biography
| name: |
Bazelon, David (Lionel)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1909–93)
|
| biography:
| Judge, born in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. His father, a storekeeper, died when he was two and left the family in poverty, but he worked his way through the University of Illinois and Northwestern University and began practising law in 1932. Confirmed to the bench of the US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia (1950), he became chief judge in 1962. He earned a reputation as a strong civil-rights advocate, and issued landmark rulings that expanded the scope of the insanity defence in criminal cases. His important rulings included protection for the employment rights of homosexuals, and that which led to a government ban on the pesticide DDT. |
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