George Thomas Frampton Jr. (born August 24, 1944) is an American attorney, environmentalist, and government official who served as

Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the developmen ...

. He is currently a co-founder of an environmental advocacy non-profit, Partnership for Responsible Growth. He cowrote a book on

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

and has authored newspaper columns on subjects including environmental issues and ballot access for independent candidates. Frampton was an assistant special prosecutor during the

investigation and later accused

Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American jurist who served as the solicitor general of the United States from 1973 to 1977. A professor at Yale Law School by occupation, he later served as a judge on the U.S. Court ...

of making misleading and untenable statements about his role during the Nixon administration and Watergate Scandal in 1987 when Bork was a nominee for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks The Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks is appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. The Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks reports to the United States Secretary of t ...

from December 10, 1993 to October 10, 1996, and served as president of the Wilderness Society from 1989 to 1993.

Early life and education

The son of a legal scholar, Frampton was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and grew up in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It is a western suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, United States; and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's population stood at 27,295 ...

, and

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...

. He graduated from University High School in 1961, and graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

with a BA in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

in 1965. He then earned an

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in Economics from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, specializing in advanced economic theory. In 1969, he graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, where he was treasurer 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 143 ...

''.

Career

After Harvard, Frampton served as a lawyer for VISTA in New York and then as a consultant on a Middle East peace project under the auspices of the

American Friends Service Committee The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (''Quaker'') founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by Am ...

, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, and Professor Roger Fisher of

. In 1971 he became a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

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 court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Justice

Harry A. Blackmun Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. Appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon, Black ...

, where he was involved in Blackmun’s opinions in ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...

'' among others. Frampton served, from 1973 to 1975, as an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that position, he worked on the grand jury investigation and trial of

President Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was th ...

’s top aides in the Watergate cover-up. He and a colleague,

Richard Ben-Veniste Richard Ben-Veniste (born January 3, 1943) is an American lawyer. He first rose to prominence as a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. He has also been a member of the 9/11 Commission. He is known for his pointed questions and criti ...

, co-authored ''Stonewall: The real story of the Watergate prosecution'' (1977). Frampton subsequently served as special counsel to the

State of Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

in an investigation of Governor

Bill Sheffield William Jennings Sheffield Jr. (June 26, 1928 – November 4, 2022) was an American Democratic politician who was the fifth governor of Alaska from 1982 to 1986. Sheffield's term in the governor's mansion was marked by controversy including att ...

and his chief of staff; as an assistant independent counsel to Independent Counsel Jacob A. Stein in the investigation of U.S. Attorney General

Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan pres ...

; and deputy director and chief of staff for the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...

’s Special Inquiry Group that conducted the agency’s investigation into the

Three Mile Island accident The Three Mile Island accident was a partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island, Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor in Pennsylvania, United States. It began at 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979. It is the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclea ...

. From 1978 until 1985, Frampton was a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm Rogovin, Huge & Lenzner, focusing on complex and public interest litigation. He served as counsel to independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson in 1980 in a litigation campaign that succeeded in getting Anderson on the ballot in all 50 states. In 1986, Frampton was named president of The Wilderness Society. He served in that capacity until 1993 when he was nominated by President Clinton to be Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Interior for fish, wildlife and parks. Frampton was engaged in a range of issues, including Everglades restoration, the regional plan for preservation of Old Growth Forests, wolf reintroduction, and the development of the first multi-species habitat conservation plans under the

Endangered Species Act of 1973 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

. He was the lead federal trustee on the Exxon Valdez Oil Trustee Council and helped develop a strategy with Governor

Wally Hickel Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994 and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1 ...

of Alaska to spend more than half the fund purchasing Native corporation lands and bringing them into the federal and state conservation systems. In 1997, he resigned as Assistant Secretary. In 1997, as Clinton’s second term was beginning, Frampton represented Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

as his personal counsel in the preliminary investigation into Gore’s fundraising activities, and served as corporate advisor to the

EarthSat Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat), an American company, was a pioneer in the commercial use of Earth observation satellites. Founded in 1969, EarthSat was first headquartered in Washington, D.C., and later moved its offices to Bethesda, Mary ...

. Within a year, President Clinton had named Frampton the Chair of the

Council on Environmental Quality The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the developmen ...

, and he served in that position until Clinton’s departure in January 2001. After leaving public service, Frampton moved to

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 ...

and was a partner at

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP Boies Schiller Flexner LLP is a national law firm based in New York City. The firm was founded by David Boies and Jonathan D. Schiller, in 1997, who, in 1999, were joined by Donald L. Flexner, former partner with Crowell & Moring, then forming B ...

until 2009, also working as operating advisor to Pegasus Capital Advisors. From 2009 to 2014, Frampton was senior of counsel at

Covington & Burling Covington & Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm advises clients on transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. In 2021, Vault.com ranked Covington & Burling as th ...

in the firm’s climate and clean energy practice. Frampton is a co-founder of the Partnership for Responsible Growth, a non-profit, along with former Congressman

Walt Minnick Walter Clifford Minnick (born September 20, 1942) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is in the western part of the state, and ...

and former Ambassador

William Eacho William Carlton Eacho III (born 1954) is the former United States Ambassador to Austria. Eacho was nominated by President Barack Obama in June 2009. He was confirmed by the US Senate and sworn in during August 2009. He succeeded David F. Girard-d ...

. In 2017, the Partnership for Responsible Growth advocated for a

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...

in a series of advertisements.

Personal life

Frampton is married to Carla D'Arista and lives in

and

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...

. Previously, he was married to Betsy Kimmelman (Karel), a

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Selected publications

Books

Articles

See also

References

External links