he attended briarcliff high school and was the state's star student. he attended duke university, where he graduated first in his class and "summa cum laude", and harvard law school, where in 1991 he graduated "magna cum laude" and was an editor of the "harvard law review" (along with president obama). he then clerked for judge laurence h. silberman of the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia and justice antonin scalia of the u.s. supreme court during the 1992 term.