in History from Yale University where he graduated summa cum laude in 1989 and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

[7][4][8][2]: 27  Philbin was one of the lawyers who helped counsel President Bush that as head of the United States' Government executive branch, the president had the authority to charge Guantanamo captives before military commissions[6] (see the Legal opinions section of the Wikipedia article on John Yoo).

During the Bush administration, Philbin reviewed the Torture Memos and raised concerns with John Yoo and Jay Bybee about their contents.

[2]: 257–258 According to James Comey, Acting Attorney General at the time, Philbin was present in March 2004 when Comey rushed to John Ashcroft's hospital bed to try to prevent other Bush officials – White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and the man who was then White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales – from persuading the very sick Attorney General to reverse Comey's decision as Acting Attorney General to not approve renewal of the controversial warrantless wiretap program during the war on terror.

[10][11] Philbin was "one of the people who started the legal review of the spying program that concluded the program was illegal", and Comey testified that Philbin's career suffered for his support of Comey's intervention between Gonzales and Ashcroft; according to Comey, Vice President Dick Cheney blocked Philbin's appointment to the position of Principal Deputy Solicitor General, denying him the honor of working on behalf of the government before the Supreme Court.