Roger Conant Cramton (May 18, 1929 – February 3, 2017) was appointed by
President Richard M. Nixon to be chairman of the
Administrative Conference of the United States
The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an independent agency of the United States government that was established in 1964 by the Administrative Conference Act. The conference's purpose is to "promote improvements in the effi ...
in 1970, and in 1972 became the
assistant attorney general
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general.
The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...
in charge of the
Office of Legal Counsel
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...
in the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
. He is known for standing up to Nixon during the
Watergate scandal
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 ...
.
He became the Dean of
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...
in 1973. He was also appointed by
President Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
to be the first chairman of the
Legal Services Corporation
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a publicly funded, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established by the United States Congress. It seeks to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing funding for civil lega ...
, a post that
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
filled immediately after Cramton's tenure there.
Education and career
Cramton graduated 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 high ...
magna 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 So ...
, with an A.B. in 1950. He earned his J.D. degree from 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 ...
in 1955.
He served 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 ...
to associate justice
Harold Hitz Burton
Harold Hitz Burton (June 22, 1888 – October 28, 1964) was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 45th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, as a U.S. Senator from Ohio, and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United State ...
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 U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
from 1956 to 1957.
Personal
He was married to Harriet until his death in 2017. He had four children, Ann Kopinski, Charles Cramton, Peter Cramton, and Cutter Cramton. He also had two sisters, 11 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cramton, Roger C.
1929 births
2017 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
American legal writers
Cornell University faculty
Harvard University alumni
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Nixon administration personnel
United States Assistant Attorneys General for the Office of Legal Counsel
University of Chicago alumni