Edward H. Levi
Encyclopedia
Edward Hirsch
Levi (June 26, 1911 – March 7, 2000) was an American academic leader, scholar, and statesman who served as United States Attorney General
. He is regularly cited as the "model of a modern attorney general," the "greatest lawyer of his time," and considered, along with Yale's Whitney Griswold, the greatest of postwar American university presidents. He is credited with restoring order after Watergate and the consensus of scholars is that he is one of only two truly outstanding AGs in modern times.
s. His maternal grandfather was Emil Gustav Hirsch, son of the German philosopher and rabbi Samuel Hirsch
. He received his A.B. Phi Beta Kappa from the undergraduate college
of the University of Chicago
in 1932, and later his J.D. at the University of Chicago Law School
in 1935. The following year he was named an assistant professor of law at the Law School
and was admitted to the Illinois bar. He earned a J.S.D. from Yale University
, where he was also a Sterling Fellow in 1938.
he served as a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. In 1945, he returned to the University of Chicago Law School
and was named dean of the law school in 1950. In 1950, he also worked as chief counsel
for the Subcommittee on Monopoly Power of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. He resigned as law school dean and became provost
of the university in 1962.
He was a member of the White House Central Group on Domestic Affairs in 1964, the White House Task Force on Education from 1966 to 1967 and the President's Task Force on Priorities in Higher Education from 1969 to 1970.
He became the University of Chicago's president in 1968, serving until 1975, when President
Gerald R. Ford appointed him 71st Attorney General of the United States. Levi was the first Jewish Attorney General of the United States. During his presidency of the University of Chicago he refused to call the Chicago City Police to evict students occupying the university administrative building.
During his term as Attorney General, he issued a set of guidelines (in 1976) to limit the activities of the FBI. These guidelines required the FBI to show evidence of a crime
before using secret police techniques like wiretap
s or entering someone's home without warning. These guidelines were replaced by new ones issued in 1983 by Ronald Reagan
's Attorney General, William French Smith
. He also successfully urged President Ford to appoint fellow Chicagoan John Paul Stevens
to the United States Supreme Court. Serving under him, in various high staff positions, were such people as Rudolph Giuliani, Robert Bork
, Antonin Scalia
, Rex E. Lee
, and Arthur Raymond Randolph
.
He was the author of An Introduction to Legal Reasoning, which was first published in 1949 and his speeches were collected in Point of View: Talks on Education.
He was a trustee of the University of Chicago and the MacArthur Foundation
. He was a chairman and a member of the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility.
He died in Chicago, Illinois
, aged 88, of Alzheimer's disease
on March 7, 2000. In 2005, the Justice Department commemorated the 30th anniversary of his appointment as Attorney General with a ceremony and creation of the Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity. The Award was established to pay tribute to the memory and achievements of Mr. Levi, whose career as an attorney, law professor and dean, and public servant exemplified these qualities in the best traditions of the Department. Friends and former colleagues, including former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justices John Paul Stevens
and Antonin Scalia
; former Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach
; and former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge and Solicitor General Robert H. Bork, gathered to honor Mr. Levi.
He has three sons, David, Michael, and John. David F. Levi
is a former federal judge and the current dean of Duke Law School. John G. Levi
was recently confirmed to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation
.
Hirsch
Hirsch may refer to:Places* Hirsch, Buenos Aires, Argentina* Hirsch, Saskatchewan, Canada* Hirsch Observatory, an astronomical observatory in Troy, New YorkPeople * August Hirsch, German physician and medical historian....
Levi (June 26, 1911 – March 7, 2000) was an American academic leader, scholar, and statesman who served as United States Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
. He is regularly cited as the "model of a modern attorney general," the "greatest lawyer of his time," and considered, along with Yale's Whitney Griswold, the greatest of postwar American university presidents. He is credited with restoring order after Watergate and the consensus of scholars is that he is one of only two truly outstanding AGs in modern times.
Early life
Levi was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son and grandson of rabbiRabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s. His maternal grandfather was Emil Gustav Hirsch, son of the German philosopher and rabbi Samuel Hirsch
Samuel Hirsch
Samuel Hirsch, was a major Reform religious philosopher and rabbi.-Biography:Born in Thalfang , he received his training at Metz...
. He received his A.B. Phi Beta Kappa from the undergraduate college
College of the University of Chicago
The College is the sole undergraduate institution and one of the oldest components of the University of Chicago, emerging contemporaneously with the university at large in 1892...
of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1932, and later his J.D. at the University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
in 1935. The following year he was named an assistant professor of law at the Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
and was admitted to the Illinois bar. He earned a J.S.D. from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he was also a Sterling Fellow in 1938.
Education and political career
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served as a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. In 1945, he returned to the University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
and was named dean of the law school in 1950. In 1950, he also worked as chief counsel
Counsel
A counsel or a counselor gives advice, more particularly in legal matters.-U.K. and Ireland:The legal system in England uses the term counsel as an approximate synonym for a barrister-at-law, and may apply it to mean either a single person who pleads a cause, or collectively, the body of barristers...
for the Subcommittee on Monopoly Power of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. He resigned as law school dean and became provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
of the university in 1962.
He was a member of the White House Central Group on Domestic Affairs in 1964, the White House Task Force on Education from 1966 to 1967 and the President's Task Force on Priorities in Higher Education from 1969 to 1970.
He became the University of Chicago's president in 1968, serving until 1975, when President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Gerald R. Ford appointed him 71st Attorney General of the United States. Levi was the first Jewish Attorney General of the United States. During his presidency of the University of Chicago he refused to call the Chicago City Police to evict students occupying the university administrative building.
During his term as Attorney General, he issued a set of guidelines (in 1976) to limit the activities of the FBI. These guidelines required the FBI to show evidence of a crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
before using secret police techniques like wiretap
Telephone tapping
Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
s or entering someone's home without warning. These guidelines were replaced by new ones issued in 1983 by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's Attorney General, William French Smith
William French Smith
William French Smith was an American lawyer and the 74th Attorney General of the United States.-Biography:...
. He also successfully urged President Ford to appoint fellow Chicagoan John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from December 19, 1975 until his retirement on June 29, 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest member of the Court and the third-longest serving justice in the Court's history...
to the United States Supreme Court. Serving under him, in various high staff positions, were such people as Rudolph Giuliani, Robert Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
, Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
, Rex E. Lee
Rex E. Lee
Rex Edwin Lee from St. Johns, Arizona was a Constitutional lawyer, a law clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White, and the United States Solicitor General under the Reagan administration. He argued 59 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court...
, and Arthur Raymond Randolph
Arthur Raymond Randolph
Arthur Raymond Randolph is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed to the Court in 1990 and assumed senior status on November 1, 2008.-Biography:...
.
Later life
After his term as Attorney General, he returned to teaching at the University of Chicago's Law School and College. He was a visiting professor at Stanford University Law School from 1977 to 1978.He was the author of An Introduction to Legal Reasoning, which was first published in 1949 and his speeches were collected in Point of View: Talks on Education.
He was a trustee of the University of Chicago and the MacArthur Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...
. He was a chairman and a member of the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility.
He died in Chicago, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, aged 88, of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
on March 7, 2000. In 2005, the Justice Department commemorated the 30th anniversary of his appointment as Attorney General with a ceremony and creation of the Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity. The Award was established to pay tribute to the memory and achievements of Mr. Levi, whose career as an attorney, law professor and dean, and public servant exemplified these qualities in the best traditions of the Department. Friends and former colleagues, including former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justices John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from December 19, 1975 until his retirement on June 29, 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest member of the Court and the third-longest serving justice in the Court's history...
and Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
; former Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach
Nicholas Katzenbach
Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach is an American lawyer who served as United States Attorney General during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.-Early life:...
; and former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge and Solicitor General Robert H. Bork, gathered to honor Mr. Levi.
He has three sons, David, Michael, and John. David F. Levi
David F. Levi
David F. Levi is a U.S. jurist and current Dean of the Duke University School of Law. From 1990–2007, he was a Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, serving as Chief Judge since 2003. At the time Levi left the bench, he was widely considered to be one...
is a former federal judge and the current dean of Duke Law School. John G. Levi
John G. Levi
John G. Levi was nominated to serve on the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation by President Barack Obama on August 6, 2009, and his nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 19, 2010. He was elected Chairman of the LSC Board by his fellow Board members on April 7,...
was recently confirmed to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation
Legal Services Corporation
The Legal Services Corporation is a private, non-profit corporation established by the United States Congress. It seeks to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing civil legal assistance to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it...
.