Douglas H. Ginsburg

Early life and education

Ginsburg was born on May 25, 1946, in Chicago, Illinois, to Katherine (née Goodmont) and Maurice Ginsburg. After graduating from the Latin School of Chicago in 1963, he entered Cornell University as a classics major. He dropped out in 1965 due to "boredom" and co-founded Operation Match, an early computer dating service based in Boston, Massachusetts. Ginsburg sold the company in 1968 and returned to Cornell, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial relations.

Ginsburg then attended the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review along with future federal judge Frank Easterbrook and future billionaire investor David Rubenstein. He graduated in 1973 with a J.D. degree and membership in the Order of the Coif.

Career

After law school, Ginsburg was a law clerk to Judge Carl E. McGowan of the D.C. Circuit from 1973 to 1974 and to U.S. Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall from 1974 to 1975. He then became a professor at Harvard Law School, where he taught labor law, administrative law, antitrust law, and other subjects.

In 1983, Ginsburg joined the administration of President Ronald Reagan as a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. In 1984, he became the administrator of the Executive Office of the President's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and in 1985 he was appointed Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division.

From 1988 to 2008, Ginsburg was an adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Law (now Antonin Scalia Law School), where he taught a seminar called "Readings in Legal Thought". Until 2011 he was also a Visiting Lecturer and Charles J. Merriam Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School in Chicago, Illinois. Ginsburg has been a visiting professor at Columbia University Law School (1987–1988) and a visiting scholar at New York Law School (2006–2008).

Ginsburg is currently a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School. He was previously a visiting professor at University College London Faculty of Laws. He serves on the advisory boards of the Global Antitrust Institute (Chairman), the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics and the Centre for Law, Economics, and Society, both at University College London, Faculty of Laws. His academic articles and writing has appeared in Competition Policy International, the Journal of Competition Law & Economics; the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy; the Supreme Court Economic Review; the University of Chicago Law Review; and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.

Federal judicial service

Ginsburg was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 23, 1986, to a seat on the District of Columbia Circuit vacated by Judge J. Skelly Wright. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 8, 1986, and received his commission on October 14, 1986. He served as Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit from 2001 to 2008, and he assumed senior status on October 14, 2011.

He was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States, 2001–2008, and previously served on its Budget Committee, 1997–2001, and Committee on Judicial Resources, 1987–1996; American Bar Association, Antitrust Section, Council, 1985–1986 (ex officio), 2000–2003 and 2009–2012 (judicial liaison); Boston University Law School, Visiting Committee, 1994–1997; and University of Chicago Law School, Visiting Committee, 1985–1988.

United States Supreme Court nomination

On October 29, 1987, President Reagan announced his intention to nominate Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Lewis Powell, which had been announced on June 26. Ginsburg was chosen after the United States Senate, controlled by Democrats, had voted down the nomination of Judge Robert Bork after a highly controversial nomination battle which ended with a 42–58 rejection vote on October 23.

Ginsburg's nomination collapsed for entirely different reasons from Bork's rejection, as he almost immediately came under some fire when NPR's Nina Totenberg revealed that Ginsburg had used marijuana "on a few occasions" during his student days in the 1960s and while an assistant professor at Harvard in the 1970s. It was Ginsburg's continued use of marijuana after graduation and as a professor that made his actions more serious in the minds of many senators and members of the public. date=1987| author=Larry J. Sabato| newspaper=The Washington Post| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/ginsburg.htm}} Ginsburg was also accused of a financial conflict of interest during his work in the Reagan Administration, but a Department of Justice investigation under the Ethics in Government Act determined the allegation was baseless.

Due to the allegations, Ginsburg withdrew his name from consideration on November 7,

Personal life

Ginsburg married the public relations consultant Deecy Gray in 2007 in a ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court performed by Chief Justice John Roberts. He has three daughters from two previous marriages.

Selected scholarly works

References

References

1. (November 6, 1987). "Ginsburg admits marijuana use". Lodi News-Sentinel.
2. (November 8, 1987). "Ginsburg withdraws as court nominee". [[Register-Guard]].
3. (November 8, 1987). "Drug furor forces Ginsburg's withdrawal". [[Spokesman-Review]].
4. McMillion, Barry J.. (January 28, 2022). "Supreme Court Appointment Process: President's Selection of a Nominee". Congressional Research Service.
5. (September 2, 2011). "D.C. Circuit Judge Ginsburg to Join NYU Law Faculty – The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times".
6. "SSRN Author Page for Ginsburg, Douglas H". Papers.ssrn.com.
7. (11 December 2024). "The Standards For Public Service Have Gone to Pot". Dow Jones & Company.
8. Broder, John M.. (November 8, 1987). "Collapse of the Ginsburg Nomination: At the End, Ginsburg Stood Alone – and Still a Puzzle". Los Angeles Times.
9. Shenon, Philip. (1987-10-30). "Nominee Left College to Be Matchmaker". The New York Times.
10. Mathews, T. Jay. (1965-11-03). "Operation Match". The Harvard Crimson.
11. (2013-07-03). "Douglas H. Ginsburg". Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University.
12. "Offerings". University of Chicago Law School.
13. (2014-06-02). "Faculty of Laws – People". University College London.
14. {{FJC Bio
15. (October 30, 1987). "Democrats open-minded on Ginsburg". Milwaukee Sentinel.
16. (October 30, 1987). "President picks young, novice judge". Eugene Register-Guard.
17. (June 26, 1987). "Powell to leave Supreme Court". Milwaukee Journal.
18. (October 24, 1987). "Bork loses by 58–42 Senate vote". Eugene Register-Guard.
19. Hall, Kermit, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States'', page 339, Oxford Press, 1992
20. (February 3, 1988). "Senate confirms Kennedy". Milwaukee Journal.
21. Steven V. Roberts. (1987-11-08). "Ginsburg withdraws name as Supreme Court nominee, citing marijuana "clamor"". The New York Times.
22. (23 September 2007). "Deecy Gray, Douglas Ginsburg". The New York Times.