Laurence Hirsch Silberman was an American jurist and diplomat who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1985 until his death.
30 Facts About Laurence Silberman
2.
Laurence Silberman was appointed in October 1985 by President Ronald Reagan and took senior status on November 1,2000.
3.
Laurence Silberman graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1957.
4.
Laurence Silberman led the development of legislation to implement "final offer selection" as a means of resolving labor disputes.
5.
President Richard Nixon nominated Laurence Silberman to be Deputy Attorney General of the United States in January 1974.
6.
Laurence Silberman's resignation was accepted by President Gerald Ford, pending the confirmation of his successor.
7.
Laurence Silberman served in the role until he resigned during the presidential transition of Jimmy Carter.
8.
In total, Laurence Silberman has held six Senate-confirmed positions and never received a dissenting vote.
9.
Laurence Silberman was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 11,1985, to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to a new seat created by 98 Stat.
10.
Laurence Silberman was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 25,1985, and received commission on October 28,1985.
11.
Laurence Silberman was on the short list of potential nominees to the US Supreme Court on three separate occasions in 1987,1990, and 1991.
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However, after the rejection of Robert Bork with whom Laurence Silberman had served on the District of Columbia Circuit, he was regarded as controversial.
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Unlike fellow conservatives Pasco Bowman II and John Clifford Wallace, Silberman even drew some opposition from Republican senators because although he was a judicial conservative and thus was likely against Roe v Wade as a legal matter, he was thought to be personally pro-choice.
14.
Laurence Silberman was a member of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review at the time of its first ever session in 2002.
15.
On February 6,2004, Laurence Silberman was appointed co-chairman of the Iraq Intelligence Commission, an independent blue-ribbon panel created to investigate US intelligence surrounding the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
16.
In 2008, Judge Laurence Silberman, joined by five other senior judges, initiated a suit against the United States, "claiming that when Congress refused to authorize statutory cost-of-living raises for federal judges, it violated the Compensation Clause [of the Constitution]".
17.
In October 2021, Laurence Silberman won the first annual Justice Clarence Thomas First Principles Award for his judicial service.
18.
On March 17,2022, several news outlets published an email that Laurence Silberman had sent to all Article III federal judges regarding a protest at Yale Law School.
19.
Some commentators have speculated that Laurence Silberman may have been involved in the so-called "October Surprise" with respect to the Iran hostage crisis prior to the 1980 presidential election, alleging that Laurence Silberman and others had attended meetings to negotiate the delayed release of the hostages by the Iranian government.
20.
Laurence Silberman asked me to join him, as an ex-Deputy Attorney General, because he was a bit apprehensive.
21.
Laurence Silberman was a fervent supporter of the Shah and an adversary of the Iranian revolution, but he was definitely not an Iranian, still less a representative of the Iranian government [the contrary of which assertion being the essence of the allegations of inappropriate contact with the Iranian government].
22.
Laurence Silberman was hostile to the Carter Administration for having abandoned the Shah.
23.
Laurence Silberman called me, and I told him what occurred.
24.
Indeed, Laurence Silberman had stopped having lunch in the judges' lunchroom because of his antipathy for Gesell.
25.
Laurence Silberman was an Adjunct Professor of Administrative Law at Georgetown University Law Center from 1987 to 1994 and from 1997 to 1999, at NYU from 1995 to 1996, and at Harvard in 1998.
26.
Laurence Silberman held the position of Distinguished Visitor from the Judiciary at Georgetown University Law Center from 2000 to 2019 and taught both administrative law and labor law.
27.
Laurence Silberman has received a Lifetime Service Award and a Distinguished Service Award from the Federalist Society chapters of Georgetown and Harvard, respectively.
28.
Laurence Silberman was a close friend of Justice Antonin Scalia since he had recruited Scalia into the Ford administration.
29.
Laurence Silberman was a friend of Justice Clarence Thomas and in 1989 encouraged a young and reluctant Thomas to accept a federal judgeship on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
30.
Laurence Silberman died on October 2,2022, ten days before his 87th birthday.