Laurence Hirsch Silberman (1935-2022), born to a Jewish family in York, Pennsylvania, was a prominent American jurist, diplomat, and conservative figure known for his extensive service in government and the judiciary. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in history in 1957 and from Harvard Law School with an LL.B. in 1961, following brief active duty in the U.S. Army. Silberman's pre-judicial career was diverse: he practiced law in Honolulu at firms including his own Moore, Silberman & Schulze (1961-1967), served as an attorney in the NLRB's appellate section (1967-1969), Solicitor of Labor (1969-1970), Undersecretary of Labor (1970-1973), partner at Steptoe & Johnson (1973-1974), Deputy Attorney General (1974-1975), and U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia (1975-1977). He later worked as Executive Vice President at Crocker National Bank (1979-1983) and partner at Morrison & Foerster (1978-1979, 1983-1985), while serving on advisory boards like the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament (1981-1985). Appointed by President Ronald Reagan as U.S. Circuit Judge for the D.C. Circuit in 1985, Silberman took senior status in 2000 and served until his death in 2022. A prominent conservative jurist and vocal advocate for judicial restraint, he was a mentor to many Federalist Society members, including Leonard Leo. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008 from President George W. Bush and co-chaired commissions on intelligence failures regarding Iraq (2004-2005) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Review Panel (1996-2003). Silberman taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center, NYU, and Harvard, and was involved with organizations like the Committee on the Present Danger. He was married to Rosalie G. Gaull (d. 2007) with three children—Robert Stephen Silberman, Katherine DeBoer Balaban, and Anne Gaull Otis—and later to Patricia Winn (2008). Silberman expressed regret over his early role in developing affirmative action goals and timetables, viewing them as leading to quotas.