James Buckley, Former US Senator, Dies at 100 | CNN Politics

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James Buckley, a former conservative US senator and Reagan-appointed federal judge, has died, the New York State Conservative Party confirmed to CNN on Friday. I had 100.

Buckley drew national attention when he won New York in 1970 with the Conservative Party, becoming the state’s first independent senator. He served one term, during which he called for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion with limited exceptions and urged then-President Richard Nixon will resign after the Watergate scandal.

The party described him as “a man for all seasons” and expressed “enormous debt and gratitude” in the statement shared with CNN.

“The life and achievements of James Buckley will be forever linked with the Conservative Party,” Gerard Kassar, president of the party’s New York chapter, said in the statement. “All New Yorkers and the nation have lost a man who spent most of his long life serving his country.”

Buckley became the oldest living former senator when he turned 100 in March, according to The Heritage Foundation. He lived in Bethesda, Maryland, until his death, according to his congress biography.

Born in New York City on March 9, 1923, Buckley received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1943, according to his congressional biography, and served in the US Navy during World War II before returning to Yale to earn his law degree, which he received. in 1949. His siblings include William F. Buckley, the late founder of National Review and a leading conservative commentator who also entered politics with a run for mayor of New York City.

In November 1970, Buckley edged out then-Democrat Richard Ottinger and incumbent Republican Sen. Charles Goodell in a close race to become the first U.S. Senator by a third in 30 years. The New York Times reported At the time.

“In recent years, the majority of this state has not been given a say or a choice,” Buckley said in his acceptance speech, according to The New York Times. “The American people want a new course, they want a new policy, and I am the voice of that new policy.”

During his brief tenure as senator, Buckley pushed conservative legislation with mixed success. He was one of the sponsors of an abortion bill that was intended to add a constitutional amendment banning the procedure except in the case of danger to life. Buckley was also the primary sponsor of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, also known as the Buckley Amendment – which established guidelines on who could access student education records.

When he ran for re-election, Buckley was an appellant in Buckley v. Okay, a landmark campaign finance case which reached the Supreme Court. The high court ruled in part in favor of Buckley and the other appellants, saying that some of the Federal Election Commission’s limits on campaign spending violated the First Amendment. Despite that victory, Buckley eventually lost his re-election bid in 1976 by a wide margin.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Buckley as Assistant Secretary of State for the Coordination of Security Assistance Programs and, a few years later, nominated him to serve as a federal judge on a US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC. He was confirmed by the Senate with bipartisan support in 1985, according to a report in The New York Times.

Buckley retired from the appeals court in 2000, according to The Federalist Society.