Topic: Laurence Silberman

Laurence Hirsch Silberman (born October 12, 1935) is a senior federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed in October 1985 by Ronald Reagan and took senior status on November 1, 2000. He continues to serve on the court. On June 11, 2008, Silberman was named a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor granted by the government of the United States.

Silberman graduated from Dartmouth College in 1957 and Harvard Law School in 1961. He served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1958. His first wife, Rosalie "Ricky" Gaull Silberman, co-foundress of the Independent Women's Forum, died on February 17, 2007. Silberman has since remarried to Patricia Winn Silberman.

Silberman is also a friend of Justice Clarence Thomas and in 1989 encouraged a young and then-reluctant Thomas to accept a federal judgeship on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.