by William Consovoy Obituary, Death – William Consovoy, a rising star in the conservative legal firmament who made his name arguing landmark cases on election law and affirmative action, often before the Supreme Court, and who represented President Donald J. Trump in his effort to keep his tax returns private, passed away on Monday at his home in Falls Church, Virginia. Consovoy had represented Trump in his effort to keep his tax returns private. Consovoy was a rising star in the conservative legal firmament. He made his name arguing landmark cases on election law and He was 48.
The news of his passing was confirmed by Thomas McCarthy, a close friend with whom he had co-founded the firm Consovoy McCarthy. In the year 2020, Mr. Consovoy was given a diagnosis of brain cancer, and he withdrew from litigation in the fall of last year. Mr. Consovoy has established a reputation for himself as one of the best and most dogged conservative litigators before the Supreme Court over the course of a career that has been relatively short. He has a preference for cases that aim to make significant changes to the constitutional landscape of the United States of America.
After working as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas during the 2008–2009 term of the Supreme Court, he came away with the conviction that the court was poised to tilt further to the right, and that constitutional rulings that were once thought to be out of reach for conservatives, on issues such as voting rights, abortion, and affirmative action, would suddenly be within reach. He came away with this conviction after working as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas during the 2008–2009 term of the Supreme Court.
Mr. Consovoy gained perhaps the most notoriety for his collaboration with Edward Blum, a conservative activist who was the mastermind behind the movement to have Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court and, more recently, the movement to prohibit the use of affirmative action in higher education. Mr. Consovoy won one of his early cases before the Supreme Court in 2013, which was the Section 4 case, Shelby County v. Holder. He was able to convince the Court to do away with the requirement that a number of states and counties, primarily in the South, needed to receive federal clearance before changing their election laws. This was one of Mr. Consovoy’s early cases before the Supreme Court.
