Sylvia Bacon

Sylvia Adelaide Bacon (July 9, 1931 – April 29, 2023) was an American judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia who was considered by both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States at a time when no women had yet been appointed to the Court.

Early life and education Born in Watertown, South Dakota, Bacon graduated Watertown High School in 1949 and received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Vassar College in 1952, a Graduate Certificate in economics from the London School of Economics through a Rotary Fellowship in 1953, a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1956 and a Master of Laws from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1959. While at Vassar, she was an officer in the National Student Association. and "served under Ramsey Clark and helped draft legislation for court reform in the District of Columbia." she briefly came into serious consideration. Most advisers to Nixon thought Bacon was a little too young at only forty, but Nixon disagreed with this thesis, and it is known the President thought very well of the recently appointed judge. However, Nixon's advisers thought the ABA would almost certainly rate Bacon as "Not Qualified", especially as she had been a judge for only one year. Bacon made the Justice Department's initial list In 1987, the highest appellate court in the District of Columbia reversed Bacon's ruling against Georgetown University LGBTQ undergraduate and law students in Gay Rights Coalition v. Georgetown University, in which Bacon had found that Georgetown's religious origin protected it from complying with the District of Columbia Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

As of June 2010, Bacon was a "distinguished lecturer" on the faculty of the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

Death Bacon died on April 29, 2023, at the age of 91.