- Robert A. Levy
Robert A. Levy (born 1941 in
Washington, DC ) is a Senior Fellow at thelibertarian Cato Institute and the organizer and financier behind "District of Columbia v. Heller ", theSupreme Court Case that established the Second Amendment as affirming an individual right to gun ownership. He is an author and pundit. Before becoming a lawyer, he was the founder and CEO ofCDA Investment Technologies .Early life
Levy was born and grew up
working class in the Petworth neighborhood in Washington, DC. His parents ran a small hardware store. He attended college atAmerican University and went on to earn aPh.D. in Business there in 1966.Financial career
After graduating he moved to
Silver Spring, MD and founded CDA Investment Technologies. CDA was a provider of financial information and software. The company became a success and grew to have offices inRockville, MD ,New York City ,Chicago ,San Francisco ,Tokyo andLondon . It was particularly well known for its rankings of howmutual funds performed. Their quarterly release of rankings would prompt articles in "The New York Times " and "The Wall Street Journal ".Levy sold the company in 1986 to Dutch publishing firm
Elsevier for an undisclosed amount. In 1987 Elsevier sold CDA toThe Thomson Corporation for a profit. Levy stayed on as CEO through both sales, retiring from his position in 1991 to attend law school.hift to law
In 1991 Levy retired from CDA Investment Technologies and entered
George Mason University School of Law . He graduated as classvaledictorian . After graduation he clerked first for JudgeRoyce C. Lamberth on theUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia and then for JudgeDouglas H. Ginsburg on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit .Levy sponsored the Robert A. Levy Fellowship in Law and Liberty at George Mason Law School. It provides full tuition and a yearly $22,000 stipend for three years to students beginning Law School who already have a Ph.D. in Economics, Finance, Political Science or a related field. A minimum of two fellowships are granted for each incoming class.
cholar, pundit, and author
In 1997 Levy became a Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute and an Adjunct Professor of Law at
Georgetown University . At this point Levy began writing extensively, and the following years saw him publishing articles andOp-Ed pieces in "The New York Times", "The Wall Street Journal", "USA Today ", "The Washington Post ", "National Review ", "Reason" and many other publications. He also began making television and radio appearances, and has appeared on cable and network shows including "Nightline", "Crossfire", "The O'Reilly Factor ", "Hardball with Chris Matthews ", and "The Today Show".Levy co-authored "The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom" with
William Mellor . Although never a bestseller, "The Dirty Dozen" was excerpted by "Forbes ", reviewed by "The Wall Street Journal", and enjoyed a generally positive critical reception.In 2004, Levy retired from his position at Georgetown and moved down to
Naples, Florida . He remains a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, and additionally sits on the boards of theInstitute for Justice , theFederalist Society , and the George Mason University School of Law. He returns to DC often, and spends summers in Biltmore Lake,North Carolina , where he also has a house."District of Columbia v. Heller"
In 2002, Levy began recruiting
plaintiff s for a planned Second Amendment lawsuit against the District of Columbia. Although Levy has never owned a gun himself, he was interested in the issue as a constitutional scholar and believer in individual rights. He teamed up withClark M. Neily III of the Institute for Justice and began finding and vetting District residents who had a legitimate and appealing reason for wanting a gun for self defense at home. They eventually settled on six residents: Shelly Parker, Tom Palmer, Gillian St. Lawrence, Tracey Ambeau, George Lyon and Dick Heller. They tried to select a diverse group, and ended with men and women, black and white, and a variety of income levels. Levy only knew Palmer, a colleague at Cato, and none of the six knew each other before the case.The lawsuit was initially filed in 2003 as "Parker v. District of Columbia". After several reversals and appeals, the case was heard by the Supreme Court on March 18th, 2008. The court affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to gun ownership. Levy released a statement saying "Heller is merely the opening salvo in a series of litigations that will ultimately resolve what weapons and persons can be regulated and what restrictions are permissible. But because of Thursday’s decision, the prospects for reviving the original meaning of the Second Amendment are now substantially brighter."
Levy financed the lawsuit and served as a co-counsel. As a result of his involvement in the case, Levy has been profiled by "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post".
External links and sources
* [http://www.cato.org/people/robert-levy Robert A. Levy Biography] , Cato Institute
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/us/03bar.html?scp=1&sq=%22robert+a.+levy%22&st=nyt Carefully Plotted Course Propels Gun Case to Top] , New York Times
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701055.html Lawyer Who Wiped Out D.C. Ban Says It's About Liberties, Not Guns] , Washington Post
* [http://www.law.gmu.edu/admissions/levy_fellowships Robert A. Levy Fellowships] , George Mason University School of Law
* [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120960427159258093.html Judging the Judges] , Wall Street Journal review of "Dirty Dozen"
*'Supreme Court to hear challenge to DC gun law', by David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2008
* [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=%22CDA+Investment+Technologies%22&srchst=nyt Coverage of CDA Quarterly Rankings] , New York Times
* [http://cato.org/gunban Levy Statement on Heller Ruling] , Cato Institute
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