G. Robert Blakey

George Robert Blakey (born 7 January 1936 in Burlington, North Carolina) is an American attorney and law professor.

Early life and career

Blakey graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1957, with a bachelor's in philosophy. In April 1958, he married Elaine Menard. The two remained in South Bend, and graduated Blakey a J.D. in 1960 from Notre Dame Law School. He was Associate Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review, and initiated into Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif.

RICO and other legislation

Blakey is credited with drafting "RICO Act," Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, signed into law by Richard M. Nixon.. While in law school, Blakey authored a student note on the unsuccessful prosecution of attendees at the Apalachin Meeting. [G. Robert Blakey, "RICO: The Genesis of an Idea," Trends in Organized Crime 9(4): 88-34, n. 30] In 1960, after law school, Blakey became a Special Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Department of Justice. After Robert F. Kennedy became Attorney General, the Department began a major effort to bring criminal prosecutions against organized crime figures and Blakey took part in that effort. [G. Robert Blakey, "RICO: The Genesis of an Idea," Trends in Organized Crime 9(4): 88-34, 11] He remained at Justice until 1964, leaving shortly after the November 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. [cite web
title = G. Robert Blakey
work = Notre Dame law faculty
url =http://www.nd.edu/~ndlaw/faculty/facultypages/blakey_cv.pdf
accessdate=2008-02-13 ]

The U.S. government and 29 states have passed racketeering legislation using RICO. Blakey also assisted in drafting and passing the Crime Control Act of 1973 and the Omnibus Crime Control Act, and Title III on wiretapping of the federal 1968 Crime Control Act.

Assassinations committee

Blakey was a Notre Dame law professor from 1964 to 1969, then returned to Capitol Hill as Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures in the U.S. Senate, reporting to John Little McClellan [G. Robert Blakey, "RICO: The Genesis of an Idea," Trends in Organized Crime 9(4): 88-34, 14-18] During 1967, he was a Consultant on organized crime for the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice for Lyndon B. Johnson.

Blakey was chief counsel and staff director to the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations from 1977 to 1979 which investigated the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., under the direction of Louis Stokes. Blakey also helped draft the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. He would later write a book about the assassination, "The Plot to Kill the President," (Times Books 1981), ISBN-10: 0812909291.

Supreme Court appearances

In Blakey's first appearance before the United States Supreme Court, he filed a brief on behalf of the Attorneys General of Massachusetts and Oregon and the National District Attorneys Association in the case of Berger v. New York. He has argued on behalf of pro-life activist Joseph Scheidler in what became Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2006), and on behalf of the beneficiaries of insurance policies sold by Humana (1999).

Later career

Blakey served as a professor of law and director of the Cornell Institute on Organized Crime at Cornell Law School (1973-80). He also was special counsel to the United States Judiciary Committe under Joseph Biden [Liptak, Adam. 2008. "A Corporate View of Mafia Tactics: Protesting, Lobbying and Citing Upton Sinclair," "New York Times," February 5.]

As of 2007, he is the William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame [cite web | url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oswald/interviews/blakey.html | title=Interview:G Robert Blakey | publisher=Frontline | accessdate=2006-11-25] . He is also the foremost authority on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). cite web
title = G. Robert Blakey
work = Notre Dame law faculty
url =http://www.nd.edu/~ndlaw/faculty/facultypages/blakey_cv.pdf
accessdate=2008-02-13 ]

Notes