joining the USC faculty in 1989, she was Professor of Law at Harvard University, where she was one of the youngest woman in the school's history to receive tenure. [12] On January 10, 2008, Estrich joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, a law firm based in Los Angeles, where she chaired their Public Strategy in High Profile Litigation: Media Relations practice area.

In several of Estrich's books, including Sex & Power and The Case for Hillary Clinton, she discusses her experience as a survivor of rape. Her book Real Rape talks about the history of rape law in the United States. In 2004, Estrich challenged Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Michael Kinsley for under-representing women on the editorial page. [13] [14] Estrich was outspoken during the 2008 presidential race, particularly on the subject of women in politics in light of the candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Estrich supported Clinton in the Democratic primaries, [15] and was strongly critical of Palin. [16]

Estrich and the former American Civil Liberties Union president in Massachusetts, Harvey A. Silverglate, joined attorneys representing two alleged Boston al-Qaeda funders, Emadeddin Z. Muntasser and Muhammed Mubayyid who were indicted on May 11, 2005, for lying about the true nature of their organization and their charitable, tax-exempt activities. In their October 5, 2006, motion for dismissal, attorneys Estrich, Malick Ghachem, Norman Zalkind and Elizabeth Lunt, argued that the defendants lawfully exercised their religious freedom and obligation to give "zakat" (Islamic charity). Their motion cites Chapter 9, verse 60, of the Koran, which describes "those entitled to receive zakat."

In July 2016, Estrich was retained as legal counsel to the former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes — whom she met on the George H. W. Bush campaign trail in 1988 and whom she considered a close friend. [17] Ailes lost his job after a number of women who worked for Fox News accused him of sexual harassment. Her attacks against Gabe Sherman, the New York reporter who broke the scandal, were negatively viewed by some who felt the representation to be inconsistent with Estrich's pro-feminist philosophy. [18]

In October 2018, Estrich joined Boies Schiller Flexner LLP as a partner in its Los Angeles office. [19] In 2022, she represented Leon Black, a billionaire investor and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of raping a woman in 2002 whom Epstein had introduced him to. [20] Estrich was quoted claiming that the accusation was "categorically false" and "part of a scheme to extort money from Mr. Black".

Personal life

In 1986, Estrich married screenwriter, professor and former speechwriter Marty Kaplan, with whom she has a daughter, Isabel, and a son, James. They have since divorced. [21] She is Jewish, having celebrated becoming a Bat Mitzvah at Temple Israel in Swampscott, Massachusetts, and has written about her religion in her column. [22]

Estrich is portrayed by Allison Janney in the film Bombshell (2019). [23] [24]

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1988 United States presidential election</span> 51st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. In what was the third consecutive landslide election for the Republican Party, their ticket of incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush and Indiana senator Dan Quayle defeated the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Dukakis</span> American politician (born 1933)

Michael Stanley Dukakis is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the second Greek-American governor in U.S. history, after Spiro Agnew. He was nominated by the Democratic Party for president in the 1988 election, losing to the Republican nominee, Vice President George H. W. Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Ailes</span> American TV executive and consultant (1940–2017)

Roger Eugene Ailes was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, and for Rudy Giuliani's 1989 New York City mayoral election. In July 2016, he left Fox News after allegations of sexually harassing female Fox employees, including on-air hosts Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Andrea Tantaros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geraldine Ferraro</span> American politician (1935–2011)

Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 1984 presidential election, running alongside Walter Mondale; this made her the first female vice-presidential nominee representing a major American political party. She was also a journalist, author, and businesswoman.

William R. Horton, commonly referred to as "Willie Horton", is an American convicted murderer who was the subject of a major political controversy in the 1988 presidential election. Horton had committed violent crimes while on furlough from prison, where he was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murder. Released for a weekend as the beneficiary of a Massachusetts furlough program, he failed to return, and was later recaptured and convicted of committing assault, armed robbery, and rape in Maryland, where he remains incarcerated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Weld</span> 68th Governor of Massachusetts

William Floyd Weld is an American attorney, businessman, author, and politician who served as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. A Harvard graduate, Weld began his career as legal counsel to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary before becoming the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and later, the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. He worked on a series of high-profile public corruption cases and later resigned in protest of an ethics scandal and associated investigations into Attorney General Edwin Meese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marty Kaplan</span> American professor and writer

Martin Kaplan is an American professor and former studio executive and writer. He teaches at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and is the founding director of the Norman Lear Center for the study of the impact of entertainment on society. His career has also spanned government and politics, the entertainment industry and journalism.

In politics, opposition research is the practice of collecting information on a political opponent or other adversary that can be used to discredit or otherwise weaken them. The information can include biographical, legal, criminal, medical, educational, or financial history or activities, as well as prior media coverage, or the voting record of a politician. Opposition research can also entail using "trackers" to follow an individual and record their activities or political speeches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitty Dukakis</span> American author

Katharine "Kitty" Dukakis is an American author. She is married to former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna Brazile</span> American author, educator, and political activist and strategist (born 1959)

Donna Lease Brazile is an American political strategist, campaign manager, and political analyst who served twice as acting Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She is currently an ABC News contributor, and was previously a Fox News contributor until her resignation in May 2021. Brazile was also previously a CNN contributor, but resigned in October 2016, after WikiLeaks revealed that she shared two debate questions with Hillary Clinton's campaign during the 2016 United States presidential election.

John Sasso is an American Democratic political operative who ran the 1988 election bid by Michael Dukakis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Gearan</span>

Mark Daniel Gearan is an American lawyer and the president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. He previously served as a director at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics from 1995 to 1999 and as the director of the Peace Corps. He is the longest-serving president in the history of HWS, serving from 1999–2017. Gearan returned to the position in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanine Pirro</span> American television host and author (born 1951)

Jeanine Ferris Pirro is an American television host and author, and is also a former judge, prosecutor, and politician in the state of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Murphy</span> American politician

Evelyn Murphy is an American businesswoman and politician who was the 67th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1987 to 1991, being the first woman in the history of the state to hold a constitutional office. She is now the president of The WAGE Project, a United States nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating wage discrimination against women; a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, and a corporate director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Palin</span> American politician (born 1964)

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee alongside U.S. Senator John McCain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial election</span>

The 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis, his party's nominee for president in 1988, opted to not seek a fourth term. Republican Bill Weld won the open seat, beating Democrat John Silber to become the first Republican Governor of Massachusetts elected since 1970. This election was the first open-seat gubernatorial election in Massachusetts since 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revolving Door (advertisement)</span> Campaign ad

"Revolving Door" was a famous negative television commercial made for Republican nominee George H. W. Bush's campaign during the 1988 United States presidential election. Along with the Willie Horton commercial, it is considered to have been a major factor in Bush's defeat of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. The ad was produced by political consultant Roger Ailes with help from Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater, and first aired on October 5, 1988. "Revolving door syndrome" is a term used in criminology to refer to recidivism; however, in the ad, the implication is that prison sentences were of an inconsequential length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. W. Bush 1988 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

The 1988 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush, the 43rd vice president of the United States under President Ronald Reagan, began when he announced he was running for the Republican Party's nomination in the 1988 U.S. presidential election on October 13, 1987. Bush won the 1988 election against Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis on November 8, 1988. He was subsequently inaugurated as president on January 20, 1989.

A pundette is a female TV commentator or pundit in the US, often conservative. The term was coined in the 1990s to describe anti-Bill Clinton commentators who came to prominence on cable TV during the Lewinsky scandal. Bill Clinton was president of the United States at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

The 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis began when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States on March 16, 1987, in a speech in Boston. After winning the nomination, he was formally selected as the Democratic Party's nominee at the party's convention in Atlanta, Georgia on July 21, 1988. He lost the 1988 election to his Republican opponent George H. W. Bush, who was the sitting Vice President at the time. Dukakis won 10 states and the District of Columbia, receiving a total of 111 electoral votes compared to Bush's 426. Dukakis received 45% of the popular vote to Bush's 53%. Many commentators blamed Dukakis' loss on the embarrassing photograph of him in a tank taken on September 13, 1988, which subsequently formed the basis of a successful Republican attack ad. Much of the blame was also laid on Dukakis' campaign, which was criticized for being poorly managed despite being well funded. Had Dukakis been elected, he would have been the first Greek American president, the first non-Western European American president, and the second governor of Massachusetts to accomplish this feat, after Calvin Coolidge. Bentsen would have been the second senator from Texas to be elected vice president, after Lyndon B. Johnson.

References

  1. ↑ "Susan Estrich Film Bio". Internet Movie Database (IMDB).
  2. 1 2 Carlin, Peter Ames (March 23, 1998). "I Love to Lose". People Magazine. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Dr Samuel C Eveleth School". Marblehead.com. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  4. ↑ Estrich, Susan (1989). "Commencement Address of Susan Estrich '74". Wellesley College. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Interview with Susan Estrich". No Quarter USA. National Public Radio (NPR.org). March 16, 2003. Archived from the original on March 19, 2009. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  6. ↑ Butterfield, Fox (February 6, 1990). "First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review". New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  7. ↑ Lavoie, Denise (March 28, 2016). "Supreme Court nominee formed lasting bonds at Harvard". San Diego Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  8. ↑ Toner, Robin (May 6, 1988). "Behind the 2 Democratic Contenders, 2 Hard-Driving Campaign Managers; Susan Estrich Brings Assurance And Toughness to Dukakis Drive". New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Susan Estrich appearances on Fox News". Fox News. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Susan Estrich Bio". Fox News. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ Estrich, Susan. "Susan Estrich syndicated column". Creators.com. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  12. ↑ Breitman, Rachel (July 6, 2009). "Quinn Emanuel's Susan Estrich Redefines Multitasking". AM Law Daily. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  13. ↑ Kurtz, Howard (March 7, 2005). "For One Ed, Strong Op: Susan Estrich Addresses the Male". Washington Post . Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  14. ↑ Stranahan, Susan Q. (February 25, 2005). "Interview: Susan Estrich on Gender, Missing Voices, and That Nasty Email War". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  15. ↑ Estrich, Susan (2008). "The Heat in the Kitchen: A Commentary". Rasmussen Reports. Creators Syndicate. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  16. ↑ Estrich, Susan (November 11, 2008). "Sarah Palin Mattered". Creators Syndicate. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  17. ↑ Farhi, Paul (August 4, 2016). "What is feminist hero Susan Estrich doing representing Roger Ailes?". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  18. ↑ Stanley, Alessandra (September 11, 2016). "The Curious Case of Susan Estrich". New York Times. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  19. ↑ Flaherty, Scott (October 10, 2018). "Boies Schiller Nabs Prominent Attorney Susan Estrich From Quinn Emanuel". The Recorder. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  20. ↑ Goldstein, Matthew (November 30, 2022). "Epstein Estate Agrees to Pay More Than $105 Million to U.S. Virgin Islands". The New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Susan Estrich Bio". NNDB.
  22. ↑ Estrich, Susan (2007). "A Lot Like Christmas". Creators.com. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  23. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (September 20, 2018). "Allison Janney To Play Attorney Susan Estrich In Annapurna's Movie About The Roger Ailes Fox News Harassment Scandal". Deadline . Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  24. ↑ Allen, Nick (January 3, 2020). "Who's Who in Bombshell: A Character Guide". Vulture . Retrieved September 12, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.