U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to Speak at W&L Law
The Hon. Richard J. Leon, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia, will speak this week at Washington and Lee University School of Law. Among Judge Leon’s notable decisions, he ruled in 2013 that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records likely violated the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The title of Judge Leon’s talk is “Battle Hymn of a Federal District Judge.” His lecture is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30 at noon in Classroom B, Sydney Lewis Hall. His talk is free and open to the public.
Judge Leon was appointed to the United States District Court in February 2002. He received his A.B. from Holy Cross College in 1971, his J.D. cum laude from Suffolk Law School in 1974, and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1981.
Immediately prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Leon was in private practice in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the Washington office of Baker & Hostetler (1989-1999), and Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease (1999-2002).
Prior to and while in private practice, Judge Leon served as counsel to Congress in the investigations of three sitting Presidents. In 1987, he was the Deputy Chief Minority Counsel for the U.S. House Select “Iran-Contra” Committee. From 1992-1993, he was the Chief Minority Counsel to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s “October Surprise” Task Force. In 1994, Judge Leon was Special Counsel to the U.S. House Banking Committee for its “Whitewater” investigation. He also served in 1997 as Special Counsel to the bipartisan U.S. House Ethics Reform Task Force.
Earlier in his career, Judge Leon served at the U.S. Department of Justice in a number of positions including Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment Division, Senior Trial Attorney in the Criminal Section of the Tax Division, and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. He also served as a Commissioner on the White House Fellows Commission and the Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control.
Judge Leon’s lecture is sponsored by The Federalist Society.
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