Silberman, L hon

see wife ricky iwf ginni pal
see vast RW conspir (Brock)
clerks = "the cabal"? feeder to clarence et al?<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the cabal is Laurence silberman clerks (ricky) master leaker says david brock</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div>=
dude ranch koch (or was that sentelle?)<div style="font-size: small;"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">omg</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/i-knew-brett-kavanaugh-during-his-years-republican-operative-don-ncna907391" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/i-knew-brett-kavanaugh-during-his-years-republican-operative-don-ncna907391</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">no lnx</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I knew Brett Kavanaugh during his years as a Republican operative. Don't let him sit on the Supreme Court.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We were part of a close circle of cynical hard-right operatives being groomed for much bigger things.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="">Sept. 7, 2018, </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By David Brock</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I used to know Brett Kavanaugh pretty well. And, when I think of Brett now, in the midst of his hearings for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, all I can think of is the old "Aesop's Fables" adage: "A man is known by the company he keeps."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And that's why I want to tell any senator who cares about our democracy: Vote no.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Twenty years ago, when I was a conservative movement stalwart, I got to know Brett Kavanaugh both professionally and personally.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brett Kavanaugh proves the Supreme Court swing vote is dead</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SEPT. 4, 2018]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brett actually makes a cameo appearance in my memoir of my time in the GOP, "Blinded By The Right." I describe him at a party full of zealous young conservatives gathered to watch President Bill Clinton's 1998 State of the Union address — just weeks after the story of his affair with a White House intern had broken. When the TV camera panned to Hillary Clinton, I saw Brett — at the time a key lieutenant of Ken Starr, the independent counsel investigating various Clinton scandals — mouth the word "bitch."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But there's a lot more to know about Kavanaugh than just his Pavlovian response to Hillary's image. Brett and I were part of a close circle of cold, cynical and ambitious hard-right operatives being groomed by GOP elders for much bigger roles in politics, government and media. And it’s those controversial associations that should give members of the Senate and the American public serious pause.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Related OPINION</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">GOP's maneuvering during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings will seriously damage the Supreme Court's legitimacy]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Call it Kavanaugh's cabal: There was his colleague on the Starr investigation, Alex Azar, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mark Paoletta is now chief counsel to Vice President Mike Pence; House anti-Clinton gumshoe Barbara Comstock is now a Republican member of Congress. Future Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson were there with Ann Coulter, now a best-selling author, and internet provocateur Matt Drudge.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At one time or another, each of them partied at my Georgetown townhouse amid much booze and a thick air of cigar smoke.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="">In a rough division of labor, Kavanaugh played the role of lawyer — one of the sharp young minds recruited by the Federalist Society to infiltrate the federal judiciary with true believers. Through that network, Kavanaugh was mentored by D.C. Appeals Court Judge Laurence Silberman, known among his colleagues for planting leaks in the press for partisan advantage.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Related OPINION</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tom Steyer and Ron Fein: Stop Kavanaugh's confirmation until Mueller's investigation is done]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When, as I came to know, Kavanaugh took on the role of designated leaker to the press of sensitive information from Starr's operation, we all laughed that Larry had taught him well. (Of course, that sort of political opportunism by a prosecutor is at best unethical, if not illegal.)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Another compatriot was George Conway (now Kellyanne's husband), who led a secretive group of right-wing lawyers — we called them "the elves" — who worked behind the scenes directing the litigation team of Paula Jones, who had sued Clinton for sexual harassment. I knew then that information was flowing quietly from the Jones team via Conway to Starr's office — and also that Conway's go-to man was none other than Brett Kavanaugh.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Recommended OPINION</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">What could be Florida Gov. DeSantis’ undoing on the national stage? HBCUs.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">OPINION</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump's election plot was eye-opening. And the Senate is finally paying attention.]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That critical flow of inside information allowed Starr, in effect, to set a perjury trap for Clinton, laying the foundation for a crazed national political crisis and an unjust impeachment over a consensual affair.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the cabal's godfather was Ted Olson, the then-future solicitor general for George W. Bush and now a sainted figure of the GOP establishment (and of some liberals for his role in legalizing same-sex marriage). Olson had a largely hidden role as a consigliere to the "Arkansas Project" — a multi-million dollar dirt-digging operation on the Clintons, funded by the eccentric right-wing billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife and run through The American Spectator magazine, where I worked at the time.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Both Ted and Brett had what one could only be called an unhealthy obsession with the Clintons — especially Hillary. While Ted was pushing through the Arkansas Project conspiracy theories claiming that Clinton White House lawyer and Hillary friend Vincent Foster was murdered (he committed suicide), Brett was costing taxpayers millions by pedaling the same garbage at Starr's office.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A detailed analysis of Kavanaugh's own notes from the Starr Investigation reveals he was cherry-picking random bits of information from the Starr investigation — as well as the multiple previous investigations — attempting vainly to legitimize wild right-wing conspiracies. For years he chased down each one of them without regard to the emotional cost to Foster’s family and friends, or even common decency.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Related OPINION</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination is the result of years of unopposed conservative organizing]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kavanaugh was not a dispassionate finder of fact but rather an engineer of a political smear campaign. And after decades of that, he expects people to believe he's changed his stripes.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Like millions of Americans this week, I tuned into Kavanaugh's hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee with great interest. In his opening statement and subsequent testimony, Kavanaugh presented himself as a "neutral and impartial arbiter" of the law. Judges, he said, were not players but akin to umpires — objectively calling balls and strikes. Again and again, he stressed his "independence" from partisan political influences.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But I don't need to see any documents to tell you who Kavanaugh is — because I've known him for years. And I'll leave it to all the lawyers to parse Kavanaugh's views on everything from privacy rights to gun rights. But I can promise you that any pretense of simply being a fair arbiter of the constitutionality of any policy regardless of politics is simply a pretense. He made up his mind nearly a generation ago — and, if he's confirmed, he'll have nearly two generations to impose it upon the rest of us.</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div>global tel link pic ripoff<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opinion for the court filed by Senior Circuit Judge EDWARDS. Concurring opinion filed by Senior Circuit Judge SILBERMAN. Opinion filed by Circuit Judge PILLARD, dissenting as to Sections II.B through II.F and concurring in part. Before: PILLARD, Circuit Judge, and EDWARDS and SILBERMAN, Senior Circuit Judges. EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge: The Communications Act of 1934 (“1934 Act”) authorized the Federal Communications Commission (“Commission” or “FCC”) to ensure that interstate telephone rates are “just and reasonable,” 47 U.S.C. § 201(b), but left regulation of intrastate rates primarily to the states. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“1996 Act”), Congress amended the 1934 Act to change the Commission’s limited regulatory authority over intrastate ...</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">3 22 tossed jan 6 </div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Nichols received a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background="background" none="none">Bachelor of Arts</a> in 1992 from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_College" title="Dartmouth College" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: currentcolor none medium; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Dartmouth College</a>, where he majored in philosophy and graduated with high honors. He received a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor" title="Juris Doctor" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background="background" none="none">Juris Doctor</a> in 1996 from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago_Law_School" title="University of Chicago Law School" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background="background" none="none">University of Chicago Law School</a>, where he graduated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Coif" title="Order of the Coif" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background="background" none="none">Order of the Coif</a> and was a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago_Law_Review" title="University of Chicago Law Review" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">University of Chicago Law Review</a>. He began his legal career as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_clerk" title="Law clerk" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">law clerk</a> to Judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman" title="Laurence Silberman" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Laurence Silberman</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_District_of_Columbia_Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit</a>. He then clerked for Associate Justice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas" title="Clarence Thomas" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: currentcolor none medium; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Clarence Thomas</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States" title="Supreme Court of the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Supreme Court of the United States</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Buzzfeed_2-0" class="reference" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" line-height="line-height" unicode-bidi="unicode-bidi" isolate="isolate" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_J.Nichols#cite_note-Buzzfeed-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: currentcolor none medium; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">[2]</a></div>saved ACA?! forced Roberts' hand?!<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2011/11/the_outsized_influence_of_judge_laurence_silberman_s_decision_upholding_obamacare.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2011/11/the_outsized_influence_of_judge_laurence_silberman_s_decision_upholding_obamacare_.html</a>
<div class="article_body_text" itemprop="articleBody">

Laurence Silberman is a senior justice on the U.S. Court of Appeals for

the District of Columbia, an influential court second only to the U.S.

Supreme Court in importance. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in the

1980s, Silberman is a longtime affiliate of right-wing and

neoconservative organizations like the <a>American Enterprise Institute</a> (AEI) and the <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Federalist_Society">Federalist Society.</a>

A close associate of <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Cheney_Dick">Dick Cheney</a> and <a>Donald Rumsfeld</a> dating

back to the 1970s, Silberman was a key foreign policy adviser to

Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. He gained notoriety at the time

when he was linked with an alleged conspiracy to delay the release of

American hostages in Iran—the so-called "October Surprise."

“Silberman boasts a history of service to Republican presidents and

conservative causes unmatched by any member of any court, including the

current Supreme Court,” noted a 2011 Slate profile. “Among many

other entries, his résumé includes stints as acting attorney general

during the Watergate crisis and as co-chair of George W. Bush’s 2004

blue-ribbon commission to investigate U.S. intelligence prior to the

Iraq invasion. His judicial decisions include a vote to strike down the

independent counsel statute threatening the Reagan presidency (in 1988)

and the District of Columbia handgun ban in 2002. He was also awarded

the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008 by George W. Bush.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn1" name="ednref1" title="">[1]</a>

The Iraq War

Silberman has been a controversial supporter of the Bush

administration’s actions during the lead up to the 2003 U.S.-led

invasion of Iraq. In February 2015, he denounced accusations that

President Bush had ever lied about the reasons for going to war and

brazenly compared such claims to the rise of the Nazis. "[I]t is one

thing to assert, then or now, that the Iraq war was ill-advised," wrote

Silberman in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “It is quite another

to make the horrendous charge that President Bush lied to or deceived

the American people about the threat from Saddam."<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn2" name="ednref2" title="">[2]</a>

Silberman added: "I am reminded of a similarly baseless accusation that

helped the Nazis come to power in Germany: that the German army had not

really lost World War I, that the soldiers instead had been 'stabbed in

the back' by politicians."

In a rebuttal of Silberman’s op-ed, Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine

wrote: “It is hard to believe that Silberman expects such a crude

exercise in propaganda to actually succeed. His intention appears to be

slightly more indirect: to turn the demonstrable fact that the Bush

administration deliberately misled the public into, at the very least, a

partisan dispute that journalists cannot repeat without fear of being

accused of bias.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn3" name="ednref3" title="">[3]</a>

In 2004, Silberman was appointed by President George W. Bush to

co-chair the purportedly bipartisan Commission on the Intelligence

Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The other co-chair was former Sen. Charles Robb (D-VA), a Democrat

associated with the neoconservative-aligned <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Democratic_Leadership_Council">Democratic Leadership Council</a>.

The panel was putatively designed to investigate intelligence failures

in the run-up to the Iraq War, but Silberman’s appointment spurred

charges from critics that the president intended to stock the commission

with like-minded individuals that would ignore allegations that the

administration had hyped or politicized intelligence to make the case

for war.

"Is retired federal judge Laurence Silberman the right person to

co-chair the Iraq intelligence commission?” asked a briefing prepared by

the liberal People for the American Way. “Those who know him … raise

serious concerns about Silberman's past activities, his temperament, his

judgment, and his unyielding commitment to right-wing orthodoxy. After

reviewing this criticism, along with Silberman's own statements, it

becomes clear that Silberman is ill suited for a role on the

intelligence commission.” Noting Silberman’s long association with the

right-wing <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/federalist_society">Federalist Society</a>,

the statement added, “At an April 2002 [Federalist Society] event,

Silberman advised Bush judicial nominees to avoid questions posed to

them regarding their ideology or controversial issues. In fact, he took

credit for stealthily guiding Justice [Antonin] Scalia through the

confirmation process by avoiding such issues. Can a man who urges

secrecy to protect his ideological compatriots be expected to uncover

secrets as co-chair of the intelligence commission?"<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn4" name="ednref4" title="">[4]</a>

In his 2006 book State of Denial, journalist Bob Woodward reported that Vice President <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_dick">Dick Cheney</a> had

personally asked Silberman to chair the commission. Silberman told

Woodward: "It was clear and understood that we would not be asked to

evaluate the administration's use of the intelligence. … And frankly, if

that had been the charge I wouldn't have wanted the position. It was

too political. Everybody knew what the president and the vice president

had said about the intelligence. They can make their own judgment as to

whether that was appropriate or fair or whatever."<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn5" name="ednref5" title="">[5]</a>

The commission concluded that there was "no political pressure to

influence the Intelligence Community's pre-war assessments of Iraq's

weapons programs." Unlike the commission that had investigated the 9/11

attacks, noted Salon’s Joe Conason, “this panel was a creature

of the president rather than Congress. It was placed under the control

of Judge Laurence H. Silberman, a reliable, aggressive, and determined

Bush advocate." Noting that the panel’s conclusions were “hardly

unexpected,” Conason added that “the world has known for many months

that all of the confident assertions from the White House about mushroom

clouds, aluminum tubes, uranium shipments, mobile biowarfare

laboratories, flying drones, and stockpiles of poison gas were

mythological. To blame the intelligence community for those blatant

falsehoods is to absolve the rest of the Bush administration of any

responsibility for the disasters that followed.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn6" name="ednref6" title="">[6]</a>

In 2012, Silberman ruled that torture victims at the notorious U.S.-run

Iraqi prison at Abu Ghraib could not sue a government contractor whose

employees were accused of participating in the abuse, arguing that the

contractor shared the legal immunity extended to U.S. soldiers.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn7" name="ednref7" title="">[7]</a>

Reagan Era

Silberman, who co-chaired Ronald Reagan’s panel of foreign policy

advisers during the 1980 presidential campaign, reportedly played a key

role in setting up secret contacts between Reagan’s campaign team and

the Islamic government in Iran, in what became known as the "October

Surprise." The purpose of these meetings has been widely disputed, but

many observers have alleged that they were aimed at convincing Iran not

to make a deal with then-President Jimmy Carter to release U.S. embassy

hostages until after the November presidential elections.

"Silberman has been more involved with [perpetrating] cover-ups in the

Middle East than with any attempts to unravel them,” said National

Public Radio commentator Kevin Phillips in 2007. “In 1980, as part of

that year's Republican campaign, he attended at least one of the October

Surprise meetings where an Iranian representative discussed what Iran

would want in exchange for keeping the hostages."<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn8" name="ednref8" title="">[8]</a>

According to another account, Silberman had expected to be appointed

CIA director for his role in the October Surprise and “flew into a rage”

when the job was offered to Reagan’s campaign manager, William Casey.

Instead, after a stint on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, Silberman

received a judicial appointment as a “consolation prize.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn9" name="ednref9" title="">[9]</a>

Silberman remained in close contact with his allies in the Reagan

administration after his appointment to the federal bench in 1985.

According to the Inter Press Service, after taking office, Silberman allegedly "passed along his Iranian contacts to <a>Michael Ledeen,</a>a close associate of <a>Richard Perle</a> at the <a>American Enterprise Institute,</a> who

played a key role with [Robert] McFarlane in the transfer of U.S.

weapons to Tehran in the deal that gave rise to the Iran-Contra

scandal." Silberman later cast the deciding vote in the decision to

dismiss the convictions of John Poindexter and Oliver North for lying to

Congress in connection with the scandal.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn10" name="ednref10" title="">[10]</a>

Clinton Era

Silberman remained politically active throughout the 1990s. The Inter Press Service described

him as “a major, if discreet, figure in the right-wing network that

harassed Bill and Hillary Clinton for various alleged scandals.”

According to former right-wing journalist David Brock, Silberman was a

“mentor” who “would often preface his advice to me with the wry demurrer

that judges shouldn't get involved in politics—'that would be

improper,' he'd say—and then go ahead anyway.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn11" name="ednref11" title="">[11]</a>

Silberman reportedly advised right-wing activists on how to pursue

allegations of sexual misconduct against President Bill Clinton, whom

Silberman had accused of "declaring war on the United States" for

permitting his aides to criticize independent counsel Kenneth Starr

during the investigation of the Whitewater case.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn12" name="ednref12" title="">[12]</a>

During this time Silberman also began advising the Wall Street Journal

editorial page, a key outlet of neoconservative opinion. "He was a

behind-the-scenes adviser to the conservative editors of the Wall Street Journal editorial page,” said Brock, “and he delighted his conservative audiences with his acid critiques of the liberal press."<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn13" name="ednref13" title="">[13]</a>

Recent Rulings

Surprising many observers, Silberman broke with other conservatives in a

2011 ruling upholding the “individual mandate” portion of the

Affordable Care Act (ACA), a key legislative achievement of the Obama

administration. In his ruling, Silberman unequivocally dismissed the

argument of conservative activists that the mandate was an

unconstitutional use of the government’s power to regulate commerce,

concluding that the law’s challengers had failed to “find real support

[for their case] in either the text of the Constitution or Supreme Court

precedent.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn14" name="ednref14" title="">[14]</a>

The Washington Post noted at the time that Silberman was “the

first Republican appointee to actually author an opinion that finds the

health reform law, and its mandated purchase of health insurance,

constitutional.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn15" name="ednref15" title="">[15]</a> Despite fervent Republican opposition to the law, an analysis from Slate argued that Silberman’s opinion was fairly consistent with mainstream legal conservativism. Before ACA’s passage, Slate noted,

“almost all mainstream legal conservatives had—for nearly six

decades—endorsed the post-New Deal Supreme Court’s consistent deference

to legislators’ judgments about how best to regulate the national

economy.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn16" name="ednref16" title="">[16]</a>

More recently, in 2014, Silberman sided with conservatives in a key

ruling on net neutrality, arguing that the Federal Communications

Commission did not have the power to prevent broadband providers from

restricting the traffic capacity of their competitors or other Internet

users.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn17" name="ednref17" title="">[17]</a><a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/#edn17" name="ednref17" title="">http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/silberman_laurence/
</a>

       </div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==<br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Laurence H. (Larry) Silberman</b>, a senior judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is listed among the "Top Contenders"<sup id="cite_ref-NewsMax_1-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-NewsMax-1">[1]</a></sup> to replace Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alberto_R._Gonzales" title="Alberto R. Gonzales">Alberto R. Gonzales</a> "whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congress" title="Congress" class="mw-redirect">Congress</a>". Gonzales resigned August 27, 2007,<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup> and will leave office on September 17, 2007.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

"Several <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Democratic_Party" title="Democratic Party" class="mw-redirect">Democrats</a>

and legal experts said Silberman would have difficulty winning

confirmation because of his political resume — including overturning <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oliver_North" title="Oliver North">Oliver North</a>'s conviction and discrediting <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Anita_Hill&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Anita Hill (page does not exist)">Anita Hill</a> during <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Supreme_Court" title="Supreme Court">Supreme Court</a> Justice <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Clarence_Thomas" title="Clarence Thomas" class="mw-redirect">Clarence Thomas</a>' confirmation hearings," <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/NewsMax" title="NewsMax" class="mw-redirect">NewsMax</a> reported August 28, 2007.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-NewsMax-1">[1]</a>

Silberman has been identified as "a long-time, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Right-wing" title="Right-wing">right-wing</a> political activist closely tied to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Neo-conservative" title="Neo-conservative">neo-conservative</a> network that led the pro-<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/War_in_Iraq" title="War in Iraq">war</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">propaganda</a> campaign."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

"As a former <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Reagan</a> advisor, Mr Silberman took part in a meeting between top Republicans and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Iran" title="Iran">Iranian</a> government representatives during the 1980 election campaign, when the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Jimmy_Carter" title="Jimmy Carter" class="mw-redirect">Carter</a>

administration was trying to negotiate the release of American hostages

in Tehran. Judge Silberman and two aides who took part in the meeting

later claimed they had rejected the Iranian offer of a deal and did not

even remember the name of the Iranian representative. But the meeting

was never reported to the state department, at a time of high tension in

the US-Iranian relations."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-6">[6]</a>

According to the February 7, 2004, edition of the New York Times<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-7">[7]</a>

"Judge Silberman, 68, works part-time on the United States Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he was appointed by

President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a>, and is one of three judges who sit on the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Court" title="Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court">Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court</a> of Review, a body that hears appeals in matters of intelligence gathering. Considered a stalwart <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Conservative (page does not exist)">conservative</a>,

he was senior foreign policy and intelligence advisor to the 1980

Reagan-Bush campaign, playing a role in a meeting with an Iranian

emissary in an effort to have 52 American hostages released a month

before the election."

<ul><li>Former Member of Advisory Council, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Strategy_Information_Center" title="National Strategy Information Center">National Strategy Information Center</a> (1984 at least)</li></ul>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div></div><div id="toc" class="toc">

<ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H.Silberman#Profiles">1 Profiles</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H.Silberman#Resources_and_articles">2 Resources and articles</a>

<ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H.Silberman#Related_SourceWatch_articles">2.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H.Silberman#References">2.2 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#External_articles">2.3 External articles</a></li></ul>

</li></ul>

</div>

<h2>Profiles</h2>

Judge Silberman was named on February 6, 2004, by President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_W._Bush" title="George W. Bush" class="mw-redirect">George W. Bush</a> to serve as co-chairman to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commission_on_the_Intelligence_Capabilities_of_the_United_States_Regarding_Weapons_of_Mass_Destruction" title="Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction">Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction</a>.

"Silberman, who served as deputy attorney general in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_M.Nixon" title="Richard M. Nixon">Richard M. Nixon</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Gerald_R.Ford" title="Gerald R. Ford">Gerald R. Ford</a> administrations, was named to the appeals court by President Reagan in 1985."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-8">[8]</a>

According to CNN, Silberman is "a senior circuit judge on the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He was a member the

U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. The intelligence

court, created in 1978, is charged with overseeing sensitive law

enforcement surveillance by the U.S. government.

"Silberman has served as undersecretary of Labor, deputy U.S.

attorney general and ambassador to Yugoslavia. From 1981 to 1985, he was

part of an advisory committee on disarmament and a member of the

Department of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Defense_Policy_Board" title="Defense Policy Board" class="mw-redirect">Defense Policy Board</a>. Silberman was appointed to the bench by President Reagan in 1985."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-9">[9]</a>

"As Jonathan Broder reported in Salon at the time, 'U.S. Judge Laurence H. Silberman wrote a scathing opinion that accused Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Janet_Reno" title="Janet Reno">Janet Reno</a> of acting not on behalf of the U.S. government, but in the personal interests of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/President_Clinton" title="President Clinton" class="mw-redirect">President Clinton</a>.

Then, using language seldom seen in the federal judiciary, Silberman

questioned whether Clinton himself, by allowing his aides to attack

Starr, was 'declaring war on the United States.'

"Of course, if <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Brock" title="David Brock">David Brock</a>'s allegations against Silberman are true -- and, as the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alliance_for_Justice" title="Alliance for Justice">Alliance for Justice</a>

points out, neither Silberman nor his allies have ever refuted or even

challenged them -- then Silberman shouldn't have been ruling on the case

at all.

"Indeed, that's why the Alliance for Justice was planning its report

on Silberman even before Bush chose him to head the intelligence panel.

The investigation was intended as a case study in the danger of

elevating the kind of far-right judicial nominees Bush has put forward.

"'The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Judicial_Selection_Project&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Judicial Selection Project (page does not exist)">Judicial Selection Project</a>

of the Alliance for Justice has prepared this report on the record of

Judge Silberman before and after taking the bench,' it begins. 'Why?

Because federal judges should not do what Brock claims Silberman did.

They are supposed to be impartial arbiters, not partisan advocates.

Because a judge like Silberman enjoys an enormous amount of influence in

this country, and not just by virtue of his seat on the second most

prestigious and powerful court in this country; he is known as a 'feeder

judge,' having sent some twenty of his clerks to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Supreme_Court" title="Supreme Court">Supreme Court</a> and, according to former clerk <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Clement" title="Paul Clement" class="mw-redirect">Paul Clement</a>,

a 'tremendous number' of Silberman's former clerks are currently

working in the Bush administration. Because even those cynics who

believe that federal judges are guided on the bench by partisan ideology

should be dismayed by Silberman's alleged conduct off the bench.'

"For Silberman's critics, naming him to get to the bottom of one of

the most divisive political controversies of our time is even more

egregious than Bush's attempt to put <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Henry_Kissinger" title="Henry Kissinger">Henry Kissinger</a> in charge of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/9/11" title="9/11" class="mw-redirect">9/11</a> investigation."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_H._Silberman#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

<h2>Resources and articles</h2>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bush_administration" title="Bush administration">Bush administration</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Commission_on_the_Intelligence_Capabilities_of_the_United_States_Regarding_Weapons_of_Mass_Destruction" title="Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction">Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/October_Surprise" title="October Surprise">October Surprise</a></li></ul>

<h3>References</h3>

<ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-NewsMax-1">
</li></ol><div id="bodyContent" class="mw-body-content"><li id="cite_note-NewsMax-1"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/gonzales_/2007/08/28/28202.html">"5 Top Contenders for Attorney General,"</a> NewsMax, August 28, 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2">
</li><li id="cite_note-2"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004010.php">Gonzales' resignation letter dated August 26, 2007,</a> posted by TPMmuckraker, August 27, 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3">
</li><li id="cite_note-3"> Pierre Thomas, et al., <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Politics/story?id=3421219&page=1">"Attorney General Gonzales Resigns,"</a> ABC News, August 27, 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-4">
</li><li id="cite_note-4"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/27/gonzales-resigns/">"Gonzales Resigns,"</a> Think Progress, August 27, 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-5">
</li><li id="cite_note-5"> Jim Lobe, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=22300">"Co-Chair of Bush Panel Part of Far Right Network,"</a> Inter Press Service, February 6, 2004. Cross-posted at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0206-10.htm">Common Dreams.</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-6">
</li><li id="cite_note-6"> Julian Borger, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1144586,00.html">"Ex-judge on Iraq inquiry 'involved in cover-up',"</a> Guardian (UK), February 10, 2004.</li>

<li id="cite_note-7">
</li><li id="cite_note-7"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/02/07/politics/pane_graph.gif">"Investigating the Iraq War" (graphic),</a> New York Times, February 7, 2004.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8">
</li><li id="cite_note-8"> This is an Associated Press story published online by <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040207/ap_on_go_pr_wh/iraq_intelligence_20">Yahoo!</a>, which is now an inactive link.</li>

<li id="cite_note-9">
</li><li id="cite_note-9"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/06/wmd.panel/index.html">"Bush names panel to review Iraq intelligence. Move comes amid Democratic criticism,"</a> CNN, February 7, 2004. See interactive link.</li>

<li id="cite_note-10">
</li><div id="mw-content-text" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" lang="en"><ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-10" value="10"> This <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.independentjudiciary.com/news/clip.cfm?NewsClipID=241">link</a> to IndependentJudiciary.com is no longer active.</li></ol>

<h3>External articles</h3>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/2002/05/29_David_Brock.html">"A

BuzzFlash Interview with David Brock, Author of 'Blinded by the Right,'

on the Role of the Judiciary in the Right-Wing Agenda,"</a> May 29, 2002.</li><li>Michelle Goldberg, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.independentjudiciary.com/news/clip.cfm?NewsClipID=241">"The partisan 'mastermind' in charge of Bush's intel probe,"</a> Salon, February 10, 2004.</li><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=13902">"Laurence Silberman: the Right Man or the Right's Man?"</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/People_for_the_American_Way" title="People for the American Way">People for the American Way</a>,

February 13, 2004: "Those who know him--including onetime Nixon aide

and respected author Kevin Phillips, former independent counsel and

Eisenhower deputy attorney general Lawrence Walsh, and reformed

right-wing hit man David Brock--raise serious concerns about Silberman's

past activities, his temperament, his judgement and his unyielding

commitment to right-wing orthodoxy. After reviewing this criticism,

along with Silberman's own statements, it becomes clear that Silberman

is ill suited for a role on the intelligence commission."</li></ul>

</div>

             <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: </font><ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Law" title="Category:Law">Law</a></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:George_W._Bush" title="Category:George W. Bush">George W. Bush</a></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Intelligence_community" title="Category:Intelligence community">Intelligence community</a></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Civil_liberties_%28U.S.%29" title="Category:Civil liberties (U.S.)">Civil liberties (U.S.)</a></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Needs_review" title="Category:Needs review">Needs review</a></font></li></ul></div></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==<br /></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

see Blinded

cheney patriot act ?

It was a stroke of misfortune that, on 9/11, then-Vice President Dick Cheney served as the de facto head of the national security hierarchy. Cheney's "dark side" approach created a climate in which longstanding rules intended to protect basic rights were replaced with an array of questionable, if not absurd, interpretations of domestic and international law.

<a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/sidebars/cheney_on_presidential_power/" target="_blank">As President Ford's chief of staff</a>, Cheney, with the aid of then-Deputy Attorney General Laurence H. Silberman, tried to thwart essential reforms of surveillance agencies. Silberman was later appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and, at the urging of his former law clerk, then-Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, helped facilitate legal opinions instrumental to the George W. Bush administration's expansion of domestic surveillance activities by redefining Americans' Fourth Amendment rights.  Unfortunately, much of this backsliding has been embraced and further entrenched by the Obama administration.

===

ashes : acting atty gen Laurence Silberman (ford) asked to run cia but no; knew about thick file of crimes; rummy hid

===<h2>The Clarence Thomas Nomination Begins and IWF's Founders Step Forward</h2>

But even before Anita Hill was in the picture--discovered by Senate

Judiciary Committee staffers vetting the Bush nominee--allies of Thomas

knew his controversial record as President Reagan's chairman of the

Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) could play poorly with

many women and others concerned about equality.

The Women for Judge Thomas committee began holding press conferences

the month President Bush announced Thomas' nomination to a lifetime

position on the Court in July.

Thomas was in his early 40s and had never argued a case before the

U.S. Supreme Court, and he had only had 16 months of experience as a

sitting judge on any court.

His selection was considered a tactical masterstroke by C. Boyden

Gray, President Bush's White House Counsel, who had been criticized for

letting the first vacancy in Bush's term go to New Hampshire Justice

David Souter, who was considered by the far right to be not

"conservative" or activist enough to deliver judicial votes to change

the law in the ways they wanted.

By putting forward an African American with right-wing bona fides, at

Gray's urging the Bush White House sought to mute Democratic objections

for fear of offending a major constituency over fighting a nominee with

a rags-to-riches life story.

(Gray is the grandson and also the nephew of three presidents of R.J.

Reynolds Tobacco. After President George H.W. Bush lost his bid for

another term in the 1992 "Year of the Woman" election, Gray became

chairman of David Koch's Citizens for a Sound Economy, which would later

officially join forces with IWF.)

But Thomas' limited judicial experience and the hearings on his

nomination deepened concerns of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary

Committee.

As the New York Times reported: "'Judge Thomas lacks the experience

and qualifications that a Supreme Court Justice ought to have,' said

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont. ‘He fled from his record

and he refused to answer legitimate questions.'"

Leahy also noted: "‘Nothing in Judge Thomas's record or testimony

suggests the level of professional distinction or constitutional

grounding appropriate for a Supreme Court nominee. His legal and

judicial experiences are limited. His speeches and writings have shown

little in the way of analysis or scholarship.'"

So, when his nomination was considered, the Committee deadlocked 7-7

on his nomination but then voted to send the nomination to the full

Senate for a vote without a recommendation for or against confirmation.

Although the Democrats had a 57-43 majority, a number of Southern

Democrats had already pledged to vote for Thomas to be confirmed.

<h2>Hill Comes Forward and IWF's Founders Step Up to Counter Her in the Press</h2>

Before the Senate vote could be held, however, National Public

Radio's Nina Totenberg broke the story that the Senate investigation had

uncovered allegations that Thomas had made unwanted advances toward

some of his subordinates in his leadership positions in the Reagan

Administration.

Totenberg received a tip that Professor Anita Hill, a conservative

black law professor, had told the Senate that Thomas had made sexual

comments to her when he was her supervisor when they both worked for the

Reagan Administration.

This shocking development increased the volume of concern about

confirming Thomas to a lifetime job on the highest court in the land,

and the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled another round of hearings

to examine the allegations.

Under the guidance of Ricky Silberman, the Women for Judge Thomas

Committee identified women who worked with Thomas who said they had not been sexually harassed by him and that he had behaved professionally toward them.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigators--including a

Democrat named Ricki Seidman--identified another staffer who said she

had been subject to sexual advances in the workplace by Thomas and also

interviewed colleagues of Professor Hill, whom she confided in about the

inappropriate things she said Thomas said....
It was out of the ugliness of the Clarence Thomas nomination fight that the "Independent Women's Forum" was born.

<h2>IWF Continued to Fight Hill even after Thomas Was Confirmed</h2>

If the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee had sought to

incapacitate Anita Hill with an array of punches at her reputation,

Ricky Silberman seemed determined to throw the knockout blow.

A year to the day after her senate testimony, Hill returned to

Washington D.C. to recount her experience. At a conference at Georgetown

Law, she spoke in academic terms while analyzing the structures that

had colluded against her, and received a standing ovation for her

bravery.

Across the city on that same day, Ricky Silberman held a counter-conference at the Federalist Society.

Speaking to that audience, Silberman accused Hill of being a liar,

labeled the assembled group of academics at Georgetown "the

extreminists," and proclaimed that Hill's "unsubstantiated charge of

sexual harassment launched the mother of all gender wars."

Later that year, in 1992, Silberman formally founded IWF with Barbara

Bracher (Olson), Anita Blair and Lynn Cheney to fight that so-called

"gender war."

However neither Silberman nor IWF would let the Anita Hill testimony rest.

In 1993, David Brock published the book "The Real Anita Hill," an

alleged investigation into the "true motives" of Hill's testimony.

Silberman helped Brock edit, assemble, and advertise the book, which by all accounts was an orchestrated hit piece.

Brock, who had repeatedly referred to Hill in the media as "a little

bit nutty and a little bit slutty," would later apologize for his

actions, and label himself as a "witting cog in the Republican sleaze

machine." (Brock has disavowed his past as a political hit man for the

right-wing and now leads groups challenging the right-wing and is also

now aligned with Hillary Clinton.)

Silberman, who passed away in 2007, never apologized. The IWF tribute

to her included a tribute from her memorial by Clarence Thomas.===

Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher, BuzzFlash.com

November 26, 2007

All you had to know about the newly nominated second in command at the Justice Department, the Deputy Attorney General to AG Mukasey, is the final paragraph of a <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/chi-filipnov16,0,298322.story?page=1" target="_blank">November 16 Chicago Tribune</a> article: "After clerking for [Antonin] Scalia, [Mark] Filip returned to Chicago rather than stay in Washington and pursue the kind of career track that traditionally leads to a choice government appointment. He did, however, work as a volunteer Republican vote counter in Florida during the 2000 election recount."

Ah yes, how much fun the mainstream press is! Reading a "news" article is really like hunting for buried treasure. And then you have to connect the dots on your own.

Filip, who is currently a federal judge in the Northern Illinois District (Scalia swore him in), was appointed in 2004 to the bench by George W. Bush. And, as we recently noted in a series on Republican judicial appointments, they don’t put "freelancers" on the bench, just reliable partisan judges.

Also worthy of note in the Tribune article is this statement: "As a contender for the deputy job, it couldn't have hurt Filip that one of his close friends is Paul Clement, the U.S. solicitor general, and a rising legal star. Filip and Clement are part of a network of former Scalia clerks who keep in touch."

Good grief, it’s the Federalist Society cabal run amuck!

Meanwhile, in checking out Filip’s "close friend," Bush’s Solicitor General Clement, we discovered that Clement not only clerked for Scalia, he also spent time as a protégé under the <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/005" target="_blank">infamous Laurence Silberman</a>, who advised the Ken Starr crew on how to impeach Bill Clinton while serving on the D.C. Appellate Court.

It gets worse as far as Mark Filip’s good buddy. <a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1073944820670" target="_blank">A January 16, 2004, Law.com article</a> hailed that "Paul Clement leads the charge in defending the administration's tactics in the war on terror."

To be fair, the Chicago Tribune article was filled with lavish praise for what a resourceful, intelligent and hardworking attorney (and former prosecutor) Filip is. But that’s what we read about Alito, Roberts and – way back when – Scalia too.

We’d like to know more about Filip’s stint as a "volunteer Republican vote counter in Florida during the 2000 election recount," but do we really need to?

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve already connected the dots, and what we’ve got is someone who, once again, is a product of the Federalist Society – whether he is personally a member or not -- soldiers in the jurist army of the GOP.

Maybe the White House put Filip as second in command at the DOJ to watch over Mukasey.

But we doubt Mukasey will be running too far astray of the White House. Before he was appointed AG by Bush, Mukasey was the chief advisor to Rudy Giuliani on who he should appoint to the judiciary if he were to be elected president.

Are you getting the full picture now?

We are.

----

This is my fifth entry on David Sentelle, the Zelig of partisan GOP judges on the federal court. But as promised, I am going to spend one entry in this series introducing you to a partisan right wing sidekick of Sentelle's, Senior U.S. District Appellate Court Judge Laurence Silberman.

You can read the fourth entry by clicking <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/004" target="blank">here</a>; the third entry by clicking <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/003" target="blank">here</a>; the second entry by clicking <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/articles/articles/editorblog/002">here</a>; and then following that back to the first entry by clicking <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/001" target="_blank">here</a>.

Like Sentelle, Silberman has had a profound impact in protecting and advancing the interests of the GOP, as a jurist and as a behind the scenes Republican advisor.

November 16, 2007

It was not surprising that Ronald Reagan appointed Laurence Silberman to the D.C. Court of Appeals in 1985.

Silberman has long been rumored to have been involved in -- along with William Casey -- a 1980 back-channel deal with Iran to delay the release of the American Embassy hostages until after the November election in which Reagan faced Jimmy Carter. Indeed, the hostages were released the day that Reagan was inaugurated.

Even Senator Harry Reid <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2004_cr/s021104.html" target="_blank">makes reference</a> to the probable Reagan Campaign/Silberman collusion with Iran to keep our citizens in capitvity longer in order to help the right wing win the 1980 election, which they did. Reid mentioned this in comments questioning Silberman's credibility in regards to his appointment as co-chair of the whitewash <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/wiki/Iraq_Intelligence_Commission" title="Iraq Intelligence Commission">Iraq Intelligence Commission</a>.

Reid actually does a good job of detailing some of Silberman's more egregious partisan activity as a judge, including his overturning of the Poindexter and North Iran-Contra convictions -- in which he was joined by David Sentelle -- to, as Reid notes, "In 1987, when Reagan was under investigation by an independent counsel, Silberman did away with the Independent Counsel Act, saying it was unconstitutional."

Of the North/Poindexter "Get out of Jail Free Cards" that Silberman and Sentelle handed them, Reid recalls: "There is the documentation of many meetings of Silberman with the people in the White House, including Colonel North, prior to this all taking place." That is how partisan GOP hacks work, and why the Democratic leadership has been snoozing as the right wing has made the court system just another arm of the RNC and Republican presidents.

Furthermore, Reid notes chillingly in terms of connecting the dots, "Silberman worked as an attorney in the Justice Department. He took the No. 2 job under President Ford when Rumsfeld and Cheney had top jobs in the White House of President Ford."

But perhaps even more disturbingly is the blatant role that Silberman played in advising players in the effort to impeach Clinton, while ruling on cases relating to Clinton as he sat on the federal bench.

David Brock, who was then -- before his conversion to becoming an honest journalist -- a writer working as a hit man to pen articles that would help smear Bill Clinton recalls that Silberman and his wife openly discussed strategy with him on how best to wound Clinton.

Again, we will run a long revealing <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/interviews/2002/05/29_David_Brock.html" target="_blank">excerpt from an interview</a>, this one with Brock that appeared on BuzzFlash on May 29th of 2002:

BUZZFLASH: Now let's talk about another aspect of involvement in the judiciary. You were very involved with the Judge Clarence Thomas nomination hearings in terms of your writing for the right-wing. You also seemed quite involved with the Silbermans. It was still astonishing to see the extent that a sitting federal judge was interacting with the efforts to attack Clinton -- Judge Lawrence Silberman and his wife that is. Silberman gave you advice on proceeding with articles that attacked Anita Hill and the President.

DAVID BROCK: Judge Lawrence Silberman, who sits on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, was an appointee of President Reagan to that court. His wife Ricky was the vice-chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the period that Clarence Thomas was the chairman on the Commission. I met them originally as sources for my first book on the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings. They went beyond the role of source.

BUZZFLASH: And he was a sitting judge at the time?

DAVID BROCK: Yes he was a sitting judge. For example, they reviewed in draft the galleys of that book. And so it certainly went beyond a reporter-source relationship. And coming out of that, Judge Silberman became a mentor to me and was someone who I relied on, as well as Ricky, for political advice while I was at the American Spectator pursuing a lot of the anti-Clinton stories. When Ricky Silberman left the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she founded, or was one of the co-founders, of the Independent Women's Forum -- it was actually her idea. And it was actually Ricky Silberman's idea to approach Ken Starr to file that friend-of-the-court brief in the Paula Jones case. And Ricky knew the Jones case was simply payback for the Anita Hill affair. She thought, wouldn't it be delicious that Clinton would now be accused of sexual improprieties in the same way that Clarence Thomas had been? Judge Silberman played an absolutely key role at a critical juncture.

I write in the book that I had misgivings about publishing the Troopergate article, even back at the time I was working on it. I had some concerns about -- both about the credibility of the troopers and also had some concerns about setting the precedent of vetting a sitting President's private life. Because again, Troopergate, you know, did not have anything to do at that time with sexual harassment. It was simply tales of alleged extramarital affairs, not even currently, but back when Clinton was governor of Arkansas. And so I was concerned about the journalistic precedent of that, and the political impact, and the impact on my own career if I went ahead with that story. And so I did seek advice from a handful of people, and Judge Silberman's advice was to publish the article. And I think it's fair to say, had he advised me not to, I very well might not have. That's how seriously I took his advice.

BUZZFLASH: Well, you say on page 146 of your book, in reference to that, "though, he was a sitting federal judge who would rule on matters to which the Clinton administration was a party. Larry strongly urged me to go forward."

DAVID BROCK: By the way, his court sits right below the Supreme Court. And so there are a lot of cases that come before the court dealing with the Executive Branch -- regulatory matters, things of that nature. When various assertions of executive privilege were being made by the White House during the impeachment, he sat in on at least one, if not more, of those cases.

BUZZFLASH: And Silberman did not recuse himself.

DAVID BROCK: No, he did not recuse himself, even though, as I said, he had been directly involved. I think it's clear that the kind of activity that Silberman was engaging in is not permitted. It falls into a category of the kind of partisan politics that's not permitted. And he was aware of this, because he would jokingly say to me that, when I would go to him for advice, he often started out saying something like well, it would be improper to advise you on this. And it was set sort of tongue-in-cheek, and then he would go ahead and advise me. So he was aware of what he was doing.

Aside from me, he was also very influential with the Wall Street Journal editorial page in terms of advice. And of course, the Journal editorial page was, along with the Spectator, probably the second principal anti-Clinton vehicle during that time.

DAVID BROCK: If you go back to the Thomas situation, and you look at the issue of the principal advisors to Clarence Thomas during the confirmation strategy, some of them, I later learned, did know some damaging information about him. During the hearing they kept the press away, and they successfully dodged it all. But my view is that if you look at Bush v. Gore, that that decision is tainted by Thomas' ties to the conservative movement in a way that even Scalia and Rehnquist are not, because, of course, they were confirmed with large majorities. But Thomas directly owes his position on the Court to the Federalist Society and to the conservative movement more broadly. And so I think that he really can't be an independent actor. And I think that's why his vote is always so predictable. And in this case, Bush v. Gore, I don't think anyone expected anything other than the way Thomas did come down. And so the implication there is that this is a continual pattern of payback, essentially, by Thomas.

BUZZFLASH: You described the beginning of the full-out assault on the Democrats. You say on page 45 of your book, "more than any single figure for the right, Bork's nomination represented the culmination of a strategy put in place at the beginning of the Reagan administration to force a right-wing economic and social agenda on the country by judicial fiat. Judicial conservatism, the respectful idea of a limited role for the judiciary in a democracy, was abandoned by these right-wing judicial extremists who belonged to a secretive legal network called the Federalist Society, which was devoted to restricting privacy rights and reproductive freedoms, rolling back civil rights gains, and thwarting the authority of government to regulate industry in the public interest."

Then you go on to note that, in the Reagan administration, Federalist lawyers included our old friends Ted Olson and Kenneth Starr, and Clarence Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

DAVID BROCK: And Judge Silberman, and Bork.

BUZZFLASH: What do you think about the Bush administration making such a key issue of the appointment of their Federalist judges, and Trent Lott threatening to hold up the work of the Senate?

DAVID BROCK: I think one of the most important things in this whole story is the founding of the Federalist Society, and the influence that it has exerted over the years. It started on a couple of college campuses by a couple of law students, one of whom is now the Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, as simply a conservative student organization. If you look at the composition of this administration, the membership in the Federalist Society or affiliation with the Federalist Society is one of the strongest common elements or themes that you can draw, not only for the Executive Branch appointments, but I think, more importantly, for the courts. It is a way for the right-wing to recognize many of their own. And it's essentially a litmus test, without having to impose the actual test, of membership in the Federalist Society. I think one of the ways that you see the influence of the conservative movement most strongly is in this area of the judiciary. And it doesn't necessarily get a lot of press attention. But it is one of the principal ways, if not the principal way, of paying back the conservative movement.

* * *

As in our BuzzFlash Editor's Blog <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/004" target="_blank">yesterday</a>, we end up back at the fraternity for the right wing takeover of the federal bench: The Federalist Society.

We mentioned that their <a href="http://www.fed-soc.org/events/id.40/event_detail.asp">annual conference</a> is now going on in Washington D.C. The "A" team of the "silent coup" of our judicial system are all there, most of them trotted out as "star" speakers. Even Bush spoke to them last night.

In his remarks Bush, once again -- in an act of brazen hypocrisy -- "blasted" the Senate. Why? According to the <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/11/bush_judicial_lawlessness_need.html" target="_blank">Chicago Tribune,</a> Bush complained, in his November 15th Federalist Society speech, that "inside the Beltway,''' too many people have interpreted the Senate's constitutional authority of advise and consent in the confirmation of federal judges as the power to "search and destroy.'' Bush went on to lambaste the Democrats in the senate for not rubber stamping EVERY hack, partisan judge that he nominates.

The Tribune quotes an alternative perspective:

''President Bush's Federalist Society speech tonight sets new standards for hypocrisy on the judicial nominations wars that he has needlessly and deliberately provoked for political reasons,'' says Glenn Sugameli, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice.

"All too often, President Bush’s previous and current nominees for lifetime federal judgeships have been chosen precisely because their extreme records will reignite ideological battles, ensuring they will not be confirmed at all or without a major fight,'' says Sugameli , calling the speech "gasoline on the simmering embers of the judicial nomination wars.''

Ah yes, but Bush is convinced that the right wing takeover of the judiciary is on course and settling in for a new generation, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071115-14.html" target="_blank">as he told</a> the members of the Federalist Society: "There's also good news -- and it's here in this room. Thanks in part to your efforts, a new generation of lawyers is rising. A new culture is taking root in our legal community. And principled men and women who understand the Constitution and are able to defend it are finding their way to our nation's law schools and law faculties and law firms -- and even to the corridors of power here in Washington, DC."

Chilling words, indeed.===wiki
Laurence Hirsch Silberman (born October 12, 1935) is a senior <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_judge" title="Federal judge">federal judge</a> on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_District_of_Columbia_Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit">United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit</a>. He was appointed in October 1985 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> and took <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_status" title="Senior status">senior status</a> on November 1, 2000. He continues to serve on the court. On June 11, 2008, Silberman was named a recipient of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom" title="Presidential Medal of Freedom">Presidential Medal of Freedom</a>, the highest civilian honor granted by the government of the United States.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-1">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div></div><div id="toc" class="toc">

<ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#Biography">1 Biography</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#Career">2 Career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#Legal_opinions">3 Legal opinions</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#Criticism">4 Criticism</a>

<ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#.22October_Surprise.22">4.1 "October Surprise"</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#Iran-Contra_Affair">4.2 Iran-Contra Affair</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#Clarence_Thomas_Confirmation">4.3 Clarence Thomas Confirmation</a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#Academic_career">5 Academic career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#References">6 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#External_links">7 External links</a></li></ul>

</div>

<h2>Biography</h2>

Silberman graduated from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_College" title="Dartmouth College">Dartmouth College</a> in 1957 and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School" title="Harvard Law School">Harvard Law School</a> in 1961. He served in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army" title="United States Army">United States Army</a> from 1957 to 1958. His first wife, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie%28Ricky%29_Gaull_Silberman" title="Rosalie (Ricky) Gaull Silberman" class="mw-redirect">Rosalie "Ricky" Gaull Silberman</a>, co-foundress of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Women%27s_Forum" title="Independent Women's Forum">Independent Women's Forum</a>, died on February 17, 2007. Silberman has since married Patricia Winn Silberman. Silberman has three children, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S.Silberman" title="Robert S. Silberman">Robert S. Silberman</a>, Kate Balaban, and Anne Otis.

Silberman is also a friend of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas" title="Clarence Thomas">Justice Clarence Thomas</a> and in 1989 encouraged a young and then-reluctant Thomas to accept a federal judgeship on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_D.C._Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit" class="mw-redirect">United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-2">[2]</a>

<h2>Career</h2>

Silberman has worked in the private sector as a partner at the law firms Moore, Silberman & Schulze in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu,Hawaii" title="Honolulu, Hawaii" class="mw-redirect">Honolulu</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrison%26_Foerster" title="Morrison & Foerster">Morrison & Foerster</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steptoe%26_Johnson" title="Steptoe & Johnson">Steptoe & Johnson</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,D.C." title="Washington, D.C.">Washington, D.C.</a> He has also served as Executive Vice President of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocker_National_Bank" title="Crocker National Bank">Crocker National Bank</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California" title="San Francisco, California" class="mw-redirect">San Francisco</a>. His government service includes stints as an attorney in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Labor_Relations_Board" title="National Labor Relations Board">NLRB's</a> appellate section, as Solicitor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Labor" title="United States Department of Labor">Department of Labor</a>

from 1969 to 1970, and as Undersecretary of Labor from 1970 to 1973. As

Solicitor, he was largely responsible for developing the requirement of

goals and timetables as an enforcement device for the affirmative

action order. He subsequently regretted his stance, writing, "Our use of

numerical standards in pursuit of equal opportunity has led to the very

quotas guaranteeing equal results that we initially wished to avoid."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-3">[3]</a>

He also led the development of legislation to implement "final offer selection" as a means of resolving labor disputes.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-4">[4]</a>

As Undersecretary, he repeatedly clashed with Charles "Chuck" Colson

and tendered his resignation in order to compel the hiring of a black

regional director in New York in 1972.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Deputy_Attorney_General" title="United States Deputy Attorney General">Deputy Attorney General</a> of the United States from 1974 to 1975, Silberman was tasked with reviewing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover" title="J. Edgar Hoover">J. Edgar Hoover</a>'s secret files, which he has described as "the single worst experience of my long governmental service."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-6">[6]</a>

Silberman has stated that "this country—and the Federal Bureau of

Investigation—would be well served if [Hoover's] name were removed from

the bureau's building. It is as if the Defense Department were named for

Aaron Burr. Liberals and conservatives should unite to support

legislation to accomplish this repudiation of a very sad chapter in

American history."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-7">[7]</a>

Silberman also served briefly as Acting Attorney General during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal" title="Watergate scandal">Watergate crisis</a>, an experience he has described as awkward: "We were simultaneously carrying out <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon" title="Richard Nixon">President Nixon's</a> agenda and supporting those who were vigorously prosecuting him."

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford" title="Gerald Ford">Gerald Ford</a> appointed Silberman as Ambassador to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia" title="Yugoslavia">Yugoslavia</a>

from 1975 to 1977. At the same time, Silberman also served as the

Presidential Special Envoy for International Labor Organization Affairs.

As Ambassador, he succeeded in freeing an American, Laszlo Toth, who

had been falsely imprisoned by the regime as a "CIA agent," by putting

pressure on both the Yugoslav regime and the State Department.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-8">[8]</a> During the campaign for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1980" title="United States presidential election, 1980">1980 presidential election</a>, he was co-chairman of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a>'s

foreign policy advisors. From 1981 to 1985, he served as a member of

the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Policy_Board" title="Defense Policy Board" class="mw-redirect">Defense Policy Board</a>.

Silberman was on the short list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court on three separate occasions in 1987, 1990, and 1991.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-9">[9]</a>

He was a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Court_of_Review" title="United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review">United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review</a> at the time of its first ever session in 2002.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

On February 6, 2004, Silberman was appointed co-chairman of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Intelligence_Commission" title="Iraq Intelligence Commission">Iraq Intelligence Commission</a>, an independent blue-ribbon panel created to investigate U.S. intelligence surrounding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a>' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq" title="2003 invasion of Iraq">2003 invasion of Iraq</a> and Iraq's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons_of_mass_destruction" title="Weapons of mass destruction" class="mw-redirect">weapons of mass destruction</a>. In the wake of the resignation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales" title="Alberto Gonzales">Alberto Gonzales</a> as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General" title="United States Attorney General">United States Attorney General</a> in 2007, Silberman was mentioned as a possible successor.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-11">[11]</a>

In 2008, Silberman, joined by five other federal court colleagues,

filed suit against the United States, "claiming that when Congress

refused to authorize statutory cost-of-living raises for federal judges,

it violated the Compensation Clause [of the Constitution]."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-12">[12]</a> The suit was ultimately successful, leading to a nationwide rise in pay for all federal judges as of January 1, 2014.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-13">[13]</a>

In 2015, Silberman wrote an op-ed in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journal" title="Wall Street Journal" class="mw-redirect">Wall Street Journal</a>,

writing that the charge that "President Bush deceived the American

people about the threat from Saddam" reminded him of "a similarly

baseless accusation that helped the Nazis come to power in Germany".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-14">[14]</a>

<h2>Legal opinions</h2>

As a judge, Silberman has authored a number of noteworthy opinions:

<ul><li>In In re Sealed Case, 838 F.2d 476 (1988), Silberman held that the procedures for appointing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Office_of_the_Independent_Counsel" title="United States Office of the Independent Counsel">independent counsels</a> violated the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appointments_Clause" title="Appointments Clause">Appointments Clause</a>

of the Constitution and the separation of powers, because they

interfered with the President’s ability to ensure that the laws are

“faithfully executed.”<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-15">[15]</a> This decision was subsequently reversed by the Supreme Court in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrison_v.Olson" title="Morrison v. Olson">Morrison v. Olson</a>, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), over a vigorous dissent by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonin_Scalia" title="Antonin Scalia">Justice Antonin Scalia</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-16">[16]</a> After the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton" title="Impeachment of Bill Clinton" class="mw-redirect">Clinton impeachment episode</a>, many changed their minds on this issue and praised Judge Silberman and Justice Scalia’s position.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-17">[17]</a></li><li>In a later <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_curiam_decision" title="Per curiam decision">per curiam decision</a> captioned <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_re:Sealed_Case_No._02-001" title="In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001" class="mw-redirect">In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001</a>, 310 F.3d 717 (2002), the court upheld a provision of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act" title="USA PATRIOT Act" class="mw-redirect">Patriot Act</a> that made it easier for law enforcement officers and intelligence officers to share information with each other.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-18">[18]</a> This was an important decision involving interpretation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act" title="USA PATRIOT Act" class="mw-redirect">Patriot Act</a>, the use of foreign intelligence, and the role of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act" title="Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act">FISA Court</a>. Silberman subsequently disclosed that he had in fact written the opinion.</li><li>In Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (2007),

Silberman held that the District of Columbia’s flat ban on the

registration and carrying of firearms violated the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Second Amendment to the United States Constitution">Second Amendment</a> right “to keep and bear arms.”<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-19">[19]</a> The case was subsequently upheld by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States" title="Supreme Court of the United States">Supreme Court</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller" title="District of Columbia v. Heller">District of Columbia v. Heller</a>, 554 U.S. 570 (2008).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-20">[20]</a></li><li>In Seven-Sky v. Holder, 661 F.3d 1 (2011), Silberman authored an opinion upholding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_Care_Act" title="Affordable Care Act" class="mw-redirect">Affordable Care Act</a>

as a constitutional exercise of the Commerce Power, on the grounds that

individuals' decisions to remain uninsured, in the aggregate, have a

substantial effect on interstate commerce.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-21">[21]</a>

At the time, a number of commentators viewed Judge Silberman's opinion

as an important bellwether of how the Supreme Court might decide the

case.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-22">[22]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-23">[23]</a> The Supreme Court ultimately rejected Judge Silberman's reasoning in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_Independent_Business_v._Sebelius" title="National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius">National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius</a>, 132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012), by a vote of 5 to 4, upholding the Affordable Care Act instead as an exercise of the taxing power.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-24">[24]</a>

Some commentators praised Silberman, a Reagan appointee, for his

"judicial restraint" in upholding the signature statute of a Democratic

administration. Writing in Slate, Simon Lazarus described

Silberman as a "conservative icon" and noted that "despite intense

short-term political pressures and long-term ideological stakes, leading

conservative jurists appear likely to stick to their traditional

judicial restraint canon when deciding the fate of the [Affordable Care

Act]."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-25">[25]</a></li></ul>

<h2>Criticism</h2>

<h3>"October Surprise"</h3>

Some politically hostile commentators have speculated that Silberman

may have been involved in the so-called “October Surprise” with respect

to the Iran hostage crisis prior to the 1980 presidential election,

alleging that Silberman and others had attended meetings to negotiate

the delayed release of the hostages by the Iranian government.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-26">[26]</a>

Silberman has publicly responded as follows to the allegations:

In the early fall of 1980 when I was Co-Chairman of Governor Reagan's

foreign policy advisors and then a San Francisco banker, I came back to

Washington for a meeting of Governor Reagan's advisors. Dick Allen, who

subsequently became President Reagan's National Security Advisor, was

playing a similar role in the campaign. As our session ended (I recall

it dealt with Arab-Israeli issues), Dick asked me if I could accompany

him to a meeting at the L'Enfant Hotel. He explained that Bud McFarlane,

then working for Senator Tower, wished him to see someone who had

information on the hostage crisis—which, of course, was a matter of

great political consequence to both campaigns. He asked me to join him,

as an ex-Deputy Attorney General, because he was a bit apprehensive. At

about noon McFarlane walked into the lobby with a gentleman whom I

remembered as a Moroccan. But, as Dick Allen's contemporaneously-written

memorandum had it, the man was a Malaysian named Mohammed (at least I

got the "M" right). He was a fervent supporter of the Shah and an

adversary of the Iranian revolution, but he was definitely not an

Iranian, still less a representative of the Iranian government [the

contrary of which assertion being the essence of the allegations of

inappropriate contact with the Iranian government]. He was also hostile

to the Carter Administration for having abandoned the Shah. It was his

plan to contact someone with influence in Iran to propose that the

hostages be released before the election to Governor Reagan, thereby

embarrassing President Carter. I was shocked and responded spontaneously

that we Americans have only one President at a time, and although Dick

asked him for any actual information he might have on the hostages—which

he did not have—we left after only a few minutes. I advised Dick to

write a memo of the meeting, which he did. Unfortunately the memo,

subsequently authenticated by the FBI, was mislaid for years.

Ironically, it was I who unwittingly initiated the so-called "October

Surprise" story, which grew into an utterly fantastic tale, even

including George H. W. Bush's alleged secret trips to Paris to meet with

Iranian emissaries. Bill Safire heard something of the L'Enfant Plaza

meeting when he was doing a rather critical story on McFarlane, who had

been Reagan's National Security Advisor. He called me (I was by then on

the bench), and I told him what occurred. He made brief mention of it in

a column raising, perhaps, unfair questions about McFarlane's

judgment—it may well be that McFarlane was acting for Senator Tower.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-27">[27]</a>

</blockquote>

On January 3, 1993, the bipartisan Joint Report of the Task Force to

Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American

Hostages by Iran in 1980, also known as the “October Surprise Task

Force,” was released. The Task Force, led by Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D)

and Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R), specifically concluded that “there is wholly

insufficient evidence of any communications by or on behalf of the 1980

Reagan Presidential campaign with any persons representing or connected

with the Iranian government or with those holding Americans as hostages

during the 1979-1981 period” and that “there is no credible evidence

supporting any attempt or proposal to attempt, by the Reagan

Presidential Campaign—or persons representing or associated with the

campaign—to delay the release of the American hostages in Iran.”<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-28">[28]</a>

<h3>Iran-Contra Affair</h3>

Silberman served on a panel of the D.C. Circuit in U.S. vs. Oliver L. North, 910 F.2d 843 (1990), in which a per curiam

opinion was issued that overturned the conviction of Oliver North, who

had been a key figure in perpetrating the Iran-Contra Affair.

In his memoir, Firewall, published seven years after the case in 1997, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Walsh" title="Lawrence Walsh">Lawrence Walsh</a>,

the Independent Counsel appointed by President Reagan to investigate

the Iran-Contra affair, mused that in retrospect, he wishes that he had

moved for Silberman’s recusal from the panel:

Yet I was reluctant to request that Silberman disqualify himself.

Prior government service or political activity did not bar him from

serving on the panel. His unfavorable view of independent counsel, if it

arose in the course of litigation rather than outside the courtroom,

was not a basis for disqualification. Too late, I learned that he had a

personal animus: He despised Judge Gerhardt Gesell [who presided over

the North case in the lower court]. Indeed, Silberman had stopped having

lunch in the judges’ lunchroom because of his antipathy for Gesell. Had

I known that, the scales certainly would have tipped in favor of my

seeking his recusal.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-29">[29]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-30">[30]</a>

</blockquote>

Silberman has also observed that David Brock, latterly a Silberman

critic (see below), has published a refutation of Lawrence Walsh’s

characterization of Judge Silberman’s involvement in the North case:

I am still gratified, however, by Brock's review of Lawrence Walsh's

book, which he has never (or at least, not yet) repudiated. In that

review, Brock, by interviewing federal judges, demolished Walsh's

bizarre and unique claim that I should have recused myself from sitting

on the North case because of my supposed hostility to the federal

district judge who decided the case. As Brock established, that

assertion—which no one ever heard of as a ground for recusal—was untrue.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-31">[31]</a>

</blockquote>

<h3>Clarence Thomas Confirmation</h3>

In his book Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, David Brock dedicates several pages to criticizing Silberman.

In 2006, Silberman responded to Brock’s allegations in a posting on Michael Barone’s U.S. News & World Report blog.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#cite_note-32">[32]</a>

<h2>Academic career</h2>

He was an Adjunct Professor of Administrative Law at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University_Law_Center" title="Georgetown University Law Center">Georgetown University Law Center</a>

from 1987 to 1994 and from 1997 to 1999, at NYU from 1995 to 1996, and

at Harvard in 1998. He currently holds the position of Distinguished

Visitor from the Judiciary at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University_Law_Center" title="Georgetown University Law Center">Georgetown University Law Center</a> and teaches both <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_law" title="Administrative law">administrative law</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_law" title="Labor law" class="mw-redirect">labor law</a>.

Silberman received the Charles Fahy Distinguished Adjunct Professor

Award for the 2002-2003 academic year. He has also received a Lifetime

Service Award (2006) and a Distinguished Service Award (2007) from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society" title="Federalist Society">Federalist Society</a> chapters of Georgetown and Harvard, respectively.

<h2>References</h2>

<ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-1">
</li></ol></div><div id="bodyContent" class="mw-body-content"><li id="cite_note-1"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080611-2.html">White House Press Release</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-2">
</li><li id="cite_note-2"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3664944&page=1">Clarence Thomas: Becoming a Judge – and perhaps a Justice</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-3">
</li><li id="cite_note-3"> <cite class="citation news">Silberman, Laurence (Aug 11, 1977). "The Road to Racial Quotas". Wall Street Journal.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALaurence+Silberman&rft.atitle=The+Road+to+Racial+Quotas&rft.aufirst=Laurence&rft.aulast=Silberman&rft.date=1977-08-11&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Wall+Street+Journal&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988" /></li>

<li id="cite_note-4">
</li><li id="cite_note-4"> <cite class="citation journal">Silberman, Laurence (Spring 2012). "The Development of 'Final Offer Selection'". The Green Bag.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALaurence+Silberman&rft.atitle=The+Development+of+%27Final+Offer+Selection%27&rft.aufirst=Laurence&rft.aulast=Silberman&rft.date=2012&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Green+Bag&rft.ssn=spring&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988" /></li>

<li id="cite_note-5">
</li><li id="cite_note-5"> <cite class="citation news">Hersh, Seymour (July 1, 1973). "Colson Is Accused of Improper Use of His Influence". New York Times.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALaurence+Silberman&rft.atitle=Colson+Is+Accused+of+Improper+Use+of+His+Influence&rft.aufirst=Seymour&rft.aulast=Hersh&rft.date=1973-07-01&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=New+York+Times&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988" /></li>

<li id="cite_note-6">
</li><li id="cite_note-6"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006987">"Hoover's Institution," Wall St. Journal (July 20, 2005)</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-7">
</li><li id="cite_note-7"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/barone/2006/08/18/judge-silbermans-response-to-david-brocks-book">"Judge Silberman's response to Dasvid Brock's book," U.S. News & World Report (Aug. 18, 2006).</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-8">
</li><li id="cite_note-8"> Malcolm W. Browne, “Tito Attacks U.S. Envoy for ‘Pressure Campaign,’” New York Times Aug. 1, 1976.</li>

<li id="cite_note-9">
</li><li id="cite_note-9"> "He's Always on the Short List," Charley Roberts, Los Angeles Daily Journal, 1992.</li>

<li id="cite_note-10">
</li><li id="cite_note-10"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/spy/fiscr-members.htm">Members of the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-11">
</li><li id="cite_note-11"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/30/next.ag/index.html">Job opening for attorney general with credibility, CNN.com, (Aug. 30, 2007)</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-12">
</li><li id="cite_note-12"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/alison-frankel/2012/10/10/federal-circuit-congress-cant-renege-on-pay-promises-to-judges/">"Federal Circuit: Congress can't renege on pay promises to judges," Reuters (Oct. 10, 2012).</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-13">
</li><li id="cite_note-13"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-judges-in-cost-of-living-suit-collect-a-14-percent-raise-after-years-of-legal-battles/2014/01/16/c06ee214-7eda-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html">"Federal

judges in cost-of-living suit collect a 14 percent raise after years of

legal battles," The Washington Post (Jan. 16, 2014).</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-14">
</li><li id="cite_note-14"> Brendan James, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/laurence-silberman-bush-lied-nazis">Federal Appeals Judge Compares People Who Say Bush Lied To Rise Of Nazis</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_Points_Memo" title="Talking Points Memo">Talking Points Memo</a> Feb 9, 2015</li>

<li id="cite_note-15">
</li><li id="cite_note-15"> <cite>In re SEALED CASE (Three Cases)</cite>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8565202393689783170&hl=en&as_sdt=2,22">838</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reporter" title="Federal Reporter">F.2d</a> 476 (D.C. Cir. 1988).</li>

<li id="cite_note-16">
</li><li id="cite_note-16"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrison_v._Olson" title="Morrison v. Olson">Morrison v. Olson</a>, 457 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports">U.S.</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/457/654/">654</a> (1988).</li>

<li id="cite_note-17">
</li><li id="cite_note-17"> Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Nov./Dec. 2008, p. 48.</li>

<li id="cite_note-18">
</li><li id="cite_note-18"> <cite><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_re:Sealed_Case_No.02-001" title="In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001" class="mw-redirect">In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001</a></cite>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/fisa111802opn.pdf">310</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reporter" title="Federal Reporter">F.3d</a> 717 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Court_of_Review" title="United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review">United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review</a> 2002).</li>

<li id="cite_note-19">
</li><li id="cite_note-19"> <cite><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_v._District_of_Columbia" title="Parker v. District of Columbia" class="mw-redirect">Parker v. District of Columbia</a></cite>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?hl=en&as_sdt=2,22&case=11156910755936011541&scilh=0">478</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reporter" title="Federal Reporter">F.3d</a> 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007).</li>

<li id="cite_note-20">
</li><li id="cite_note-20"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller" title="District of Columbia v. Heller">District of Columbia v. Heller</a>, 554 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports">U.S.</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=554&page=570">570</a> (2008), 128 S. Ct. 2783, 171 L. Ed. 2d 637 (2008).</li>

<li id="cite_note-21">
</li><li id="cite_note-21"> <cite>Seven-Sky v. Holder</cite>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?hl=en&as_sdt=2,22&case=12283140068462647556&scilh=0">661</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reporter" title="Federal Reporter">F.3d</a> 1, 14–20 (D.C. Cir. 2011).</li>

<li id="cite_note-22">
</li><li id="cite_note-22"> Simon Lazarus (2011-11-09). "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2011/11/the_outsized_influence_of_judge_laurence_silberman_s_decision_upholding_obamacare_.single.html">May It Please the Court.</a>" Slate.com. Retrieved 2012-11-18.</li>

<li id="cite_note-23">
</li><li id="cite_note-23"> Noah Feldman (2011-11-13). "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/conservative-health-care-split-offers-supreme-court-a-path-noah-feldman.html">Conservative Health-Care Split Offers Court a Path</a>". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2012-11-18.</li>

<li id="cite_note-24">
</li><li id="cite_note-24"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_Independent_Business_v.Sebelius" title="National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius">National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports">567 U.S. __</a> (2012), 132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012)</li>

<li id="cite_note-25">
</li><li id="cite_note-25"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2011/11/the_outsized_influence_of_judge_laurence_silberman_s_decision_upholding_obamacare_.html">"Why this week's decision upholding Obamacare may carry extra eight at the Supreme Court," Simon Lazarus, Slate (Nov. 9, 2011).</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-26">
</li><li id="cite_note-26"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-08-18/features/8901050810_1_barbara-honegger-october-surprise-reagan-bush-campaign">Surprising Look at Hostage Scandal, Barbara Honegger, Chicago Tribune (Aug. 18, 1989).</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-27">
</li><li id="cite_note-27"> [32 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 503. See also Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (Nov./Dec. 2008), at pp. 49-50.]</li>

<li id="cite_note-28">
</li><li id="cite_note-28"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003230365">Joint

Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning

the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, at pp. 7-8.</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-29">
</li><li id="cite_note-29"> [Firewall, by Lawrence Walsh, pp. 249-50.]</li>

<li id="cite_note-30">
</li><li id="cite_note-30"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://search.opinionarchives.com/Summary/AmericanSpectator/V30I9P24-1.htm">Insanity or Vanity? The Case Against Lawrence Walsh, by David Brock, The American Spectator (Sept. 1997).</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-31">
</li><li id="cite_note-31"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/barone/2006/08/18/judge-silbermans-response-to-david-brocks-book">Judge Silberman's Response to David Brock's Book, U.S. News & World Report (Aug. 18, 2006).</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-32">
</li><div class="reflist columns references-column-width" style="-moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;"><ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-32" value="32"> <cite class="citation web"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/barone/2006/08/18/judge-silbermans-response-to-david-brocks-book">"Judge Silberman's response to David Brock's book"</a>. Retrieved 2015-10-07.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALaurence+Silberman&rft.btitle=Judge+Silberman%27s+response+to+David+Brock%27s+book&rft.genre=unknown&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usnews.com%2Fopinion%2Fblogs%2Fbarone%2F2006%2F08%2F18%2Fjudge-silbermans-response-to-david-brocks-book&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988" /></li></ol>

</div>

<h2>External links</h2><div id="mw-content-text" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" lang="en">

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.c-span.org/person/?laurencesilberman">Appearances</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-SPAN" title="C-SPAN">C-SPAN</a></li></ul>

<table class="wikitable succession-box" style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:95%;clear:both;"><tbody><tr><th colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #DDCEF2;">Legal offices</th></tr><tr style="text-align:center;"><td style="width:30%;" rowspan="1">Preceded by

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ruckelshaus" title="William Ruckelshaus">William Ruckelshaus</a></td><td style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Deputy_Attorney_General" title="United States Deputy Attorney General">United States Deputy Attorney General</a>

1974–1975</td><td style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1">Succeeded by

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_R.Tyler,Jr." title="Harold R. Tyler, Jr.">Harold Tyler</a></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1">New seat</td><td style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1">Judge of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_District_of_Columbia_Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit">United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit</a>

1985–2000</td><td style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1">Succeeded by

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh" title="Brett Kavanaugh">Brett Kavanaugh</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #bebebe;">Government offices</th></tr><tr><td style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1">New office</td><td style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1">Chairperson of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Intelligence_Commission" title="Iraq Intelligence Commission">Iraq Intelligence Commission</a>

2004–2005

Served alongside: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Robb" title="Chuck Robb">Chuck Robb</a></td><td style="width: 30%; text-align: center;">Position abolished</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table id="collapsibleTable0" class="nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#" id="collapseButton0">show</a>]

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<div style="font-size:114%">Current senior judges of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_courts_of_appeals" title="United States courts of appeals">United States courts of appeals</a></div>

</th></tr></tbody></table>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table id="collapsibleTable1" class="nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Silberman#" id="collapseButton1">show</a>]

<div style="font-size:114%">Members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Intelligence_Commission" title="Iraq Intelligence Commission">Iraq Intelligence Commission</a></div>

</th></tr></tbody></table>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="nowraplinks hlist navbox-inner" style="border-spacing: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Authority_control" title="Help:Authority control">Authority control</a></th><td class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;width:100%;padding:0px">

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/identities/containsVIAFID/63748044">WorldCat Identities</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_International_Authority_File" title="Virtual International Authority File">VIAF</a>: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://viaf.org/viaf/63748044">63748044</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Control_Number" title="Library of Congress Control Number">LCCN</a>: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2005084441">no2005084441</a></li></ul>

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