Floyd Abrams

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Floyd Abrams" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article contains promotional content. Please help improve it by removing promotional language and inappropriate external links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from a neutral point of view. (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Floyd Abrams
Abrams in 2006
Born	(1936-07-09) July 9, 1936 (age 88) New York City, U.S.
Education	Cornell University (BA) Yale University (JD)
Occupation	Attorney
Employer	Cahill Gordon & Reindel
Known for	First Amendment litigation
Spouse	Efrat Surasky ​ (m. 1963)​
Children	Dan Abrams Ronnie Abrams
Family	Elliott Abrams (cousin)

Floyd Abrams (born July 9, 1936) is an American lawyer. A member of Cahill Gordon & Reindel since 1963 and currently senior counsel, he has argued in 13 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.^[1][2] Abrams was co-counsel to The New York Times in the 1971 Pentagon Papers case, and represented Judith Miller in the CIA leak grand jury investigation, Standard & Poor's, and Lorillard Tobacco Company among others. ^[3][4][5][6] He also represented Senator Mitch McConnell in the Citizens United 2010 Supreme Court case.^[7][8] Two of Abrams' clients had been on death row for crimes, and their convictions were overruled by the Supreme Court.^[9][10][11]

Abrams was born in New York City on July 9, 1936, the son of Rae (née Eberlin) and Isadore Abrams.^[12] He is of Jewish descent and had a bar mitzvah ceremony.^[13][14] His first cousin is Elliot Abrams, President George W. Bush's deputy national-security advisor.^[15] He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1956, and after trying to decide between a PhD in American History and law, he obtained his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1960.^[16]

While at Cornell, Abrams participated in Reserve Officers' Training Corps and was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army.^[14]

From 1961 to 1963, Abrams clerked for Judge Paul Conway Leahy of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.^[17] Abrams joined Cahill Gordon & Reindel in 1963 and became a partner in 1970.^{[citation needed]} He was also a Visiting Lecturer at Columbia Law School from 1981 to 1985.^[18] He was the William J. Brennan Jr. visiting Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.^[19]

He created the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School.^[20]

Abrams is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[21]

His clients have included The McGraw-Hill Companies, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Time Magazine, Business Week, The Nation, Reader's Digest, Hearst, AIG, and others.^[22]

He is the subject of the PBS - American Masters documentary Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely, which was nominated for an Emmy.^[23][24]

Abrams lives in New York City with wife Efrat Surasky, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.^[25][26] Together they have a son, television host Dan Abrams; and a daughter, Judge Ronnie Abrams of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In 2008, Abrams played the role of Judge Hall in the movie Nothing but the Truth.

• Presented with the Chambers and Partners' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.^[27]
• Recipient of the Freedom of Speech Award from The Media Institute in 2024.^[28]
• Honoree and recipient of the Inaugural Floyd Abrams Award by the National Coalition Against Censorship in 2024.^[29]

• Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment, (Viking Press, 2005) ISBN 978-0-670-03375-1.
• Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines with the First Amendment, (Yale University Press, 2013) ISBN 978-0-300-19087-8.
• The Soul of the First Amendment, (Yale University Press, 2017) and ISBN 978-0-300-19088-5.

• Clearview AI

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• A film clip "The Open Mind - Taking the Fifth (1987)" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive
• A film clip "The Open Mind - Again, Rights in Conflict (1990)" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive