Paul M. Bator
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Paul Michael Bator (June 2, 1929 – February 24, 1989) was an American legal academic,
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advocate and expert on
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. In addition to teaching for almost 30 years at
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 ...
and 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 dist ...
, Bator served as Deputy Solicitor General of the
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during the
Reagan Administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over D ...
.


Early life and education

Bator was born in 1929 in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, and moved with his parents to the United States in 1939. He attended
Groton School Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...
and received his
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 ...
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1951, where he was valedictorian. He earned a master's degree in history 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 higher le ...
in 1953 and graduated ''summa cum laude'' 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 served as 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 143 ...
''. From 1956 to 1957 he served as law clerk to Justice
John M. Harlan II John Marshall Harlan (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971. Harlan is usually called John Marshall Harlan II to distinguish him ...
of the
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.


Career


Harvard Law School

Following a brief period of private practice at Manhattan firm Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean, Bator began teaching at Harvard Law School in 1959. He became a full professor of law in 1962 and from 1971 to 1975 served as associate dean of the law school. While at Harvard, he published many articles, including his famous piece, "Finality in Criminal Law and Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners," 76 Harv. L. Rev. 441 (1963), which described "how with reason we can arrive at just the reasonable balance between fairness and the need to attain finality in the criminal process."Shapiro, David L. "In Memoriam: Paul M. Bator." In ''Harvard Law Review'', v. 102, no. 8, June 1989.
/ref> He also co-authored the second (1973) and third (1988) editions of Hart & Wechsler's "The Federal Courts and the Federal System," a leading text on federal jurisdiction.


Deputy Solicitor General

In 1982 Bator took a leave of absence from Harvard to become Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He argued and won eight cases on behalf of the government at the Supreme Court, including ''Hishon v. King & Spalding'', which held that Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act Civil Rights Act may refer to several acts of the United States Congress, including: * Civil Rights Act of 1866, extending the rights of emancipated slaves by stating that any person born in the United States regardless of race is an American ci ...
applies to partnership selection at law firms; ''
Grove City College v. Bell ''Grove City College v. Bell'', 465 U.S. 555 (1984), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that Title IX, which applies only to colleges and universities that receive federal funds, could be applied to a private school that refu ...
'', which applied provisions of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act narrowly; ''Clark v. Community for Creative Nonviolence'', which denied that protesters'
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
rights were violated by a law prohibiting overnight sleeping 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, ...
memorial parks; and ''Reagan v. Wald'', which upheld the validity of currency restrictions imposed on travelers to
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. In 1984, President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
nominated Bator to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but he withdrew his name due to illness.


John P. Wilson Professor of Law, University of Chicago

Bator returned to Harvard after his term as Deputy Solicitor General but in January 1986 he left to join 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 dist ...
as the John P. Wilson professor of law. He simultaneously served as associate counsel with the firm
Mayer, Brown & Platt Mayer Brown is a global white-shoe law firm, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It has offices in 27 cities across the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, with its largest offices being in Chicago, Washington, D.C., New Y ...
, where he practiced appellate law. In his last Supreme Court appearance on October 4, 1988, he successfully represented the
United States Sentencing Commission The United States Sentencing Commission is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal judiciary of the United States, judicial branch of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal go ...
in a case challenging the latter's constitutional validity. In 1987, Bator testified in support of Judge
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 ...
, whose nomination to 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 ...
was rejected by the Senate. The same year, he was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
.


Other

Bator was a member of the
American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...
.


End of life and legacy

Bator died in 1989 and was survived by his wife, Alice Garrett Hoag Bator; sons, Thomas and Michael; and daughter, Julia.


Harvard Law Review tribute

In June 1989, ''Harvard Law Review'' published tributes to Bator by Professor David L. Shapiro, Professor
Charles Fried Charles Anthony Fried (born April 15, 1935) is an American jurist and lawyer. He served as United States Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. He is a professor at Harvard Law School and has been a visiting professor ...
and then-judge
Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...
. Fried characterized Bator's teaching as "Mozartian," displaying "a brilliance, a clarity of intelligence, deployed with lightning speed and a distinctive style that was at once inventive and entirely apt" and described his briefs and arguments before the Supreme Court as "sonatas of reason."


Paul M. Bator Award

Following Bator's death, the
Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered ...
established the Paul M. Bator Award for young law professors. Each year, the prize was awarded to an academic who has demonstrated excellence in legal scholarship, a commitment to teaching, a concern for students, and made a significant public impact.


Past Bator Award recipients


See also

*
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 9) 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. Mos ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bator, Paul M. 1929 births 1989 deaths Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard Law School faculty Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States University of Chicago Law School faculty Harvard Law School alumni Lawyers from Cambridge, Massachusetts Federalist Society members American scholars of constitutional law Groton School alumni Princeton University alumni