Stephen Roger Barnett (December 25, 1935 – October 13, 2009) was an American law professor and legal scholar who campaigned against the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 and the effects its antitrust exemptions had on newspaper consolidation. He also criticized the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

for practices that hid information from the public.

Biography

Barnett was born on December 25, 1935, in the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He grew up in

West Hartford, Connecticut West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. The population was 64,083 at the 20 ...

, and attended Loomis Chaffee School. He attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

on a scholarship, earning his undergraduate degree in 1957. He served as president of ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

''. At

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Barnett served as note editor of the ''

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of ...

''; he was awarded his law degree in 1962. Following his graduation, he clerked for

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York (state), New York, and Vermont, and it has ap ...

Judge Henry J. Friendly and then for Justice William J. Brennan of 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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

. After a few years at the law firm of

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (known as Cleary Gottlieb), formerly Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly & Cox and Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly, Steen & Hamilton, is an American multinational law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York Cit ...

, he was hired by Berkeley Law School, where he spent almost the entirety of his career until his retirement in 2003. Grimes, William
"Stephen Barnett, a Leading Legal Scholar, Dies at 73"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', October 21, 2009. Accessed May 28, 2024. The exception was a stint as an assistant solicitor general in the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

, where Barnett argued cases before the Supreme Court from 1977 until 1979.Egelko, Bob
"Stephen Barnett, UC law professor, dies"
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', October 21, 2009. Accessed October 22, 2009. A leading critic of the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which was intended to allow multiple newspapers in the same city to survive by forming joint operating agreements to share revenues and cut costs, argued that the unintended consequence of the legislation was the consolidation and development of large nationwide newspaper chains. These agreements often resulted in the demise of the weaker paper once the agreement was ended. In his article ''The Dog That Did Not Bark'', Barnett was critical of a practice called "depublication", under which the

can at its choice, or if requested, order that a decision by the

California Court of Appeals The California Courts of Appeal are the State court (United States), state Appellate court, intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along List of counties in California, county lines in ...

be excluded from publication, which means that it becomes impossible to cite the decision in later legal actions,CRC Rule 8.1115. making the court less open and accountable. His criticism of the Commission on Judicial Performance in California led to a 1999 decision requiring it to disclose how each member voted in actions it takes. Barnett died at age 73 died on October 13, 2009, in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, of

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

. He was survived by his wife, Karine, as well as by a son, Alexander Barnett, and a stepson, Levon Barnett.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Stephen 1935 births 2009 deaths The Harvard Crimson people Harvard Law School alumni Journalists from New York City Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from Brooklyn Loomis Chaffee School alumni People associated with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Scholars of competition law UC Berkeley School of Law faculty 20th-century American lawyers

Biography

See also

References