NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Edwin Meese

Edwin "Ed" Meese III (born December 2, 1931 in Oakland, California) served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States (1985-1988). Image File history File links Meese. ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... View of downtown Oakland looking west across Lake Merritt. ... Alberto Gonzales, current Attorney General of the United States The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... This article is about the year. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Education and with Governor Reagan

In 1953, Meese graduated from Yale University. He holds a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as assistant district attorney of Alameda County, California before joining Governor Ronald Reagan's staff in 1967. He served as legal affairs secretary from 1967-1968 and as executive assistant and chief of staff to Governor Reagan from 1969 through 1974. 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. ... University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (also known as California, Cal, UCB, UC Berkeley, The University of California, or simply Berkeley) is a public, coeducational university situated east of the San Francisco Bay in Berkeley, California, overlooking the Golden Gate. ... Alameda County is a county in California, USAs San Francisco Bay Area. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 â€“ June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981â€“1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967â€“1975). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...

Industry and academia

From January 1975 to May 1976, he was vice president for administration of Rohr Industries in Chula Vista, California. He left Rohr to enter private law practice in San Diego County, California. He served as a professor of law at the University of San Diego from 1977 to 1981, and also was director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management. 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Chula Vista is a city located in San Diego County, California. ... Official website: http://www. ... The University of San Diego, frequently referred to as USD, is a Catholic university in San Diego, California. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Reagan presidency

Meese headed Reagan's transition effort following the 1980 election. During the presidential campaign, he served as chief of staff and senior issues adviser for the Reagan-Bush committee. After Reagan's election, he became counselor to the President, member of the President's Cabinet and the National Security Council from 1981 to 1985. Judge Lowell Jenson was the second-ranking official in the Justice Department under Meese. Presidential electoral votes by state. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States (1989â€“1993). ... Cabinet meeting on May 16, 2001. ... The National Security Council (NSC) of the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ...

U.S. Attorney General

Meese became Attorney General in February 1985, holding this office until August, 1988. This article is about the year. ... August is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Iran-Contra

Meese's tenure was highly controversial. His involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair as a "counselor" and "friend" to the President, not as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, attracted the most criticism. Chapter 31 of the official Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters reveals his direct involvement: "Meese knew that the 1985 HAWK transaction, in which the National Security Council staff and the Central Intelligence Agency were directly involved without a presidential covert-action Finding authorizing their involvement, raised serious legal questions. The President was potentially exposed to charges of illegal conduct if he was knowledgeable of the shipment and had not reported it to Congress, under the requirements of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and in the absence of a Finding...When Meese got answers in his inquiry that did not support his defense of the President, he apparently ignored them, as he did with Secretary of State George P. Shultz's revelation on November 22 that the President had told him that he had known of the HAWK shipment in advance." [1]. A TIME Magazine cover of Oliver North testifying in front of the U.S. Congress. ... This article is about the year. ... NSC can also stand for National Safety Council in several countries such as the US and Ireland. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A congress is a gathering of people, especially a gathering for a political purpose. ... In several countries, Secretary of State is a senior government position. ... Shultz in his official D.O.L. portrait. ...

Supreme Court views

Meese also became the subject of deep controversy when he gave a speech calling for a "jurisprudence of original intent" in 1985 and criticizing the Supreme Court for straying from the original intention of the U.S. Constitution. Meese's speech was publicly rebuked by sitting Supreme Court Justices William J. Brennan and John Paul Stevens in speeches later that year, in a dispute that foreshadowed the contentious Robert Bork hearings of 1987. It has also been alleged that Meese subjected nominees for federal judgeships to a "litmus test" to gauge their fidelity to Reagan Administration judicial policy, including whether the nominee believed that Roe v. Wade had been correctly decided; Meese repeatedly denied this. This article is about the year. ... William J. Brennan, official portrait, 1976. ... Justice John Paul Stevens (born April 20, 1920) is an American jurist who has been a U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice since 1975; he is the oldest and longest serving justice currently on the court. ... Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (born March 1, 1927 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a conservative American legal scholar who advocates the judicial philosophy of originalism. ... Roe v. ...

Critic of pornography

Meese also courted controversy when he appointed the "Meese Commission" to investigate pornography in the United States; their report, released in July 1986, was highly critical of pornography and itself became a target of widespread criticism. That year, Meese Commission officials contacted convenience store chains and succeeded in demanding that widespread men's magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse be removed from shelves, [2]a ban which spread nationally [3] until being quashed with a First Amendment admonishment against prior restraint by the D.C. Federal Court in Meese v. Playboy (639 F.Supp. 581). Categories: Stub | Pornography ... Pavonazzeto marble sculpture, see Erotic art in Pompeii Pornography (from Greek Ï€Î¿ÏÎ½Î¿Î³ÏÎ±Ï†Î¯Î± pornographia â€” literally writing about or drawings of prostitutes) (also informally referred to as porn, porno) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but distinct from, erotica. ... Classic Playboy logo. ... In architecture, a penthouse is a building on the roof of another building, or alternatively, an apartment on the top floor of a building. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ...

Corruption allegations

Accusations of ethical violations dogged Meese's tenure at Justice. He was the subject of investigations by the United States Office of the Independent Counsel on two occasions; neither of these investigations resulted in charges being presented to a grand jury. Nevertheless, Meese's critics continue to charge corruption. BARRY WRIGHT IS A TOOL was an independent prosecutor â€” distinct from the Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice â€” that provided reports to the Congress under Title 28 of the United States Code, Section 595. ... A grand jury is a type of common law jury responsible for investigating alleged crimes, examining evidence, and issuing indictments if they believe that there is enough evidence for a trial to proceed. ...

Heritage Foundation

Meese is now a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank. The Heritage Foundation, a think tank located in Washington, D.C., is an influential public policy research institute. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... This article is about the institution. ...

See also

The final report of the Attorney Generals Commission on Pornography (sometimes called The Meese Report for Attorney General Edwin Meese) is the result of a comprehensive investigation into pornography ordered by President Ronald Reagan. ...

External links

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