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Floyd Abrams (born in July 9, 1936) is an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He is an expert on
constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...
and has argued in 13 cases before the
Supreme Court of the United States 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 tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
. Abrams represented ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' in 1972 during the
Pentagon Papers The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 ...
case, Judith Miller in the
CIA leak grand jury investigation The CIA leak grand jury investigation (related to the "CIA leak scandal", also known as the "Plame affair") was a federal inquiry "into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee's identity", a possible v ...
,
Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...
and
Lorillard Tobacco Company Lorillard Tobacco Company was an American tobacco company that marketed cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. The company had two operating segments: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. Th ...
. He also argued for Citizens United during the 2010 Supreme Court case.


Early life

Abrams was born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on July 9, 1936, the son of Rae (née Eberlin) and Isadore Abrams. He is of Jewish descent and had a bar mitzvah ceremony. His first cousin is Elliot Abrams, President George W. Bush's deputy national-security advisor. He earned his undergraduate degree from
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
in 1956, and after trying to decide between a PhD in
American History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densel ...
and law, he decided to obtain his
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
from
Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...
in 1960. While at Cornell, Abrams participated in
Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in a ...
and was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army.


Career

From 1961 to 1963, Abrams clerked for Judge Paul Conway Leahy of the
United States District Court for the District of Delaware The United States District Court for the District of Delaware (in case citations, D. Del.) is the Federal district court having jurisdiction over the entire state of Delaware. The Court sits in Wilmington. Currently, four district judges and ...
. Abrams joined Cahill Gordon & Reindel in 1963 and became a partner in 1970. He was also a Visiting Lecturer at
Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
from 1981 to 1985. He is the William J. Brennan Jr. visiting Professor at the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism ...
. He is a member of the
Constitution Project The Constitution Project is a non-profit think tank in the United States whose goal is to build bipartisan consensus on significant constitutional and legal questions. Its founder and president is Virginia Sloan. The Constitution Project’s w ...
's Liberty and Security Committee and a patron of the
Media Legal Defence Initiative Media Defence (registered company name: Media Legal Defense Initiative) is a non-governmental organization established in 2008 to provide legal assistance to journalists, citizen journalists and independent media institutions. It also supports trai ...
. In August 2021, Abrams was named to the
advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...
of American facial recognition company Clearview AI as of counsel. In 2022, Abrams began hosting a podcast called ''Speaking Freely''.


Personal life

Abrams lives in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
with wife Efrat Surasky. Together they have a son, Dan Abrams of ABC, as well as the host of '' Live PD'' and '' Court Cam'', and a daughter, Judge
Ronnie Abrams Ronnie Abrams (born June 3, 1968 in New York City, New York) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Early life and education Abrams is one of two children born to Efrat Abram ...
of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In 2008, he played the role of Judge Hall in the movie ''Nothing but the Truth''.


Selected writings

*''Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment'', (
Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...
, 2005) . *''Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines with the First Amendment'', (
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...
, 2013) . *''The Soul of the First Amendment'', (
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...
, 2017) and .


See also

* Clearview AI


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abrams, Floyd 1936 births Living people New York (state) lawyers American legal scholars Jewish American attorneys Columbia Law School faculty Yale Law School faculty Cornell University alumni Yale Law School alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences People associated with Cahill Gordon & Reindel 21st-century American Jews