Thomas Rex Lee

Thomas Rex Lee
Born	12/28/1964
Birthplace	United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Jurist, legal scholar, lecturer
Title	Associate Justice of the Utah Supreme Court
Known for	Pioneer in law and corpus linguistics; Associate Justice of the Utah Supreme Court (2010–2022)
Education	University of Chicago (JD)
Spouse(s)	Kimberly Lee
Children	6

Thomas Rex Lee (born December 28, 1964) is an American jurist, legal scholar, and lecturer who served as an Associate Justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 2010 to 2022. The son of former United States Solicitor General Rex E. Lee and the brother of United States Senator Mike Lee, Thomas Rex Lee comes from a family deeply embedded in American law and public service. He is recognized as the first American judge to apply corpus linguistics—a method of analyzing large databases of natural language—to determine the ordinary meaning of statutory terms in a judicial opinion, a methodological innovation that has attracted significant attention in legal scholarship and judicial practice. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Lee served as a professor and distinguished lecturer at Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School. Following his tenure on the Utah Supreme Court, he has continued to contribute to legal education as a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School and in an adjunct capacity at BYU.

Early Life

Thomas Rex Lee was born on December 28, 1964, into a prominent legal family. His father, Rex E. Lee, served as the Solicitor General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985 and later became the president of Brigham Young University, serving in that role from 1989 until his death in 1996. The Lee family's roots in law and public affairs run deep; Thomas's brother, Mike Lee, went on to become a United States Senator representing Utah, first elected in 2010—the same year Thomas was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court.

Growing up in a household where legal discourse was a constant presence, Thomas Rex Lee was exposed to the workings of the American legal system from an early age. His father's career as a litigator, appellate advocate, and academic provided a model of engagement with law at the highest levels. The family's connection to Brigham Young University was also formative; Rex E. Lee's tenure as BYU president meant that the university community was a central part of Thomas's upbringing and later professional life.

Education

Thomas Rex Lee attended Brigham Young University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He subsequently attended the University of Chicago Law School, where he earned his Juris Doctor degree. The University of Chicago Law School is known for its rigorous approach to legal analysis, its emphasis on law and economics, and its tradition of interdisciplinary scholarship—elements that would later be reflected in Lee's own innovative approach to statutory interpretation through corpus linguistics.

Career

Legal Practice and Early Career

Following his legal education, Thomas Rex Lee entered legal practice. He appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States as an advocate, as recorded by the Oyez Project, which documents oral arguments before the Court. His experience as a Supreme Court advocate placed him in an exclusive group of attorneys who have argued cases at the nation's highest court, and it reflected the family tradition established by his father, who had argued numerous cases before the Court as Solicitor General.

Academic Career at BYU Law School

Lee joined the faculty of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, where he became a professor of law. At BYU, Lee developed a reputation as a scholar with interests in civil procedure, statutory interpretation, and legal methodology. His academic work laid the foundation for his later judicial contributions, particularly his pioneering use of corpus linguistics in legal interpretation.

During his time at BYU, Lee was an active scholar and teacher. The law school recognized his contributions to legal education and scholarship, and he was involved in various academic initiatives at the institution. His scholarly output included work on issues of statutory meaning and interpretation that would become central to his later judicial philosophy.

Appointment to the Utah Supreme Court

In 2010, Thomas Rex Lee was nominated to the Utah Supreme Court by Governor Gary Herbert. His nomination attracted attention both for his qualifications and for his family background; the Deseret News reported on the nomination of the BYU law professor, noting his academic credentials and legal experience. Lee moved through the confirmation process and was reported to be advancing toward a seat on Utah's highest court.

Lee assumed office as an Associate Justice of the Utah Supreme Court on July 19, 2010, succeeding Justice Michael J. Wilkins. His appointment placed him on a court that was noted for its high degree of unanimity in decision-making. A 2013 analysis of the court's voting patterns found that unanimity was the prevailing norm among the justices, a feature that distinguished Utah's high court from many of its counterparts in other states.

Tenure on the Utah Supreme Court

During his twelve-year tenure on the Utah Supreme Court, Lee participated in a wide range of cases spanning civil, criminal, constitutional, and administrative law. He served alongside other justices in a period of significant legal development in the state.

One notable case during Lee's tenure involved a ruling in February 2020 that opened the way for more than one thousand patients to pursue legal claims against a Salt Lake City cardiologist. The Utah Supreme Court's decision in that case had significant implications for medical malpractice litigation in the state.

Lee's tenure on the court was also marked by his scholarly approach to opinion-writing and his willingness to employ novel analytical tools in judicial decision-making. His most significant contribution in this regard was his application of corpus linguistics to legal interpretation.

Pioneer in Law and Corpus Linguistics

Thomas Rex Lee's most distinctive intellectual contribution to American jurisprudence is his pioneering use of corpus linguistics in judicial opinions. Corpus linguistics is a method of language analysis that uses large, electronically searchable databases of natural language—known as corpora—to study how words and phrases are used in ordinary speech and writing. Lee was the first American judge to apply this methodology in a judicial opinion to determine the ordinary meaning of statutory language.

The significance of this innovation lies in the central problem of statutory interpretation: when a court must determine what a statute means, it often looks to the "ordinary meaning" of the words used by the legislature. Traditionally, judges have relied on dictionaries, their own linguistic intuitions, and canons of construction to determine ordinary meaning. Lee's insight was that corpus linguistics provides a more empirical and systematic way to answer this question, drawing on actual patterns of language use rather than individual intuition or selective dictionary definitions.

Lee's use of corpus linguistics in his judicial opinions attracted considerable attention in the legal community. The Washington Post's Volokh Conspiracy blog, a prominent legal commentary platform, published an analysis of Lee's approach and its implications for the judiciary. The National Review also examined the use of corpus linguistics as an interpretive tool in the legal context, reflecting the breadth of interest in the methodology across the political spectrum.

Lee's work in this area also generated scholarly discussion. The Yale Law Journal published a forum piece on corpus linguistics and original public meaning, exploring the broader implications of the methodology for constitutional and statutory interpretation. This academic engagement demonstrated that Lee's innovation was not merely a curiosity but a serious methodological contribution to ongoing debates about how courts should interpret legal texts.

The corpus linguistics approach championed by Lee has had influence beyond Utah. Scholars such as James C. Phillips, who has held fellowships at Stanford Law School's Constitutional Law Center and later joined the faculty at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law, have contributed to the development of this field. The growing interest in corpus linguistics among legal academics and practitioners can be traced, in significant part, to Lee's willingness to employ the methodology in actual judicial decision-making.

Departure from the Utah Supreme Court

Thomas Rex Lee served on the Utah Supreme Court until June 30, 2022. He was succeeded by Jill Pohlman, who assumed office on August 17, 2022.

Post-Judicial Career

Following his departure from the bench, Lee continued his engagement with legal education and scholarship. He has served as a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School and as an adjunct professor and distinguished lecturer at Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School. These positions have allowed him to teach and mentor the next generation of legal professionals while continuing to develop and disseminate his scholarly work, including his contributions to the field of law and corpus linguistics.

Lee's transition from the bench back to academia reflects a career that has consistently moved between legal practice, scholarship, and judicial service. His dual appointment at Harvard and BYU places him in a position to influence legal thought at two institutions with distinct scholarly traditions and student bodies.

Personal Life

Thomas Rex Lee is married to Kimberly Lee, and the couple have six children. He is the son of Rex E. Lee, who served as the 37th Solicitor General of the United States and as president of Brigham Young University. His brother, Mike Lee, has served as a United States Senator from Utah since 2011.

The Lee family's involvement in law and public affairs spans multiple generations. The family's roots in the American West and their connections to Brigham Young University have been a recurring theme in coverage of both Thomas and Mike Lee's careers. A BYU Magazine profile described the brothers' parallel paths in law, noting their shared upbringing and the influence of their father's career on their respective professional trajectories.

A 2022 Deseret News investigation explored the history of the Lee family in St. Johns, Arizona, including the violent death of Rex Lee Sr.—Thomas's grandfather—an event that divided the small Arizona town and whose effects persisted for decades.

Recognition

Thomas Rex Lee's contributions to jurisprudence, particularly his pioneering application of corpus linguistics to legal interpretation, have been recognized by legal scholars, commentators, and institutions. The University of Chicago Law School, his alma mater, has listed him among its notable alumni for his achievements in the judiciary.

His judicial opinions employing corpus linguistics have been analyzed and discussed in major legal publications including the Washington Post, the National Review, and the Yale Law Journal. The attention from these diverse platforms reflects the cross-ideological interest in the interpretive methodology he introduced to American judicial practice.

Lee's post-judicial appointments at Harvard Law School and BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School further reflect the esteem in which he is held within the legal academy. His continued engagement with scholarly and pedagogical work following his departure from the bench has enabled him to extend the influence of his jurisprudential contributions.

Legacy

Thomas Rex Lee's legacy in American law is anchored by two principal contributions: his twelve-year tenure on the Utah Supreme Court and his introduction of corpus linguistics as a tool for judicial interpretation. The latter contribution, in particular, represents a significant methodological innovation in the field of statutory interpretation.

Before Lee's use of corpus linguistics in judicial opinions, the methodology was known primarily within academic linguistics. By demonstrating its practical applicability in the context of judicial decision-making, Lee opened a new avenue of inquiry for judges, lawyers, and scholars grappling with questions of textual meaning. The growing body of scholarship on law and corpus linguistics, including contributions published in the Yale Law Journal and other leading legal periodicals, attests to the lasting impact of this innovation.

Lee's career also illustrates the broader story of the Lee family's influence on American law and public life. As the son of a Solicitor General and university president, and the brother of a United States Senator, Thomas Rex Lee has occupied a distinctive position at the intersection of legal practice, judicial service, and academic scholarship. His career trajectory—from the University of Chicago Law School to BYU's faculty, to the Utah Supreme Court, and then to lectureships at Harvard and BYU—reflects a sustained engagement with the institutions and ideas that shape American jurisprudence.

The influence of Lee's work in corpus linguistics continues to develop as more scholars and judges engage with the methodology. Whether the approach becomes a standard tool of statutory and constitutional interpretation remains to be seen, but Lee's role in introducing it to the American judiciary is a matter of historical record.