Richard W. Painter (born October 3, 1961) is an American lawyer and the S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He is the vice-chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Painter was the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration from 2005-2007. Throughout 2017, he was involved in the CREW lawsuit against President Donald Trump (CREW v. Trump). The suit alleged that Trump is in violation of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause, due to his refusal to sell assets and put others in a blind trust. The case was dismissed for lack of standing on December 21, 2017.
Video Richard Painter
Early life and education
Painter was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1961. He was raised outside Philadelphia, in Kansas City, Kansas, and in Champaign, Illinois. He graduated from St. George's School, Newport, Rhode Island.
Painter received his bachelor's degree in history from Harvard University summa cum laude and earned his JD from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation.
Maps Richard Painter
Career
Painter served as law clerk to Judge John T. Noonan Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He then worked at the law firms of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and Finn Dixon & Herling in Stamford, Connecticut.
From 2002 to 2005, he was the Guy Raymond and Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, and from 2005 to 2007 the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. Upon leaving the White House, he returned to teaching, at the University of Minnesota Law School.
In December 2016, Painter replaced David Brock as vice-chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). He has been a member of the American Law Institute since 2014. As of May 2017, he is the S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Opinion about Supreme Court nomination
On March 23, 2016 Painter wrote in The New York Times that if President George W. Bush had had the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice during the last two years in office, with a Democratic-majority Senate, Bush would have chosen Judge Merrick Garland (who was ultimately nominated by President Obama on March 16, 2016) as a consensus nominee. William K. Kelley, who was deputy counsel to President Bush from 2005 to 2007, questioned this, telling Edward Whelan in the National Review that it was a "baseless claim." Kelley praised Painter's work as ethics counsel, but said he had "no substantial role" with regard to Supreme Court nominations.
Emolument Clause lawsuit against Donald Trump
In January 2017, CREW filed suit against U.S. President Donald Trump for failing to sell off certain assets and place others in a blind trust, as all presidents have done for over 40 years. Painter, vice-chairman of CREW, stated, "If Obama had tried that, we would have impeached him in two weeks." CREW alleges that certain foreign payments that Trump receives are in violation of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause. The case was dismissed by the district court, which found that the plaintiffs lacked standing; CREW has said they will appeal.
Personal life
Painter's wife Karen is a professor of music history at the University of Minnesota. They have three children, and have lived in Minnesota since 2007. Painter is a long-time Republican.
Selected publications
- Getting the Government America Deserves: How Ethics Reform Can Make a Difference (Oxford University Press 2009)
- Professional and Personal Responsibilities of the Lawyer (with Judge John T. Noonan Jr.; Foundation 1997; Second Edition, 2001; Third Edition 2011)
- Securities Litigation and Enforcement (with Margaret Sachs and Donna Nagy; West 2003; Second Edition, 2007; Third Edition 2011).
See also
- United States Office of Government Ethics
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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