Jerry Edwin Smith

For other people named Jerry Smith, see Jerry Smith (disambiguation).

Jerry Edwin Smith (born 1946, Del Rio, Texas) is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on June 2, 1987 and confirmed by the Senate on December 19, 1987. Smith received his commission for the seat, which was created by 98 Stat. 333, two days later.

Smith attended Yale University and Yale Law School, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969 and his J.D. in 1972. After law school, he clerked for Judge Halbert O. Woodward on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Smith later served as the director of the Harris County Housing Authority (1978–1980), Special Assistant Attorney General of Texas (1981–1982), chairman of the Houston Civil Service Commission (1982–1984), and the City Attorney for Houston, Texas (1984–1987).

Prior to his appointment, Smith was active in Republican politics.

Notable cases

Judge Smith wrote the majority opinion in Hopwood v. Texas, 78 F.3d 932 (5th Cir. 1996), in which the Fifth Circuit struck down the use of affirmative action in admissions at the University of Texas School of Law. Seven years later, the decision was abrogated by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).

In Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA, 947 F.2d 1201 (5th Cir. 1991), Judge Smith wrote the panel opinion which required the United States Environmental Protection Agency to use cost-benefit analysis when deciding whether to ban a toxic substance.

In Regents of the University of California v. Credit Suisse First Boston, 482 F.3d 372 (5th Cir. 2007), Judge Smith wrote the majority opinion barring securities fraud claims against third parties who aided in securities fraud but did not directly mislead investors. The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta, 552 U.S. 148 (2008).

Smith was one of three judges on a panel that heard the appeal to Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar, a case challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior's six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling in deep water that was adopted in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the subsequent oil spill. The Fifth Circuit panel denied the government's emergency request to stay the lower court's decision pending appeal.

Clerks

Judge Smith's former clerks who have entered academia, public service, or the arts include:

• Dana Berliner (1991–92), senior attorney at the Institute for Justice
• Thomas Dupree (1997–98), former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States (Civil Division)
• Justice Allison H. Eid (1991–92), Justice, Colorado Supreme Court
• Dimple Gupta (2001–02), former Chief Counsel for Constitutional Matters for the Senate Judiciary Committee
• Jim Hawkins (2006–07), Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
• Stephen E. Henderson (1999–2000), Professor of Law, The University of Oklahoma College of Law
• James C. Ho (1999–2000), former Solicitor General of Texas
• Daryl Joseffer, former Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States; former Deputy General Counsel, Office of Management & Budget
• Julian Ku (1998–99), Professor of Law, Hofstra Law School
• Thom Lambert (1998–99), Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
• Richard T. Morrison (1993–94), Judge, United States Tax Court
• David Olson (2000–01), Assistant Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
• Margaret Peterlin, former Deputy Director of the United States Patent & Trademark Office
• Ilya Somin (2001–02), Associate Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law, and Volokh Conspiracy contributor
• David H. Steinberg (1993–94), Screenwriter
• Todd Zywicki (1993–94), Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law, and Volokh Conspiracy contributor

External links

• Jerry Edwin Smith at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.