The following year he attended Columbia Law School, where he obtained a J.D. in 1979. He served as Articles Editor of the "Columbia Law Review", which published his first legal writing, ""Pacifica Foundation v. FCC": 'Filthy Words,' the First Amendment, and the Broadcast Media," during White's second year. That article, which discussed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on comedian George Carlin's famous "Seven Dirty Words" monologue, was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in a related ruling.