Speakers Series with Justice Thomas Lee
The UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law presents
Justice Thomas Lee
"Judging Our Judges: On Activism, Restraint, and the Rule of Law"
Monday, March 7, 2016 | 12:00 p.m.
4th Floor Faculty Lounge
Before joining the Utah Supreme Court and while in private practice and teaching, Justice Lee argued a number of cases before the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. One that he argued before the United States Supreme Court, Utah v. Evans, 536 U.S. 452 (2002), is known for its use of the rarely discussed Census Clause as well as for a line of oral argument questioning that revolved around what the Census Bureau could properly infer from pizza deliveries. In conducting the 2000 census, the Census Bureau had used a method called ”hot-deck imputation" that increased North Carolina's population by 0.4% while increasing Utah's population by only 0.2%, meaning North Carolina would receive one more Representative and Utah one less. See Evans Oral Argument Transcript, available at http://www.oyez.org/cases/
Justice Lee was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court in 2010. While on the Supreme Court, he has continued to teach at Brigham Young University’s law school (and to be an avid basketball fan). He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court.
Justice Lee is a member of one of Utah's most prominent families: he is the brother of Utah Senator Mike Lee. Both are sons of Rex Lee, a former U.S. Solicitor General. And these are not the only interesting connections: according to an article in Atlantic, “When Rex Lee was in Washington, one of his assistants was Samuel Alito, Jr. When Alito became a Supreme Court Justice, one of his clerks was Mike Lee. Thomas Lee clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas.”
March 7, 2016
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
BSL Faculty Lounge