Stanley Sporkin (February 7, 1932March 23, 2020) was a director of enforcement for the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

(SEC), general counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency and

United States federal judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of ...

. His 40-year federal judicial career, beginning in 1961 at the SEC, at times attracted both derision and admiration for his perceived

judicial activism Judicial activism is a judicial philosophy holding that the courts can and should go beyond the applicable law to consider broader societal implications of its decisions. It is sometimes used as an antonym of judicial restraint. The term usually ...

, at times also displaying a quick mind and pugnacity on the bench.

Education and career

Sporkin was born in 1932 to a Jewish family in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the son of Ethel (Weiner), a homemaker, and Maurice Sporkin, a judge. He cites his father, involved in desegregation in Philadelphia in the early 1950s, as instilling in him "the whole concept I had of doing justice." He received an

Artium Baccalaureus 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 years ...

degree from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 1953. He received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, 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 ...

in 1957. From 1957 to 1960, Sporkin was 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 ...

for Judge Caleb M. Wright 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 fi ...

, and also for Judge

Paul Conway Leahy Paul Conway Leahy (February 9, 1904 – July 3, 1966) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Education and career Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Leahy received a Bachelor of Science ...

of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in 1960. He was in private practice of law 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, ...

from 1960 to 1961. Sporkin served with the

from 1961 to 1981, in a number of roles. He was a staff attorney of the SEC Special Studies of the Securities Markets from 1961 to 1963; in the SEC Division of Trading and Markets in 1963; Chief of the SEC Branch of Enforcement from 1963 to 1966; Chief Enforcement Attorney of the SEC Office of Enforcement from 1966 to 1967; Assistant Director (Enforcement) for SEC from 1967 to 1968; Associate Director (Enforcement) for SEC from 1968 to 1972; and Deputy Director of the SEC Division of Enforcement from 1972 to 1974. Sporkin served as the Director of the SEC Division of Enforcement from 1974 to 1981, where he led lawyers in enforcement actions against Gulf,

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

, Lockheed,

R.J. Reynolds Richard Joshua Reynolds (July 20, 1850 – July 29, 1918) was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The son of a tobacco farmer, he worked for his father and attended Emory & Henry College from 1868 to 1870, ...

, and 3M, among others; one of his first major SEC cases led to the 1974 conviction of

George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...

for illegal campaign contributions, and he became an advocate for the

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applicable world ...

enacted in 1977. From 1981 to 1986, Sporkin was the

General Counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

for the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. In 1978, he was awarded the Rockefeller Public Service Award for administering justice and reducing crime. In 1979, Sporkin received the

President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on 27 June 1957 by , the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service was created to allow the President to recognize civilian officers or employees of the federal government who have ...

Federal judicial service

Sporkin was nominated by 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 ...

on April 5, 1985, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge June Lazenby Green. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on December 16, 1985, and received his commission on December 17, 1985. In 1989, in his courtroom, a convicted drug dealer admitted to providing cocaine to then-

Mayor of Washington, D.C. The mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of the District of Columbia, in the United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed ...

Marion Barry Marion Shepilov Barry (born Marion Barry Jr.; March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014) was an American politician who served as the second and fourth mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democrat, Barry had served ...

, sparking a major scandal and Barry's subsequent conviction for possession of cocaine. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on February 12, 1999. He retired on January 15, 2000.

Post judicial service

Following his retirement from the bench, Sporkin became affiliated with the Weil Gotshal law firm and embarked on a solo law practice. Sporkin was a member of the

Gavel Consulting Group A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle. It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the ...

, a private consultancy that consists of several former federal judges and high-ranking government officials. He was in charge of the BP America Ombudsman Team, working from

Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in th ...

. On March 23, 2020, Sporkin died after suffering from congestive heart failure in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

. He was 88 years old. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

References

Sources

*
Biography from the Gavel Consulting Group

External links

Judge Stanley Sporkin on The George Jarkesy Show
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sporkin, Stanley 1932 births 2020 deaths Lawyers from Philadelphia Pennsylvania State University alumni Yale University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia American Jews United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 20th-century American judges Recipients of the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service