Name Peter Edelman | Role Lawyer | |
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Born 9 January 1938 (age 86) ( 1938-01-09 ) Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States Spouse Marian Wright Edelman (m. 1968) Education Harvard College, Harvard Law School, Harvard University Books So Rich - So Poor: Why It's S, Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men, Searching for America's, The Future of Social Insurance Similar People Marian Wright Edelman, Jonah Edelman, Ezra Edelman | ||
Peter edelman on ending u s poverty why he left clinton admin over welfare law 2 of 2
Peter Benjamin Edelman (born January 9, 1938) is an American lawyer, policy maker, and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in the fields of poverty, welfare, juvenile justice, and constitutional law. He worked for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and for the Clinton administration, where he resigned to protest Bill Clinton's signing the welfare reform legislation. Edelman was one of the founders and president of the board of the New Israel Fund.
Contents
- Peter edelman on ending u s poverty why he left clinton admin over welfare law 2 of 2
- Lecture by Peter Edelman Not A Crime To Be Poor The Criminalization of Poverty in America
- Early life and education
- Early career
- Work in the Clinton administration
- Other career activities
- Personal life
- Honors
- References
Lecture by Peter Edelman: "Not A Crime To Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America""
Early life and education
Edelman grew up in a Jewish family Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Hyman and Miriam Edelman. His father worked as a lawyer and his mother worked as a homemaker. His grandfather Eliezer Edelman was a rabbi in Poland; Eliezer and his wife were shot and killed by the Nazis during World War II.
Edelman received his A.B. in 1958 from Harvard College and LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School. Edelman served as a law clerk to Judge Henry Friendly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then as a law clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg.
Early career
He also worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as special assistant to assistant attorney general John Douglas. Edelman worked as a legislative assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, from 1964 to 1968, accompanying Kennedy to his meeting with labor leader Cesar Chavez. Edelman also met his wife while touring impoverished areas of Mississippi with Kennedy to prepare for reauthorization of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Following Kennedy's assassination, Edelman spent brief periods working as deputy director for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, issues director for Arthur Goldberg's New York gubernatorial campaign, and vice president of the University of Massachusetts, from 1972 to 1975.
Edelman became director of the New York state Division for Youth, in 1975, joined Foley & Lardner as partner in 1979, and served as issues director for Senator Edward Kennedy's presidential campaign, in 1980. In 1981, he helped found Parents United in the District of Columbia to empower parents to advocate for educational quality in DC's public schools. Edelman has taught at Georgetown since 1982.
Work in the Clinton administration
Edelman took a leave of absence during Clinton's first term, to serve as counselor to HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and then as assistant secretary for planning and evaluation.
Edelman resigned from the Clinton administration in protest of Clinton signing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. According to Edelman, the 1996 welfare reform law destroyed the safety net. Claims such as this have been widely debated since the passage of that act.
In late 1994, Clinton considered nominating Edelman to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that had become vacant with the decision by Abner Mikva to retire from the bench on September 19, 1994, to become White House counsel. However, Clinton feared a difficult confirmation battle—particularly given publicly stated opposition to Edelman's nomination by U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch—and he backed off, later successfully nominating Merrick Garland to the seat. In 1995, Clinton mulled nominating Edelman to the federal district court in Washington D.C., but in August 1995, he abandoned that possibility as well. The withdrawal came even despite Hatch's stated support for Edelman's nomination. "District court judges don't make policy as much as the judges on the circuit courts do," Hatch told The New York Times. "He's very liberal, but he's also an extremely fine man and I told the White House that I would support him for the district court."
Other career activities
Edelman has served as an associate dean of the Georgetown University Law Center; the president of the board of New Israel Fund, from June 2005 to June 2008; and is a board member of the Center for Community Change, the Public Welfare Foundation, Americans for Peace Now, the Center for Law and Social Policy and the American Constitution Society, among other nonprofits. He currently serves as chair of the seventeen-member Access to Justice Commission for the District of Columbia, a panel studying ways to provide access to civil legal representation for those who cannot afford it.
Personal life
Edelman is married to Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund and the first black woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi. They have three sons: Joshua, Jonah and Ezra.