Malcolm Richard Wilkey

Malcolm R. Wilkey
United States Ambassador to Uruguay
In office 1985–1990
President	Ronald Reagan George H.W. Bush
Preceded by	Thomas Aranda Jr.
Succeeded by	Richard C. Brown
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
In office 1970–1985
Appointed by	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Warren E. Burger
Succeeded by	Stephen F. Williams
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division
In office 1959–1961
President	Dwight Eisenhower
Preceded by	Malcolm Anderson
Succeeded by	Herbert Miller Jr.
United States Assistant Attorney General for Legal Counsel
In office 1958–1959
President	Dwight Eisenhower
Preceded by	W. Wilson White
Succeeded by	Robert Kramer
United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas
In office 1954–1958
President	Dwight Eisenhower
Preceded by	Brian S. Odem
Succeeded by	William B. Butler
Personal details
Born	Malcolm Richard Wilkey (1918-12-06)December 6, 1918 Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	August 15, 2009(2009-08-15) (aged 90) Santiago, Chile
Cause of death	Prostate cancer
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Emma Secul Depolo (m. 1959)
Residence	Santiago, Chile 1990–2009
Education	A.B. 1940 (Phi Beta Kappa) LL.B. 1948
Alma mater	Harvard College, Harvard Law School
Occupation	Private practice of law in Houston until 1954 U.S. Attorney, Houston, Texas, 1954–1958 Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, 1958– General Counsel, Kennecott Copper, 1963–1970 Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1970–1990 Ambassador to Uruguay, 1985–1990
Known for	investigating 1992 House banking scandal 1982 case ruled unconstitutional the legislative veto
[1]

Malcolm Richard Wilkey (December 6, 1918 – August 15, 2009) was a United States federal judge and ambassador.

Early life and education

Wilkey was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and raised in Madisonville, Kentucky.^[1] He received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1940, and served in the U.S. Army during World War II in George S. Patton's Third Army from 1941 to 1945 (he left active duty as a Major and served in the U.S. Army Reserve until 1953, when he left as a Lieutenant Colonel). After the war he enrolled in law school and received an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1948.

Career

Early career

He was in private practice in Houston, Texas, from 1948 to 1954, also teaching at the University of Houston Law Center from 1949 to 1954.

He entered public service in Texas as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas (1954–1958). In 1958 he moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as the U.S. Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice (1958–1959), and Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division (1959–1961). He returned to private practice in Texas (1961–1963), before moving on to become the General counsel and secretary of Kennecott Copper Corporation (1963–1970), during which he was also a member of the Advisory Panel on International Law for the legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State (1969–1973).

Federal judgeship

Wilkey was nominated by President Richard Nixon on February 16, 1970, for the seat vacated by Warren E. Burger on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was confirmed by the Senate on February 24, 1970, and received his commission on the following day.

He assumed senior status on December 6, 1984, and his judicial service ended November 8, 1985, when he retired and went to Cambridge University as a visiting fellow of Wolfson College.^[2]

Political appointments

In 1989 he was chairman of the President's Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform and worked alongside his Vice Chairman Griffin B. Bell, who was the U.S. Attorney General under President Jimmy Carter.^[3]

President Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay in 1985, and President George H. W. Bush continued him in that post^[2] until his retirement in 1990.^[4]

In 1992 U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr appointed him to determine whether federal criminal violations had taken place in the House banking scandal.^[3]

Personal life

Wilkey married Chilean-born Emma A. Secul Depolo in 1959. He and his wife moved to Santiago, Chile, in 1990. Wilkey died from complications of prostate cancer at his home in Santiago on August 15, 2009.^[1][5]

References

Writings

• Wilkey, Malcolm Richard (2003). As the twig is bent, or, Did I see the best of America. Philadelphia: Xlibris. ISBN 1-4134-1139-8. 
• Wilkey, Malcolm Richard (1995). Roger Clegg, ed. Is it time for a second Constitutional Convention? (Paperback ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Legal Center for the Public Interest. ISBN 0-937299-40-5. 
• Wilkey, Malcolm Richard (1982). Enforcing the Fourth Amendment by alternatives to the exclusionary rule. Orrin G. Hatch (introduction). Washington, D.C.: National Legal Center for the Public Interest. 

Further reading

• Cain, George H. (Fall 1999). "Malcolm R. Wilkey: Many Robes, Many Hats: A Career Sketch of a Lawyer, Judge and Diplomat". Experience. 10. pp. 18–47. 

External links

• Malcolm Richard Wilkey at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• "Office of the Historian - Department History - People - Malcolm Richard Wilkey". history.state.gov. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2009-09-08.