Rex E. Lee - Lee's Legacy

Lee's Legacy

During a memoral service for Rex Lee, Former Acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger stated that even after years of separation, Lee's influence was still felt in the Office of the Solicitor General. According to Dellinger, "Some few people have influence that lasts well beyond their time. One is Rex Lee." Lee's influence is still seen today, in both government and academia. Current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito served as an assistant to Solicitor General Lee from 1981 to 1985, where Alito argued 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Lee's son Thomas Rex Lee would also graduate from BYU and then the University of Chicago Law School before clerking for Judge Harvie Wilkinson on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and then Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court. Just like his father, Tom Lee would go on to teach at the J. Reuben Clark Law School for years, before he resigned to accept an appointment as Associate Justice on the Utah Supreme Court. Another son, Mike Lee, graduated from BYU as an undergrad and a law student, before clerking for Judge Dee Benson at the United States District Court, District of Utah, and for Justice Samuel Alito, once while he was still judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and once on the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2011, Mike Lee became a United States Senator from Utah.

Having been an avid runner throughout his life (he was chosen to be Solicitor General just two days after completing the Boston Marathon), an annual race is held in his honor at BYU to raise proceeds for cancer research.

Lee and his wife Janet had seven children.