Milan Dale Smith Jr. (born May 19, 1942) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Smith's brother, Gordon H. Smith, was a Republican U.S. Senator from 1997 to 2009. Milan Smith is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Early life and education Smith was born in Pendleton, Oregon. He is the son of Milan D. Smith Sr., who served on the staff of Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University in 1966. Smith attended The University of Chicago Law School on a full-tuition scholarship, from which he graduated in 1969 with a Juris Doctor. Career After law school, Smith became an associate attorney at the Los Angeles firm of O'Melveny & Myers. In 1972, Smith left O'Melveny to co-found his own law firm, Smith & Hilbig, which eventually became Smith, Crane, Robinson & Parker. He was a President-General Counsel of the Los Angeles State Building Authority from 1983 to 2006. Smith was a Vice Chairman of the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission from 1987 to 1991. Judicial Appointment Smith was nominated by President George W. Bush on February 14, 2006 to fill a seat vacated by Judge A. Wallace Tashima. He was rated well qualified by the American Bar Association. He was confirmed just over three months later by the United States Senate on May 16, 2006 by a 93–0 vote. He was the fifth judge appointed to the Ninth Circuit by Bush, and the first since Carlos Bea was confirmed in 2003. He received his commission on May 18, 2006. In 2022, Smith told the Deseret News that he has no plans to retire and wishes to "die with my boots on." Notable cases Smith has been one of the Ninth Circuit's most prolific writers. According to one periodical, he authored the most majority opinions of any judge on the Ninth Circuit in the three-year period ending on May 10, 2013. Constitutional law First Amendment Smith wrote the majority opinion, which struck down the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. The panel ruled 2 to 1 that the law violated the First Amendment. "The right to speak and write whatever one chooses—including, to some degree, worthless, offensive and demonstrable untruths—without cowering in fear of a powerful government is, in our view, an