G. Robert Blakey

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G. Robert Blakey (born January 7, 1936) is an American lawyer who specializes in criminal law. He currently is the William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana. He has served on the Notre Dame Law School faculty for more than 30 years, from 1964 to 1969 and since 1980. He is a recognized expert on organized crime, legalized gambling, electronic surveillance (or telephone tapping), and the JFK assassination,^[1]. He is also the foremost authority on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).^[2]

Blakey has been named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the United States in the National Law Journal three times: April 15, 1985, May 2, 1988, and March 25, 1991.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 RICO and other legislation 3 Electronic surveillance 4 Assassinations committee 5 Supreme Court appearances 6 Later career and family 7 Notes

[edit] Early life and career

Blakey was born in Burlington, North Carolina, to L.J. Blakey, a banker, and Myrtle (Horrigan) Blakey. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame, cume laude, in 1957, with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy. In April 1958, he married Elaine Menard, a graduate of St. Mary's College, in the log chapel on the campus of Notre Dame. The two remained in South Bend, and Blakey attended Notre Dame Law School, graduating with a J.D. in 1960. He was Associate Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review, and initiated into Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif.

While in law school, Blakey authored a student note on the unsuccessful prosecution of attendees at the Apalachin Meeting.^[3] In 1960, after law school, Blakey became a Special Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice, under the Attorney General's Honor Program. After Robert F. Kennedy took over as Attorney General, the Department of Justice began a major effort to bring criminal prosecutions against organized crime figures and Blakey took part in that effort.^[4] He remained at Justice until 1964, leaving shortly after the November 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.^[5]

Blakey was a Notre Dame law professor from 1964 to 1969, and then returned to Washington, DC in 1969, to work on Capitol Hill as Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures in the U.S. Senate, reporting to Sen. John Little McClellan. It was during these years that Blakey worked with Sen. McClellan and Sen. Roman L. Hruska to develop the ideas about criminal enterprise that would later become RICO.^[6] During 1967, he was a Consultant on organized crime for the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, serving under Lyndon B. Johnson.

[edit] RICO and other legislation

Blakey is widely regarded as the principal draftsman of "RICO Act," Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, (Pub.L. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted 1970-10-15), which was signed into law by Richard M. Nixon.^[2] RICO is codified as Chapter 96 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968. In 1985, Blakey served as Vice Chairman of the American Bar Association RICO Cases Committee and Reporter for its publication of A Comprehensive Perspective on Civil and Criminal RICO Legislation and Litigation. In part because of Blakey's work on the President's Commission, the U.S. government and 29 states have passed racketeering legislation. His scholarship is often used in court interpretation of RICO and the state "little RICOs," including in such court opinions as Russellos v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, 28 (1983); Reves v. Ernst & Young, 507 U.S. 170, 179-82 (1993); and NOW v. Scheidler, 510 U.S. 249, n.5 (1994), among other cases.

He also assisted in drafting and passing the Crime Control Act of 1973 and the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1970. Blakey also helped draft and pass Title III on wiretapping of the federal 1968 Crime Control Act.^[2]

[edit] Electronic surveillance

In part because of Blakey's work on electronic surveillance for the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, the U.S. government and the vast majority of U.S. states have wiretapping control legislation. He was personally involved in drafting and implementing the state wiretapping acts in 39 of the 43 states that have such laws.^[7]

[edit] Assassinations committee

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 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., under the direction of Congressman Louis Stokes. Blakey also helped draft the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.^[2] He would later write a book about the assassination, The Plot to Kill the President, (Times Books 1981), ISBN-10: 0812909291.

[edit] Supreme Court appearances

Blakey has appeared before the United States Supreme Court numerous times. In his first appearance before the court, he filed a brief on behalf of the Attorneys General of Massachusetts and Oregon and the National District Attorneys Association, as amici, in the case of Berger v. New York, reported at 388 U.S. 41 (1967). Other appearances before the high court include his argument on behalf of pro-life activist Joseph Scheidler in what later became Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2006), a case saga with a 19-year history. Blakey's case for Scheidler is reported at 510 U.S. 249 (1994). Most recently, Blakey argued before the Court on behalf of the beneficiaries of insurance policies, and against the insurance company, in Humana Inc. v. Forsyth, 525 U.S. 299 (1999).

[edit] Later career and family

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 Senator Joseph Biden (1985-86). Blakey continues to teach law school and practice law. Recently his work, in the case of Smithfield Foods v. United Food and Commercial Workers International, has been covered in the New York Times.^[8]

Blakey is a life-long Roman Catholic. His wife of 44 years, Elaine M. Blakey, died in 2002. During their life together, they had eight children, all of whom are Notre Dame graduates, and four of whom became practicing attorneys.

[edit] Notes