The Honorable Harry T. Edwards

Judge Harry T. Edwards was born on November 3, 1940 in New York, New York to George Harrison Edwards, Jr. and Arline Ross. He received his B.S. degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1962 and his J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor in 1965.

That year, Edwards joined the law office of Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson in Chicago as an associate, where he worked for five years. He returned to the University of Michigan Law School, as an associate professor in 1970. In 1975, Edwards joined Harvard Law School, first as a visiting professor and then as a tenured member of the faculty. After two years, he and his family returned to Ann Arbor, where he rejoined the faculty at the University of Michigan. In 1976, President Gerald Ford appointed him to serve as a member of the National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year. He was reappointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. That same year President Carter appointed him to serve on the board of directors of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK), and in 1979, he was elected chairman of the board. In 1980, Edwards was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to serve as a circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where he was chief judge from 1994 to 2001. As chief judge, he received high praise from members of the bench, bar, and press for fostering collegial relations among the members of the court. He took senior status on the court in 2005. In 2025, he became the longest serving judge in the history of the court. During his time on the bench, he served as a visiting professor of law at Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Michigan, University of California at Irvine, and the School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China. He also served as Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law between 1990 and 2026.

During his career, Edwards has been a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, and the National Academy of Arbitrators. In 2006, he was appointed by the National Academy of Sciences to serve as co-chair of the Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community. On February 18, 2009, the Committee published a widely circulated study that reported serious deficiencies in the nation’s forensic science system and called for major reforms and new research.

Edwards has received numerous awards and honors, including membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1989, Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 1999, the Judicial Honoree Award from the Bar Association of the District of Columbia in 2001, the Robert J. Kutak Award from the American Bar Association in 2004, the Inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Michigan Law School in 2011, the Marshall-Wythe Medallion from the William & Mary School of Law in 2015, and the Champion of Justice Award from the Innocence Project in 2019. He has also received honorary Doctor of Law degrees from several institutions, including the City University of New York, Lewis & Clark College, State University of New York, University of Connecticut, Georgetown University, Williams College, University of Detroit, and St. Lawrence University.

Edwards and his wife, Pamela Carrington-Edwards, reside in Washington D.C.

The Honorable Harry T. Edwards was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 8, 2024.