Jerry Edwin Smith  Jerry Edwin Smith (born November 7, 1946) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Born on November 7, 1946, in Del Rio, Texas, Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1969. He received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1972. He was a law clerk for Judge Halbert O. Woodward of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas from 1972 to 1973. He was in private practice of law in Houston, Texas from 1973 to 1984. He was Director of the Harris County Housing Authority from 1978 to 1980. He was a special assistant attorney general of Texas from 1981 to 1982. He was Chairman of the Houston Civil Service Commission from 1982 to 1984. He was a city attorney in Houston from 1984 to 1987. Smith was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on June 2, 1987, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 19, 1987, and received commission on December 21, 1987. Smith wrote the majority opinion in "Hopwood v. Texas", 78 F.3d 932 (5th Cir. 1996), in which the Fifth Circuit struck down the use of affirmative action in admissions at the University of Texas School of Law. Seven years later, the decision was abrogated by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in "Grutter v. Bollinger", 539 U.S. 306 (2003). In "Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA", 947 F.2d 1201 (5th Cir. 1991), Smith wrote the panel opinion that required the United States Environmental Protection Agency to use cost-benefit analysis when deciding whether to ban a toxic substance. In "Regents of the University of California v. Credit Suisse First Boston", 482 F.3d 372 (5th Cir. 2007), Smith wrote the majority opinion barring securities fraud claims against third parties who aided in securities fraud but did not directly mislead investors. The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in "Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta", 552 U.S. 148 (2008). Smith was one of three judges on a panel that heard the appeal to "Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar", a case challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior's six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling in deep water that was adopted in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the subsequent oil spill.