Drew S. Days III

Days was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Dorothea (Jamerson), a schoolteacher, and Drew Saunders Days, Jr., an insurance executive and accountant.[8] He was a descendant of Reconstruction-era Georgia state senator Edwin Belcher.

Days graduated from New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York, before going on to attend Hamilton College, where he graduated cum laude in 1963 with an A.B. in English literature. Inspired by the civil rights leaders of that time, Days enrolled at Yale Law School where he graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1966. Upon graduation from law school, he briefly practiced law in Chicago, Illinois, before serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras for two years.

Returning to the United States in 1969, he became first assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York City. Days worked at LDF for eight years litigating a range of civil rights cases.[7]

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated him to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the United States Department of Justice. His tenure was marked by an aggressive enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws.[7]

Days served in the Department of Justice until 1981 when he joined the faculty of the Yale Law School. In 1988 he founded the Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for Human Rights at Yale Law School and served as its director until 1993.[4]

In 1993 he was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as Solicitor General in the Department of Justice. In that position, he was responsible for representing the positions and interests of the United States in arguments before the Supreme Court.[4] Shortly after his appointment, he argue the government's case before the Supreme Court that the lower court's decision in Knox v. United States was wrong, even though it had found in favor of the government. He urged the Supreme Court to vacate Knox's conviction for possession of child pornography; they remanded the case to Circuit Court.[9]

After leaving the Clinton administration, Days returned to Yale Law School and private practice. He was involved in national and international efforts to resolve social and economic issues—including Hurricane Katrina, poverty alleviation, the environment, and juvenile justice.[7]

Days also served as a trustee at Hamilton College. In 2011, Hamilton opened the Days-Massolo Center[10] with the goal of promoting diversity awareness and fostering dialogue among the wide variety of cultures represented on campus.[11] The center is dedicated to Days and fellow Hamilton trustee Arthur J. Massolo.[12]

• Days III, Drew S. (2001), "Days, J., concurring", in Balkan, Jack; Ackerman, Bruce A. (eds.), What 'Brown v. Board of Education' should have said, New York: New York University Press, pp. 92–99, ISBN 9780814798904. Preview.

• Civil Rights Greensboro: Drew S. Days III
• Yale Law School Faculty Profile
• Appearances on C-SPAN