Valery Zorkin

Valery Dmitrievich Zorkin (Russian:Вале́рий Дми́триевич Зо́рькин) is the first and the current Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

Zorkin was born on 18 February 1943 in Konstantinovka, Oktyabrsky District in Primorsky Krai (Maritime Province). In 1964, he matriculated from the Law Department of the Moscow University, in which he lectured until the late 1980s. He also lectured at the Ministry of USSR Internal Affairs, and became a professor. He became recognized as a leading specialist on the legal doctrines of Boris Chicherin. During the last two years of the Soviet Union's existence, he led a group of legal experts working for the Soviet Constitutional Commission, furthering the case of shaping Russia a presidential republic. He left the CPSU after the August coup.