Baskir was born in Brooklyn, New York, receiving a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1959 followed by a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1962.

Baskir than joined the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 1965 and served till 1967 and then resumed service from 1969 to 1974 while becoming chief counsel and staff director from 1969 to 1974.

He then was chief executive officer of the Presidential Clemency Board for The White House from 1974 to 1975.

[3] Baskir joined the Vietnam Project as a research professor and director at the university of Notre Dame Law School from 1975 to 1977.

[3] On January 7, 1997, Baskir was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States Court of Federal Claims vacated by Reginald W.