Floyd Abrams

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{{Infobox person

| name = Floyd Abrams

| image = Floyd Abrams by Jeff Weiner.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| caption = Abrams in 2006

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|7|9}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| known_for = First Amendment litigation

| education = Cornell University (BA)
Yale University (JD)

| employer = Cahill Gordon & Reindel

| occupation = Attorney

| children = {{hlist|Dan Abrams|Ronnie Abrams}}

| spouse = {{Marriage|Efrat Surasky|1963}}

| family = Elliott Abrams (cousin)

}}

Floyd Abrams (born July 9, 1936) is an American lawyer. A member of Cahill Gordon & Reindel since 1963 and currently senior counsel, he has argued in 13 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.{{cite web | url=https://www.cahill.com/professionals/floyd-abrams | title=Floyd Abrams {{pipe}} Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP }}{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/floyd-abrams-supreme-court-free-speech/29080/ | title=13 Supreme Court appearances and other important cases in Floyd Abrams' career {{pipe}} American Masters {{pipe}} PBS | website=PBS | date=18 September 2023 }} Abrams was co-counsel to The New York Times in the 1971 Pentagon Papers case, and represented Judith Miller in the CIA leak grand jury investigation, Standard & Poor's, and Lorillard Tobacco Company among others. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/floyd_abrams_latest_first_amendment_suit_challenges_new_tobacco_law{{cite web | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/floyd-abrams-sp-defense-strategy-2013-2 | title=Why the Nation's Most Famous Free Speech Lawyer Won't Use the First Amendment to Defend S&P | website=Business Insider }}https://www.npr.org/2005/10/11/4953466/lawyer-says-miller-lost-in-court-won-on-principle{{cite web | url=https://perkinscoie.com/insights/podcast/inside-story-pentagon-papers-featuring-floyd-abrams | title=The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers Featuring Floyd Abrams {{pipe}} Perkins Coie }} He also represented Senator Mitch McConnell in the Citizens United 2010 Supreme Court case.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/technology/clearview-floyd-abrams.html|title=Facial Recognition Start-Up Mounts a First Amendment Defense in Privacy Suits|date=11 August 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=11 August 2020}}{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Chris |date=2023-09-18 |title=13 Supreme Court appearances and other important cases in Floyd Abrams' career |publisher=PBS |work= American Masters |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/floyd-abrams-supreme-court-free-speech/29080/ |access-date=2024-01-24 |language=en-US}} Two of Abrams' clients had been on death row for crimes, and their convictions were overruled by the Supreme Court.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/02/nyregion/chronicle-033502.html | title=Chronicle | work=The New York Times | date=2 October 1995 | last1=Brozan | first1=Nadine }}{{cite web | url=https://www.thirteen.org/openmind-archive/government/floyd-abrams-friend-of-the-court/ | title=Floyd Abrams, "Friend of the Court" | date=5 October 2013 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/floyd-abrams-on-bradley-manning-case-2013-3 | title=The Feds' Aggressive Case Against a 25-Year-Old 'Intelligence Geek' Could Set A 'Chilling Precedent' | website=Business Insider }}

Early life and education

Abrams was born in New York City on July 9, 1936, the son of Rae (née Eberlin) and Isadore Abrams.{{Cite web|first= |last= |title= Abrams, Floyd 1936– |website=Encyclopedia.com|date= |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/abrams-floyd-1936 |access-date=March 26, 2021}} He is of Jewish descent and had a bar mitzvah ceremony.{{Cite news|first=Howard |last=Blum |title=Q and A With Floyd Abrams |newspaper=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles|date=July 7, 2005 |url= http://jewishjournal.com/news/world/11617/ |quote=Does your heritage as a Jew give you a particular affinity as a lawyer for the First Amendment, which protects freedom of religion, freedom of speech and establishes the separation of church and state?}}{{Cite web |title=Interview with Floyd Abrams |url=https://www.maxraskin.com/interviews/floyd-abrams |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=Interviews with Max Raskin |language=en-US}} His first cousin is Elliot Abrams, President George W. Bush's deputy national-security advisor.{{Cite news|first=Rebecca |last=Dana |title=The Abrams Family |newspaper=The New York Observer|date=December 6, 2016 |url= https://observer.com/2006/12/the-abrams-family/ }} He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1956, and after trying to decide between a PhD in American History and law, he obtained his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1960.{{cite web |url=https://www.chambers-associate.com/the-big-interview/floyd-abrams-first-amendment-litigator |title = Floyd Abrams – first amendment litigator}}

While at Cornell, Abrams participated in Reserve Officers' Training Corps and was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Career

From 1961 to 1963, Abrams clerked for Judge Paul Conway Leahy of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.{{Cite web|title = Floyd Abrams delivers annual Salant Lecture |url=http://shorensteincenter.org/floyd-abrams-delivers-annual-salant-lecture |website =Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy |date=10 October 2013 |access-date = 2016-01-11|language = en-US}} Abrams joined Cahill Gordon & Reindel in 1963 and became a partner in 1970.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} He was also a Visiting Lecturer at Columbia Law School from 1981 to 1985.{{Cite web|title = Floyd Abrams, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP: Profile & Biography|url = https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/people/1815783-floyd-abrams|website = Bloomberg|access-date = 2016-01-11}} He was the William J. Brennan Jr. visiting Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.{{cite web | url=https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/floyd-abrams-59-writes-new-book-first-amendment | title=Floyd Abrams '59 Writes New Book on First Amendment {{pipe}} Yale Law School | date=24 March 2017 }}

He created the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School.{{cite web | url=https://law.yale.edu/isp/initiatives/floyd-abrams-institute-freedom-expression | title=Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression {{pipe}} Yale Law School }}

Abrams is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{cite web | url=https://www.amacad.org/person/floyd-abrams | title=Floyd Abrams {{pipe}} American Academy of Arts and Sciences | date=22 November 2024 }}

His clients have included The McGraw-Hill Companies, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Time Magazine, Business Week, The Nation, Reader's Digest, Hearst, AIG, and others.{{cite web | url=https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/floyd-abrams/ | title=Floyd Abrams }}

He is the subject of the PBS - American Masters documentary Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely, which was nominated for an Emmy.https://www.speakingfreelyfilm.com/{{cite web | url=https://www.wnet.org/2024/07/29/the-wnet-group-receives-35-new-york-emmy-nominations-4-news-documentary-emmy-nominations/ | title=The WNET Group Receives 35 New York Emmy Nominations; 4 News & Documentary Emmy Nominations | date=29 July 2024 }}

Personal life

Abrams lives in New York City with wife Efrat Surasky, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.{{cite web |title=Abrams, Floyd 1936– |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/abrams-floyd-1936 |access-date=May 2, 2020 |work=Contemporary Authors |publisher=Cengage}}Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely. American Masters, episode 3602, September 22, 2023 Together they have a son, television host Dan Abrams; and a daughter, Judge Ronnie Abrams of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In 2008, Abrams played the role of Judge Hall in the movie Nothing but the Truth.

Recognitions

Presented with the Chambers and Partners' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.{{Cite web |title=Cahill |url=https://www.cahill.com/professionals/floyd-abrams}}
Recipient of the Freedom of Speech Award from The Media Institute in 2024.{{cite web | url=https://www.mediainstitute.org/2024/10/28/media-institute-will-honor-floyd-abrams-patrick-butler-richard-e-wiley-at-free-speech-america-gala-in-washington/ | title=Media Institute Will Honor Floyd Abrams, Patrick Butler, Richard E. Wiley at 'Free Speech America' Gala in Washington | date=28 October 2024 }}
Honoree and recipient of the Inaugural Floyd Abrams Award by the National Coalition Against Censorship in 2024.{{cite web | url=https://ncac.org/about-us/events/annual-benefit-2024 | title=Annual Benefit 2024 }}

Selected publications

Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment, (Viking Press, 2005) {{ISBN|978-0-670-03375-1}}.
Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines with the First Amendment, (Yale University Press, 2013) {{ISBN|978-0-300-19087-8}}.
The Soul of the First Amendment, (Yale University Press, 2017) and {{ISBN|978-0-300-19088-5}}.

References

External links

{{C-SPAN|5685}}
{{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep27|description="The Open Mind - Taking the Fifth (1987)"}}
{{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep7|description="The Open Mind - Again, Rights in Conflict (1990)"}}

Category:1936 births

Floyd Abrams

Category:Living people

Category:New York (state) lawyers

Category:American legal scholars

Category:Jewish American academics

Category:Jewish legal scholars

Category:American lawyers

Category:Columbia Law School faculty

Category:Yale Law School faculty

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:Yale Law School alumni