This year’s recipient of the American Society of International Law’s Goler T. Butcher Medal is ALI Council Emeritus Patricia M. Wald. The award, which will be presented at the 111th ASIL Annual Meeting in April at Washington, DC, is given to a distinguished person for outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights.
Judge Wald served for 20 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, from 1979 to 1999, including five years as Chief Judge, the first woman to serve as Chief Judge in that court. After her retirement from the federal bench, she went on to serve as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for two years and was appointed to the Iraq Intelligence Commission in 2004 to help investigate U.S. intelligence surrounding the beginning of the Iraq War. She also was a member of the President's Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the U.S. Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Judge Wald is currently a member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent agency within the executive branch.