Sylvia Bacon

Sylvia A. 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. From 1956 to 1957, she was a judicial law clerk to Judge Burnita Shelton Matthews of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Career
Bacon worked in various positions within the United States Department of Justice from 1956 to 1970, and during this time, she "helped draft the District of Columbia's controversial no-knock crime bill", and "served under Ramsey Clark and helped draft legislation for court reform in the District of Columbia." She was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1970, serving until 1991. She was considered to be a nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States by both Presidents Reagan and Nixon.

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

In 1986, after "complaints" by "prosecutors and defense lawyers" about her appearing to be "confused and disoriented", Bacon was treated for alcohol abuse, as documented by Elsa Walsh in The Washington Post. 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.

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