Daniel Meltzer
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Daniel Julius Meltzer (December 17, 1951 – May 24, 2015) was an American lawyer and law professor who taught at Harvard Law School. He worked in the Obama Administration as Principal Deputy Counsel from January 2009 through June 1, 2010.


Education

Meltzer received an
A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in Economics from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1972, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1975 where he was President of the Harvard Law Review.


Legal career

Upon graduation, he clerked first for Judge Carl E. McGowan of the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate co ...
, and then for Justice
Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to, among other areas, ...
of the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. From 1977 to 1978, Meltzer was Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Joseph Califano Jr. Thereafter he worked three years in private practice with the District of Columbia firm of Williams & Connolly. Meltzer joined the Harvard Law School faculty in 1982 as assistant professor, was promoted to full professor in 1987, served as associate dean 1989-93, was named the Story Professor of Law in 1998, and the vice dean for physical planning in 2003.Harvard Law School directory page
Retrieved 2010-05-20.
Meltzer co-authored several books on the federal court system,
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
, and other subjects with Richard Fallon and David L. Shapiro. Criminal procedure was another of his specializations. In 1989, Meltzer was elected to the American Law Institute and was elected to the ALI Council in 1999. In January 2013, Meltzer was selected to succeed
Lance Liebman Lance Liebman (born 1941) is an American law professor. He is the former Dean of Columbia Law School, and served as the Director of the American Law Institute from May 1999 to May 2014. Education Liebman received his B.A. from Yale University in ...
as ALI Director. Meltzer later declined the appointment for health reasons. In January 2014, the ALI announced that Richard Revesz, the Dean Emeritus of
New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...
, would succeed Liebman as ALI Director in May 2014.


White House appointment

Meltzer was appointed Principal Deputy Counsel to President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
in January 2009, deputy to Counsel Greg Craig. Meltzer had originally agreed to serve in the position for one year but agreed to stay longer to help in the transition from Craig to Robert Bauer early in 2010. Returning to Harvard in mid-2010 allowed Meltzer to resume his faculty position within the preferred two-year leave tenure. At the time of his resignation, his service for the administration was noted for efforts to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, related policies affecting
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
detainees, anti-abortion issues in the health care reform debate, and preparation of Supreme Court Associate Justice
Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...
in her 2009 confirmation hearings. Also noted was close work during his tenure with the acting leader of the
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...
, David Barron (also a fellow Harvard law professor), and with
United States Associate Attorney General The associate attorney general of the United States is the third-highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice. The associate attorney general advises and assists the attorney general and the deputy attorney general in policies re ...
Thomas J. Perrelli, both in the
Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
."White House Deputy Counsel Resigns"
by Charlie Savage, The Caucus blog, ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2010, Updated 5:40 p.m. Retrieved 2010-05-20.


Personal

Meltzer died on May 24, 2015 from cancer. Meltzer was married to Ellen Semonoff, the Assistant City Manager of Human Services for the City of Cambridge, MA. His wife did not move to Washington during the 2009-2010 appointment, and Meltzer commuted to Cambridge during the period. Meltzer's father, Bernard D. Meltzer, was a member of the United States prosecutorial delegation to the
Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...
and a professor of law at the
University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
. Meltzer's cousin, David F. Levi, is the dean of
Duke Law School Duke University School of Law (Duke Law School or Duke Law) is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit th ...
. His son, Jonathan Meltzer, was a 2014 Bristow Fellow and clerked for Justice Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court in 2015.


See also

*
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 8) Law clerks have assisted the justices of the United States Supreme Court in various capacities since the first one was hired by Justice Horace Gray in 1882. Each justice is permitted to have between three and four law clerks per Court term. Mo ...


References


External links


Harvard Law School profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meltzer, Daniel 1951 births 2015 deaths Harvard Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Obama administration personnel University of Chicago Laboratory Schools alumni