Douglas H. Ginsburg

Douglas H. Ginsburg
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Name	Douglas H. Ginsburg
Birth date	1946-05-11
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Occupation	Judge, Law professor
Alma mater	Harvard College, Harvard Law School

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Douglas H. Ginsburg is an American jurist and academic who served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and as an influential scholar in antitrust law, administrative law, and constitutional law. Born in Chicago, he rose through clerking, private practice, and government service to a prominent judicial appointment and a high-profile nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg later returned to academia and wrote extensively on regulatory and criminal justice topics.

Early life and education

Ginsburg was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in a family connected to American Jewish communities and the civic life of the United States. He attended Harvard College where he studied alongside contemporaries who later joined institutions such as the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Office of Management and Budget. After earning a bachelor’s degree, he matriculated at Harvard Law School, where he served on the Harvard Law Review and studied with professors associated with Yale Law School and Columbia Law School visiting faculties. His classmates and instructors included future judges and academics who later taught at Georgetown University Law Center, New York University School of Law, and Stanford Law School.

Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Ronald Reagan, joining a bench that included judges appointed by presidents such as Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and George H. W. Bush. On the D.C. Circuit he sat with colleagues who later served on the Supreme Court of the United States and engaged with matters involving agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board. His tenure on the court saw opinions and panels that referenced precedents from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and decisions from the Supreme Court of the United States such as those by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Justice William Rehnquist.

Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Ronald Reagan to replace a retiring justice, prompting confirmation processes in the United States Senate and hearings before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. During the nomination, public attention focused on reports related to cannabis use and on critiques from groups including legal scholars at Harvard Law School and commentators at outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as advocacy organizations aligned with lawmakers from both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Facing scrutiny that involved testimony and commentary from senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee and discussions in the United States Senate, he withdrew his nomination, after which other nominees considered by the White House included candidates such as Anthony Kennedy, resulting in a consequential appointment to the Court.

After his service on the D.C. Circuit, Ginsburg joined academia, teaching at institutions including New York University School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, and Harvard Law School, where his colleagues included professors from Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, and Stanford Law School. He delivered lectures at venues such as the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, and the Cato Institute, and contributed scholarship to journals published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and university law reviews at Harvard University, Yale University, and Columbia University. His courses covered subjects tied to the work of the United States Sentencing Commission, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and doctrinal developments influenced by decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.

On the D.C. Circuit, Ginsburg authored and joined opinions addressing disputes involving agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Trade Commission, and his jurisprudence engaged with doctrines articulated in landmark cases by the Supreme Court of the United States including rulings from the tenures of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. His opinions were cited by courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and discussed in commentary by legal scholars at Harvard Law School, Oxford University Press, and in analyses published by the American Bar Association. Notable topics in his rulings included administrative deference issues traceable to decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, antitrust enforcement referenced by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, and sentencing matters influenced by the United States Sentencing Commission.

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Category:Harvard Law School alumni