Spencer Overton
Encyclopedia
Spencer A. Overton is an American lawyer
and law professor of George Washington University Law School. He is a leading election law
scholar. Overton is currently serving in the Obama Administration as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the U.S. Department of Justice.
. He graduated from Southfield High School
. He has one sibling, Cynthia A. Overton, a research analyst at the American Institutes for Research.
Overton received his Bachelor of Arts
degree
with highest honors from Hampton University
in 1990, with a major
in mass media
and journalism
. He received his J.D.
cum laude from Harvard Law School
in 1993.
to Judge Damon Keith
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
in Detroit from 1993 to 1994. He practiced law with the firm
of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman
in Detroit from 1994 to 1996. He practiced at Debevoise & Plimpton
, in Washington, D.C.
from 1997 to 2000. Overton has been admitted
to the Maryland
, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. bars
.
Overton became interested in election law when he served as counsel to the NAACP
Legal Redress Committee. He drafted legal memoranda and testified before the judiciary committees of the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate
regarding the application of the Voting Rights Act
to the proposed merger of Detroit Recorder's Court with Wayne County Circuit Court. His interest deepened when, as a lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton, he represented the Democratic National Committee
in the Lincoln Bedroom and White House Coffee campaign finance investigations
by Congress
and the Department of Justice
.
From 1999 to 2000, Overton was a Charles Hamilton Houston Fellow at Harvard Law School
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
where he wrote "Mistaken Identity: Unveiling the Property Characteristics of Political Money," an article analyzing property theories and campaign finance law.
From 2000 to 2002, Overton taught law at the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Overton served as on the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform
at the American University
Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM) from May–September 2005. He dissented
from the commission's final recommendations, taking issue with the Real ID
proposal. Overton wrote that this recommendation for voter identification was "more extreme than any ID requirement adopted in any state
to date" and was "so excessive that it would prevent eligible voters from proving their identity with even a valid U.S. passport
or a U.S. military photo ID card
," stating that "the Commission's Report fails to undertake a serious cost-benefit analysis
. The existing evidence suggests that the type of fraud addressed by photo ID requirements is extraordinarily small and that the number of eligible citizens who would be denied their right to vote as a result of the Commission's ID proposal is exceedingly large."
Overton, a Democrat
, has served on the National Governing Board of Common Cause
in Washington, D.C.; in 2006 he became the chair of the board's policy committee. Overton also serves on the governance committee of Common Cause. Overton served on the boards of Demos
and the Center for Responsive Politics
.
Overton served on the Democratic National Committee
(DNC) Commission on Presidential Nomination Scheduling and Timing in Washington, D.C., from February to December 2005. On the Commission he led effort to encourage Iowa
to restore voting rights to citizens who had completed their sentences
; In July 2005, Governor Tom Vilsack
restored voting rights to 98,000 Iowans who had completed their sentences.
Overton is a top bundler
for Barack Obama
, bundling more than $500,000.
In 2005, Overton co-founded, with Professor Paul Butler, Blackprof.com, a blog
of "race, culture
, and society
" mainly written by black
academics
. Overton now is a "Contributor Emeriti" on the blog.
Overton is a frequent media commentator in print, radio, and television. He is often sought after for analysis of voting rights, election reform, and campaign fundraising.
Overton's academic writings have appeared in the Michigan Law Review
, University of Pennsylvania Law Review
, UCLA Law Review
, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Election Law Journal, Vanderbilt Law Review
, Florida State University Law Review
, North Carolina Law Review
, Texas Law Review
, and Washington and Lee Law Review
. He is a member of the editorial board
of the Election Law Journal in Los Angeles
.
Overton's achievements have earned him several awards including the Diverse Issues in Higher Education Magazine Emerging Scholars Award in January 2006, which recognizes ten emerging scholars in America, and the Association of American Law Schools
’ Minority Section’s Derrick Bell Award, for its “most promising junior faculty member,” in 2004. In 2003, Overton was recognized in Black Enterprise Magazine as one of nine people who “may conceivably end up leading a major black empowerment organization.”
Overton wrote Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression, on voter suppression
and manipulation of election laws.
In early 2009, Overton was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy in the Department of Justice.
, in the Washington metro area
. Leslie Overton specializes in antitrust law and has worked for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
, as well as in private practice.
Law of the United States
The law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
and law professor of George Washington University Law School. He is a leading election law
Election law
Election law is a discipline falling at the juncture of constitutional law and political science. It researches "the politics of law and the law of politics"...
scholar. Overton is currently serving in the Obama Administration as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the U.S. Department of Justice.
Early life and education
Overton was born in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. He graduated from Southfield High School
Southfield High School
Southfield Senior High School is a senior high school located in Southfield, Michigan. Founded in 1953, Southfield High is the oldest of three high schools in the district operated by Southfield Public Schools...
. He has one sibling, Cynthia A. Overton, a research analyst at the American Institutes for Research.
Overton received his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
with highest honors from Hampton University
Hampton University
Hampton University is a historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen.-History:...
in 1990, with a major
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
in mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
and journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
. He received his J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
cum laude from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in 1993.
Legal and political career
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Overton was a law clerkLaw clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...
to Judge Damon Keith
Damon Keith
Damon Jerome Keith is a Senior Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.-Biography:Keith grew up in Detroit, where he graduated from Northwestern High School in 1939; Keith then moved on to West Virginia State College , Howard University School of Law , and Wayne State...
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Kentucky* Western District of Kentucky...
in Detroit from 1993 to 1994. He practiced law with the firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman
Dickinson Wright
Dickinson Wright PLLC , is a law firm based in Detroit, Michigan. It is one of the city's oldest firms, having been founded in 1878....
in Detroit from 1994 to 1996. He practiced at Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a prominent international law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson, Debevoise has been a long established leader in corporate litigation and large financial transactions. In recent years, its practice has taken on an...
, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
from 1997 to 2000. Overton has been admitted
Admission to the bar in the United States
In the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...
to the Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. bars
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
.
Overton became interested in election law when he served as counsel to the NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
Legal Redress Committee. He drafted legal memoranda and testified before the judiciary committees of the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate
Michigan Senate
The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. The Senate consists of 38 members, who are elected from constituencies having approximately 212,400 to 263,500 residents....
regarding the application of the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
to the proposed merger of Detroit Recorder's Court with Wayne County Circuit Court. His interest deepened when, as a lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton, he represented the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
in the Lincoln Bedroom and White House Coffee campaign finance investigations
1996 United States campaign finance controversy
The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, also known as Chinagate, was an alleged effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics during the 1996 federal elections....
by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
.
From 1999 to 2000, Overton was a Charles Hamilton Houston Fellow at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
where he wrote "Mistaken Identity: Unveiling the Property Characteristics of Political Money," an article analyzing property theories and campaign finance law.
From 2000 to 2002, Overton taught law at the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Overton served as on the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform
Commission on Federal Election Reform
The Commission on Federal Election Reform is co-chaired by former US President Jimmy Carter and James A. Baker, III.It is a private, blue-ribbon commission created by President Carter in the aftermath of the 2004 Election. The twenty-one distinguished members of the Commission are leaders from the...
at the American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM) from May–September 2005. He dissented
Dissenting opinion
A dissenting opinion is an opinion in a legal case written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment....
from the commission's final recommendations, taking issue with the Real ID
REAL ID Act
The REAL ID Act of 2005, , was an Act of Congress that modified U.S. federal law pertaining to security, authentication, and issuance procedures standards for the state driver's licenses and identification cards, as well as various immigration issues pertaining to terrorism.The law set forth...
proposal. Overton wrote that this recommendation for voter identification was "more extreme than any ID requirement adopted in any state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
to date" and was "so excessive that it would prevent eligible voters from proving their identity with even a valid U.S. passport
United States passport
United States passports are passports issued to citizens and non-citizen nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides issuing passports , also limited use passport cards are issued by the same organization subject to the same...
or a U.S. military photo ID card
United States Uniformed Services Privilege and Identification Card
A United States Uniformed Services Privilege and Identification Card is an identity document issued by the United States Department of Defense to identify a person as a member of the Armed Forces or a member's dependent, such as a child or spouse.The card is...
," stating that "the Commission's Report fails to undertake a serious cost-benefit analysis
Cost-benefit analysis
Cost–benefit analysis , sometimes called benefit–cost analysis , is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project for two purposes: to determine if it is a sound investment , to see how it compares with alternate projects...
. The existing evidence suggests that the type of fraud addressed by photo ID requirements is extraordinarily small and that the number of eligible citizens who would be denied their right to vote as a result of the Commission's ID proposal is exceedingly large."
Overton, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, has served on the National Governing Board of Common Cause
Common Cause
Common Cause is a self-described nonpartisan, nonprofit lobby and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican former cabinet secretary under Lyndon Johnson, as a "citizens' lobby" with a mission focused on making U.S. political institutions more open and...
in Washington, D.C.; in 2006 he became the chair of the board's policy committee. Overton also serves on the governance committee of Common Cause. Overton served on the boards of Demos
Demos (U.S. think tank)
Demos is a United States-based research and policy center that was founded in 2000. Based on its widely cited work in the media and growing impact on national and state policy, Demos continues to influence North American debate about election reform and economic security, with a particular emphasis...
and the Center for Responsive Politics
Center for Responsive Politics
The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and the effect of money and lobbying activity on elections and public policy and maintains a public online database of its information.Their database...
.
Overton served on the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
(DNC) Commission on Presidential Nomination Scheduling and Timing in Washington, D.C., from February to December 2005. On the Commission he led effort to encourage Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
to restore voting rights to citizens who had completed their sentences
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
; In July 2005, Governor Tom Vilsack
Tom Vilsack
Thomas James "Tom" Vilsack is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and presently the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. He was first elected in 1998 and re-elected to a second four-year term in 2002...
restored voting rights to 98,000 Iowans who had completed their sentences.
Overton is a top bundler
Campaign finance in the United States
Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels.At the federal level, the primary source of campaign funds is individuals; political action committees are a distant second. Contributions from both are limited, and direct...
for Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, bundling more than $500,000.
In 2005, Overton co-founded, with Professor Paul Butler, Blackprof.com, a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
of "race, culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, and society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
" mainly written by black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
academics
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
. Overton now is a "Contributor Emeriti" on the blog.
Overton is a frequent media commentator in print, radio, and television. He is often sought after for analysis of voting rights, election reform, and campaign fundraising.
Overton's academic writings have appeared in the Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
The Michigan Law Review is an American law reviews established in 1902, after Gustavus Ohlinger, a student in the Law Department of the University of Michigan, approached the Dean with a proposal for a law journal. The Michigan Law Review was originally intended as a forum in which the faculty of...
, University of Pennsylvania Law Review
University of Pennsylvania Law Review
The University of Pennsylvania Law Review is a law review focusing on legal issues, published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest law journal in the United States, having been published continuously since 1852...
, UCLA Law Review
UCLA Law Review
The UCLA Law Review is a scholarly journal founded in 1953 and published by the students of the UCLA School of Law. Six issues are released every year....
, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Election Law Journal, Vanderbilt Law Review
Vanderbilt Law Review
The Vanderbilt Law Review is Vanderbilt University Law School's flagship academic journal. The law review is published six times per year. The Vanderbilt Law Review is 18th among general-topic law reviews, based upon the number of times its articles are cited.-External links:*...
, Florida State University Law Review
Florida State University Law Review
The Florida State University Law Review is the flagship law review at the Florida State University College of Law. It publishes four issues a year. It is generally recognized among the top 100 general student-edited law reviews in the U.S. based on citations....
, North Carolina Law Review
North Carolina Law Review
The North Carolina Law Review is the law journal of the University of North Carolina School of Law. It was established in 1922 and is published in six issues each year, with issue 5 devoted to its annual symposium and issue 6 designated as a special review of North Carolina and Fourth Circuit law...
, Texas Law Review
Texas Law Review
The Texas Law Review is a student-edited and produced law review published by the University of Texas School of Law . It publishes 7 issues per academic year, ranks number 11 on Washington & Lee University's list, and ranks number 4 in Mikhail Koulikov's rankings of law reviews by social impact...
, and Washington and Lee Law Review
Washington and Lee Law Review
The Washington and Lee Law Review is a law review published four times each year by the Washington and Lee University School of Law. It presents lead articles contributed by leading scholars, judges, and lawyers, as well as student notes. Student writers are chosen during the summer after their...
. He is a member of the editorial board
Editorial board
The editorial board is a group of people, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take.- Board makeup :...
of the Election Law Journal in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Overton's achievements have earned him several awards including the Diverse Issues in Higher Education Magazine Emerging Scholars Award in January 2006, which recognizes ten emerging scholars in America, and the Association of American Law Schools
Association of American Law Schools
The Association of American Law Schools is a non-profit organization of 170 law schools in the United States. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the legal profession through the improvement of legal...
’ Minority Section’s Derrick Bell Award, for its “most promising junior faculty member,” in 2004. In 2003, Overton was recognized in Black Enterprise Magazine as one of nine people who “may conceivably end up leading a major black empowerment organization.”
Overton wrote Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression, on voter suppression
Voter suppression
Voter suppression is a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from exercising their right to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters...
and manipulation of election laws.
In early 2009, Overton was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy in the Department of Justice.
Personal life
Overton lives with his wife Leslie C. Overton, who is also a lawyer, and their children in Chevy Chase, MarylandChevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names...
, in the Washington metro area
Washington Metropolitan Area
The Washington Metropolitan Area is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The area includes all of the federal district and parts of the U.S...
. Leslie Overton specializes in antitrust law and has worked for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is responsible for enforcing the antitrust laws of the United States. It shares jurisdiction over civil antitrust cases with the Federal Trade Commission and often works jointly with the FTC to provide regulatory guidance to businesses...
, as well as in private practice.
External links
- Official biography from the George Washington University Law School