Peter B. Edelman is a lawyer, policy maker, and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...

, specializing in the fields of poverty, welfare, juvenile justice, and constitutional law. Edelman grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father worked as a lawyer and his mother worked as a home-maker. Edelman is married to Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for the rights of children. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.-Early years:...

, president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund

Children's Defense Fund

The Children's Defense Fund is an American child advocacy and research group, founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. Its motto Leave No Child Behind reflects its mission to advocate on behalf of children...

.

Education

Edelman received his A.B.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1958 from Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 and LL.B.

Bachelor of Laws

The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 degree from Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

. Edelman served as a law clerk to to Judge Henry Friendly

Henry Friendly

Henry Jacob Friendly was a prominent judge in the United States, who sat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 through 1974 and in senior status until his death by suicide in 1986.- Before the bench :Judge Friendly graduated from...

 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then as a law clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...

 Arthur J. Goldberg.

Early career

He also worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General John Douglas. Edelman worked as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy

Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...

 from 1964 to 1968, accompanying Kennedy to his meeting with labor leader Cesar Chavez

César Chávez

César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....

. Edelman also met his wife while in Mississippi with Kennedy to prepare for reauthorization of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

Signed by Lyndon B. Johnson on August 20, 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was central to Johnson's Great Society campaign and its War on Poverty. Implemented by the since disbanded Office of Economic Opportunity, the Act included several social programs to promote the health, education,...

. Following Kennedy’s assassination, Edelman spent brief periods working as deputy director for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, issues director for Arthur Goldberg’s

Arthur Goldberg

Arthur Joseph Goldberg was an American statesman and jurist who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Supreme Court Justice and Ambassador to the United Nations.-Early life:...

 New York gubernatorial campaign, and vice president of the University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts

This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

 from 1972 to 1975.

Edelman became director of the New York State Division for Youth in 1975, joined Foley & Lardner

Foley & Lardner

Foley & Lardner LLP is an international law firm started in 1842. According to The American Lawyer, the firm ranked 39th on The American Lawyer's 2011 AmLaw 100 rankings of U.S. law firms, with $633,000,000 in gross revenue in 2010. Foley & Lardner has been in The American Lawyer's annual AmLaw 100...

 as partner in 1979, and served as Issues Director for Senator Edward Kennedy

Ted Kennedy

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...

's Presidential campaign in 1980. In 1981, he helped found Parents United in the District of Columbia to empower parents to advocate for educational quality in DC's public schools. Edelman has taught at Georgetown since 1982.

Work in the Clinton administration

Edelman took a leave of absence during President Clinton's first term to serve as Counselor to HHS Secretary

United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet...

 Donna Shalala

Donna Shalala

Donna Edna Shalala served for eight years as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton and has been president of the University of Miami, a private university in Coral Gables, Florida, since 2001. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest...

 and then as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

Edelman resigned from the Clinton administration in protest of Clinton signing welfare reform

Welfare reform

Welfare reform refers to the process of reforming the framework of social security and welfare provisions, but what is considered reform is a matter of opinion. The term was used in the United States to support the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act...

 legislation According to Edelman, the 1996 welfare reform law destroyed the safety net. It increased poverty, lowered income for single mothers, put people from welfare into homeless shelters, and left states free to eliminate welfare entirely.

In late 1994, Clinton considered nominating Edelman to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...

 that had become vacant with the decision by Abner Mikva to retire from the bench on September 19, 1994, to become White House counsel. However, Clinton feared a difficult confirmation battle—particularly given publicly stated opposition to Edelman's nomination by U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch

Orrin Hatch

Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...

 -- and he backed off, later successfully nominating Merrick Garland to the seat. In 1995, Clinton mulled nominating Edelman to the federal district court

District court

District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations. These include:-Australia:District Court is the name given to the intermediate court in most Australian States. They hear indictable criminal offences excluding treason, murder and, in some States, manslaughter...

 in Washington D.C., but in August 1995, he abandoned that possibility as well. The withdrawal came even despite Hatch's stated support for Edelman's nomination. "District court judges don't make policy as much as the judges on the circuit courts do," Hatch told the New York Times. "He's very liberal, but he's also an extremely fine man and I told the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 that I would support him for the district court."

Recent work

Edelman has been an Associate Dean of the Georgetown University Law Center. Edelman is currently the board president of the New Israel Fund

New Israel Fund

The New Israel Fund is a U.S. based non-profit organization established in 1979, and describes its objective as social justice and equality for all Israelis.-Ideology:...

, and is a board member of the Center for Community Change

Center for Community Change

The Center for Community Change is one of the larger community building organizations in the United States. It was founded in 1968 in response to civil rights concerns of the 1960s...

, the Public Welfare Foundation, Americans for Peace Now

Americans for Peace Now

Americans for Peace Now , the United States partner of Israel’s Shalom Achshav organization, is an American coalition working to help Israel achieve a secure peace with the Arab states and the Palestinian people...

, the Center for Law and Social Policy

Center for Law and Social Policy

The Center for Law and Social Policy is a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for policies aimed at improving the lives of low-income people.- History and work :...

, the American Constitution Society, amongst other nonprofit organizations. He currently serves as chair of the seventeen-member Access to Justice Commission for the District of Columbia, a panel studying ways to provide access to civil legal representation for those who cannot afford it.

Honors

• Harry Chapin Media Award for "The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has Done"
• Former United States-Japan Leadership Program Fellow
• Former J. Skelly Wright Memorial Fellow at Yale Law School

Books

• Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men. With Harry J. Holzer
  Harry J. Holzer
  Harry Holzer is an American economist, educator and public policy analyst. He is a Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Along with Peter B. Edelman, he is a founder and co-director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy...
  
   and Paul Offner
  Paul Offner
  Paul Offner was an educator, public health expert, and legislator.Born in Bennington, Vermont. Offner graduated from Amherst College in 1964. He received his masters and doctorate degrees from Princeton University. In 1974, Offner was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly from La Crosse, Wisconsin...
  
  . (Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press, 2006).
• Searching for America's Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope (Georgetown University Press 2003).
• Contributor, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development (Jacqueline Eccles & Jennifer Appleton Gootman eds., Natl Acad. Press 2002).
• The Future of Social Insurance: Incremental Action or Fundamental Reform? (Peter B. Edelman et al. eds., Nat’l Acad. Soc. Ins. 2002).
• Searching for America’s Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope (Houghton Mifflin Co. 2001, Georgetown University Press 2003).
• Adolescence and Poverty: Challenge for the 1990s (Peter B. Edelman & Joyce Ladner eds., Center for National Policy Press 1991).
• And Beryl A. Radin, Serving Children and Families Effectively: How the Past Can Help the Future (Education and Human Services Consortium 1991).
• A New Social Contract: Rethinking the Nature and Purpose of Public Assistance, Report of the Task Force on Poverty and Welfare, State of New York (Peter B. Edelman contr., State of New York 1986).

Book Chapters

• "American Government and the Politics of Youth," In A Century of Juvenile Justice, (Ed.s Margaret K. Rosenheim, Franklin E. Zimring, David S. Tanenhaus, and Bernardine Dohrn, 310-38. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002).
• And Beryl A. Radin, "Effective Services for Children and Families: Lessons From the Past and Strategies for the Future," in Effective Services for Young Children: Report of a Workshop 48 (Lisbeth B. Schorr et al. eds., National Academy Press 1991).
• Response to Elliot Currie, "Crime and Drugs: Reclaiming a Liberal Issue," in Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Future of Liberalism 89 (John F. Sears ed., Meckler 1991).
• "Urban Poverty: Where Do We Go From Here?" in The Future of National Urban Policy 89 (Marshall Kaplan & Franklin James eds., Duke University Press 1990).
• "Creating Jobs for Americans: From MDTA to Industrial Policy," in The Great Society and Its Legacy: Twenty Years of U.S. Social Policy 91 (Marshall Kaplan & Peggy L. Cuciti eds., Duke University Press 1986).
• And Myrtis H. Powell, "Smoothing the Path From School to Work: A Promising Venture in Structural Change," in The State Role in Promoting Youth Employment 1 (Southern Education Foundation 1986).
• "What Shall We Do About America's Poor Now ?" in 3 Money (Eleanor Goldstein ed., Social Issues Resources Series 1986).
• "Institutionalizing Dispute Resolution Alternatives," in Dispute Resolution 505 (Stephen B. Goldberg et al. eds., Little, Brown & Co. 1985).
• "Re-Visioning Public Responsibility," in Beyond Reagan: Alternatives for the '80s 132 (Alan Gartner et al. eds., Harper & Row 1984).
• "Work and Welfare: An Alternative Perspective on Entitlements," in Budget and Policy Choices 1983: Taxes, Defense, Entitlements 51 (W. Bowman Cutter, III et al. eds, Center for National Policy 1983).

Journal Articles

• "Where Is FDR When We Need Him?," 93 Georgetown Law Journal 1681 (2005).
• "Where Race Meets Class: The 21st Century Civil Rights Agenda," 12 Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy 1 (2005).
• "Welfare and the Politics of Race: Same Tune, New Lyrics," 11 Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy 389 (2004).
• "The Welfare Debate: Getting Past the Bumper Stickers," 27 Harvard Journal of Public Policy 93 (2003).
• "Beyond Welfare Reform: Economic Justice in the 21st Century," 24 Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law 475 (2003).
• "Remarks, D.C. Consortium of Legal Service Providers: Legal Services 2000 Symposium," 5 University of the District of Columbia Law Review 257 (2002).
• "Succeeding in Uncertain Times: Challenges for Distressed Communities," Keynote address, Reshaping the Fundamentals: Strengthening Community Economies in Turbulent Times, Michigan State University Community and Economic Development Program, East Lansing, MI (July 22, 2002).
• "Welfare Reform: Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?" Speech, action/research conference sponsored by the Bryn Mawr College Center for Ethnicities, Communities and Social Policy and the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr, PA, March 1, 2002.
• "TANF Reauthorization: Is Congress Acting on What We Have Learned?," 1 Seattle J. For Soc. Just. 403 (2002).
• "Forgotten Stories About Forgotten People," 55 Nieman Reports 29 (2001).
• Review of The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich, by Mel Steely, 20 Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 568 (2001).
• "Poverty and Welfare Policy in the Post Clinton Era," 70 Mississippi Law Journal 877 (2001).
• Et al., "A Conservation on Federalism and the States: the Balancing Act of Devolution," 64 Alb. L. Rev. 1091 (2001).
• "Poverty & Welfare: Does Compassionate Conservatism Have a Heart?," 64 Alb. L. Rev. 1073 (2001).
• "Promoting Family by Promoting Work: the Hole in Martha Fineman's Doughnut," 8 Am. U. J. Gender, Soc. Pol'y, & L. 85 (1999).
• Panel Discussion: "Arthur J. Goldberg's Legacies to American Labor Relations," 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 667 (1999).
• Et al., "A Family Commitment to Families and Children," 37 Fam. & Conciliation Cts. Rev. 8 (1999).
• "The Impact of Welfare Reform on Children: Can We Get It Right Before the Crunch Comes?," 60 Ohio St. L.J. 1493 (1999).
• "So-Called 'Welfare Reform': Let's Talk About What's Really Needed to Get People Jobs," 17 L. & Inequality 217 (1999).
• "Welfare and the 'Third Way'," Dissent 14 (Winter 1999).
• "Responding to the Wake-Up Call: A New Agenda for Poverty Lawyer,." 24 New York University Review of Law & Social Change 547 (1998).
• "Opening Address," Symposium: Lawyering for Poor Communities in the Twenty-First Century, 25 Fordham Urb. L.J. 685 (1998).
• "Introduction," Fiftieth Anniversary Volume: Welfare Reform Symposium, 50 Admin. L. Rev. 579 (1998).
• "The Role of Government in the Prevention of Violence," 35 Hous. L. Rev. 7 (1998).
• "The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Implications For Welfare Reform in the United States," 5 Geo. J. on Fighting Poverty 285 (1998).
• "The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has Done," Atlantic Monthly 43 (1997).
• "Toward a Comprehensive Antipoverty Strategy: Getting Beyond the Silver Bullet," 81 Geo. L.J. 1697 (1993).
• "Mandated Minimum Income, Judge Posner, and the Destruction of the Rule," 55 Alb. L. Rev. 633 (1992).
• "Justice Scalia's Jurisprudence and the Good Society: Shades of Felix Frankfurter and the Harvard Hit Parade of the 1950s," 12 Cardozo L. Rev. 1799 (1991).
• "Free Press v. Privacy: Haunted by the Ghost of Justice Black," 68 Tex. L. Rev. 1195 (1990).
• "Japanese Product Standards as Non-Tariff Trade Barriers: When Regulatory Policy Becomes a Trade Issue," 24 Stan. J. Int'l L. 389 (1988).
• "Corporate Criminal Liability for Homicide: The Need to Punish Both the Corporate Entity and Its Officers," 92 Dickinson L. Rev. 193(1987).
• "The Next Century of Our Constitution: Rethinking Our Duty to the Poor," 39 Hastings L.J. 1 (1987).
• "Listen Democrats! Memorandum to the Candidate: How You Can Get Beyond the Old Liberalism Without Becoming a 'Neo'," 2 Tikkun 29 (1986).
• "Institutionalizing Dispute Resolution Alternatives," 9 Just. Sys. J. 134 (1984).

External links

• Human Rights Hero: Peter B. Edelman, ABA Human Rights Magazine
• Legends in the Law: A Conversation With Peter B. Edelman, Washington Lawyer, May 2008
• Peter B. Edelman, Georgetown Law School