Mark Levin

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This article is about the conservative author, lawyer, and radio talk show host. For the filmmaker, see Marc Levin.

Mark Reed Levin (b. September 21, 1957) is a conversative radio talk show host on WABC in New York City, syndicated on both terrestrial radio and satellite radio.

1 Education
2 Professional career
3 Book and punditry
4 Contributions to other radio shows
5 Radio show
6 References
7 External links
- 7.1 Other websites

[edit] Education

Mark Levin holds a B.A. from Temple University (where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa) and a J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

[edit] Professional career

From 1981, Levin has served as adviser to several members of President Ronald Reagan's Cabinet, eventually becoming associate director of presidential personnel and ultimately Chief of Staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese. He has practiced law in the private sector, and is president of the Landmark Legal Foundation in Leesburg, Virginia. His radio career began in 2002 as a Sunday evening host on WABC. In the fall of 2003, he was given the weekday 6pm-8pm (ET) timeslot, where he remains today.^[1]

[edit] Book and punditry

Levin is the author of the bestselling book, Men In Black: How The Supreme Court Is Destroying America (ISBN 0-89526-050-6), in which Levin criticizes what he argues to be the perils of "judicial activism" by the judicial branch. Levin advocates originalist constitutional interpretation. He also advocates the unitary executive theory, and often criticizes members of the Congress for what he deems an attempt to stack the Supreme Court of the United States with judges who "legislate from the bench."

Levin is also a contributing editor for National Review Online (NRO) and in 2006, started blogging there as well. He also writes frequently for other publications. In addition to his originalist views on the Constitution, Levin has conservative beliefs on policy and social issues, often ridiculing President Bush and centrist Republicans in Congress for attempts at moderating their views on social issues under the compassionate conservatism label. He is a proponent of a neoconservative approach to foreign affairs. Some would say that his views are even more reactionary than neo-converative. Levin was among the many neoconservative pundits criticized in 2006 for their vocal support of the immediate use of military force in dealing with nuclear proliferation or other disputes with hostile regimes, such as the Iranian nuclear controversy.^[2]

In 2001, the American Conservative Union gave Levin its Ronald Reagan Award.

[edit] Contributions to other radio shows

Levin began his broadcast career as a guest on conservative talk radio programs. For many years he was a frequent contributor of legal opinions to The Rush Limbaugh Show, who referred to him on-air as "F. Lee Levin," a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous defense attorney F. Lee Bailey. ^[3] He was also a contributor to The Sean Hannity Show and eventually got a radio slot of his own, on WABC, following Hannity's program. (He previously had a weekend show on WABC) Hannity has nicknamed Levin "The Great One". Levin and Hannity remain frequent contributors to each other's programs, often calling in and facetiously referring to each other as "Doctor Hannity" or "Doctor Levin".

[edit] Radio show

Levin's radio show is a mix of political and social commentary from a conservative point of view. He also covers legal issues in some detail, including decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court on issues important to conservatives. Levin follows the traditional talk radio model of taking listener phone calls throughout the show and takes particular delight in encouraging liberals to call in and debate him. Many liberals do call, though Levin is known to routinely cut them off in mid-sentence. He is known for using the catchphrases "Are you a lib, sir?", "You're annoying!", and "Get off the phone, you big dope!" on the air.^[4]

For comic relief he occasionally does a show as an alter ego, the effete "Maurice", who is a "lib". He also pokes fun at the names of politicians, media outlets and others whose views differ from his.

As of 2006, his show is syndicated by ABC Radio on more than 100 stations as well in rebroadcasts on the ABC News & Talk channel located on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.