Gilbert Davis ’64

Gilbert Davis ’64, who argued the landmark 1996 Clinton v. Jones case that subsequently led to President Clinton’s impeachment for his affair with Monica Lewinsky, died Feb. 13, 2022. He was 80. 

After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1969, Davis was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He prosecuted a panoply of federal crimes which included the first aircraft hijacking in America, the first case under the Clean Air Act, and the first case under the 1968 Gun Control Act.

Davis successfully tried cases in 20 states and the District of Columbia. In 1973 he started private practice in the law firm of Duvall, Tate, Bywater and Davis. He filed a case against Bethlehem Steel Corporation on behalf of a Kentucky mountaineer who claimed ownership of the coal under his land. The judgment was the largest unliquidated damage award in Kentucky history. 

In the first lawsuit against a sitting U.S. president, Davis’s client, Paula Corbin Jones, sued President Clinton for unwanted sexual conduct. Clinton appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court that he was immune, but the Court ruled 9-0 that Clinton must submit to the litigation process. 

Davis served on the Cornell College Alumni Board from 1978-82. He was a longtime member of the Fairfax County Republican Committee and held leadership roles for federal and state Republican candidates for public office.

He is survived by two daughters, seven grandchildren, his brother the Rev. Trevor Davis ’72, and his former wife, Pamela Saunders Schofield ’66.