Jerry Edwin Smith
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Jerry Edwin Smith (born 1946, Del Rio, Texas) is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan on December 21, 1987.
Smith attended Yale University and Yale Law School, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969 and his J.D. in 1972. After law school, he clerked for Judge Halbert O. Woodward on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas before entering private practice.
Smith later served as the director of the Harris County Housing Authority (1978–1980), Special Assistant Attorney General of Texas (1981–1982), chairman of the Houston Civil Service Commission (1982–1984), and a city attorney for Houston, Texas (1984–1987).
[edit] Notable Cases
Judge Smith wrote the majority opinion in Hopwood v. Texas, 78 F.3d 932 (5th Cir. 1996), in which the Fifth Circuit struck down the use of affirmative action in admissions at the University of Texas School of Law. Seven years later, the decision was abrogated by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).
In Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA, 947 F.2d 1201 (5th Cir. 1991), Judge Smith wrote the panel opinion which required the United States Environmental Protection Agency to use cost-benefit analysis when deciding whether to ban a toxic substance.
[edit] Clerks
Several of Judge Smith's former clerks have gone on to careers in academia or government service. They include:
- Justice Allison Hartwell Eid (1991-92), Colorado Supreme Court
- Stephen E. Henderson (1999-2000), Associate Professor of Law, Widener University School of Law
- Julian Ku (1998-99), Associate Professor of Law, Hofstra Law School
- Thom Lambert (1998-99), Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
- David Olson (2000-01), Assistant Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
- Margaret Peterlin, Deputy Director of the United States Patent & Trademark Office
- Ilya Somin (2001-02), Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
- Todd Zywicki (1993-94), Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
