Bruce J. Ennis is a nationally recognized expert
on the First Amendment and on Supreme Court and appellate practice.
In 1994, Mr. Ennis was selected by The National Law Journal as
one of the nation's 100 most influential lawyers. He has appeared
as counsel in over 250 cases in the United States Supreme Court,
representing both parties and amici. He has been described, based
on a poll of thousand of lawyers, as one of the "very best
media lawyers in America." Media & The Law (Jan. 15,
1995).
He has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court,
including McDonald v. Smith (involving the right to petition under
the First Amendment), Bankers Life v. Crenshaw (constitutionality
of punitive damages), Peel v. Attorney Registration and Disciplinary
Commission (constitutionality of restriction on commercial speech
by attorneys -- see description of oral argument in the April
1990 issue of American Lawyer), Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. v.
Haslip (constitutionality of punitive damages) (described in the
legal press as the most brilliant argument of the term), Barnes
v. Glen Theatre (constitutionality of a city ordinance banning
public nudity as applied to "strip tease" or nude performance
dance), American Airlines v. Wolens (scope of preemption under
the Airline Deregulation Act), Bentsen v. Coors (constitutionality
of restrictions on commercial speech -- see description of oral
argument in the March 1995 issue of American Lawyer), and Turner
v. FCC (constitutionality of government regulation of cable TV).
He was one of five lawyers described in a 1993 book, The Supreme
Court Bar, as "truly the Court's elite bar".
Mr. Ennis served as National Legal Director for the
American Civil Liberties Union from 1976 - 1981, and in that capacity
was in charge of hundreds of cases involving First Amendment,
media, communications law, and other constitutional law issues.
For example, he represented the intervenor Congressman (seeking
publication) in the Pentagon Papers case, and successfully defended
the Progressive Magazine when the federal government sought to
enjoin publication of an article about H-Bombs. He was co-counsel
in the case involving publication by the Nation Magazine of excerpts
from the memoirs of former President Gerald Ford.
Since entering private practice in 1981, Mr. Ennis
has served as lead counsel in a First Amendment challenge to actions
of the U.S. Attorney General's Commission on Pornography; challenges
to the constitutionality under the First Amendment of major federal
statutes regulating telephone communications; a First Amendment
challenge on behalf of the American Library Association, the Magazine
Publishers Association and others to a federal law imposing burdensome
record-keeping and labeling requirements; a Supreme Court case
involving libel law and First Amendment privilege; a case, on
behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters, regarding
the constitutionality of the "must carry" provisions
of the 1992 Cable Act and the appropriate First Amendment standard
for reviewing government regulation of cable speech; a First Amendment
challenge, on behalf of the American Association of Association
Executives, and others, to a 1993 federal law that penalizes lobbying
by associations; a case, on behalf of the American Library Association,
America Online, Microsoft, the Magazine Publishers Association,
American Publishers, and others, regarding the constitutionality
of the Communications Decency Act and the appropriate First Amendment
standard for reviewing government regulation of Internet speech
(the three-judge court victory has been appealed by the government
and will be on the Supreme Court's docket for the October 1996
Term); two cases in the D.C. Circuit on behalf of MCI regarding
the FCC's policies for canceling and reallocating spectrum for
DBS service providers; a 1996 argument in the 11th Circuit regarding
the applicability of Title VII to "same sex" sexual
harassment claims; a 1997 argument in the 8th Circuit regarding
the local competition provisions of the 1996 Telecommunications
Act (argument described in the cover story of the First Amendment
and Media law matters at both trial and appellate levels.
Mr. Ennis also devotes a substantial amount of his
practice to trial level litigation, and has been lead trial counsel
in a broad range of commercial and complex civil litigation involving
antitrust, telecommunications, breach of contract, tax, and other
issues.
Mr. Ennis graduated form Dartmouth College in 1962
and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1965, where he
was elected to the Order of the Coif (for academic excellence),
and was a member of the Law Review. After a federal clerkship,
he worked for three years at a Wall Street law firm, where he
specialized in government contracts litigation.
He is admitted to the bars of the United States Supreme
Court and numerous federal and state courts. Mr. Ennis is General
Counsel to the American Library Association, and the American
Booksellers Association, and serves on the Board of the American
Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. He formerly served
on the Board, and currently serves on the Advisory Committee,
of the Lawyers Committee For Human Rights. He is Fellow of the
American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Mr. Ennis has written extensively on the First Amendment
and on Supreme Court practice, including an article about RICO,
forfeitures of lawful expressive materials, "Forfeiting the
First Amendment," Criminal Justice (Am. Bar Ass'n, Winter
1989), p.14, "Hate Speech and the Heckler's Veto," Trial
Magazine, December 1991, p. 27, and "Effective Amicus Briefs,"
33 Catholic U. L. Rev. 603 (1984). He was selected to demonstrate
model appellate argument techniques at the 8th Annual Appellate
Practice Institute sponsored by the American Bar Association.
Mr. Ennis is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Jenner & Block, chairs the firm's Appellate Practice Group and serves on the firm's Executive Committee, and is Managing Partner of the D.C. office.