Rex E. Lee
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Rex E. Lee (February 27, 1935—March 11, 1996) from St. Johns, Arizona was a respected Constitutional lawyer, a Latter-day Saint (LDS; see also Mormon), an alumnus and tenth president of Brigham Young University from July 1, 1989 through December 31, 1995, a law clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White, and the United States Solicitor General under the Reagan Administration. He argued 59 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rex graduated first in his class from the University of Chicago Law School in 1963. From law school he went to Washington, DC, to serve as law clerk to Byron White, then Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. From Washington, DC, he returned to his home state of Arizona, where, as a partner in the Phoenix law firm of Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, he established himself as a lawyer of incredible promise. Within four years of graduating from law school (and before he had even taken a single deposition in any lower court civil proceeding) Rex argued his first case in the United States Supreme Court. In 1972 Rex left his burgeoning legal career to become the founding dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. He served as the first dean of the School, and is considered personally responsible for having recruited many members of the exceptional charter class.
He served the nation, first as an Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division in the United States Department of Justice from 1975 to 1976, and then as Solicitor General of the United States from 1981 to 1985. As Solicitor General, Rex had the incredible opportunity to focus entirely on the legal effort he enjoyed most: briefing and arguing cases in the United States Supreme Court. Supreme Court briefs and arguments were vital nourishment for Rex's legal soul. (Indeed, at the time of his death, as he lay in a hospital bed, he was preparing to argue his 60th case before the Court). Rex built a unique and enduring reputation as a man committed to principle.
After resigning as solicitor general, he returned to Brigham Young University in 1986. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with cancer. Following a year of medical treatment and therapy, Rex recovered, for a time, and was named president of BYU. Rex served the university community with distinction from July 1989 until December 1995, just two and one-half months before he passed away. An annual race is held in his honor at BYU to raise proceeds for cancer research.[1]
Current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito served as assistant to Solicitor General Lee from 1981 to 1985, where Alito argued 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Rex E. Lee's son, Mike Lee, is now an assistant to Justice Alito.
[edit] References
- Rex E. Lee, A Lawyer Looks at the Constitution; Brigham Young University Press; ISBN 0-8425-1904-1 (Softcover, September 1981)
- Rex E. Lee, What Do Mormons Believe; Deseret Books; ISBN 0-87579-639-7 (Hardcover, November 1992)
[edit] External links
- A Concurrent Resolution on the Death of Rex E. Lee by the Arizona Legislature
- Supreme Court Justices Pay Tribute to the Late Rex E. Lee
- Loving Rex Lee, A Personal Remembrance
- Rex E. Lee Law Society, University of Virginia
| Preceded by Wade H. McCree |
U.S. Solicitor General 1981–1985 |
Succeeded by Charles Fried |
| Preceded by Jeffrey R. Holland |
President of BYU 1989–1995 |
Succeeded by Merrill J. Bateman |
| United States Solicitors General |  |
|---|---|
| Bristow • Phillips • Goode • Jenks • Chapman • Taft • Aldrich • Maxwell • Conrad • Richards • Hoyt • Bowers • Lehmann • Bullit • Davis • King • Frierson • Beck • Mitchell • Hughes • Thacher • Biggs • Reed • Jackson • Biddle • Fahy • McGrath • Perlman • Cummings • Sobeloff • Rankin • Cox • Marshall • Griswold • Bork • McCree • Lee • Fried • Starr • Days • Dellinger • Waxman • Olson • Clement |
