Judith W. Rogers

Judith Ann Wilson Rogers (born July 27, 1939) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Judith Rogers
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office March 11, 1994
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Clarence Thomas
Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
In office November 1, 1988 – March 17, 1994
Preceded by	William C. Pryor
Succeeded by	Annice M. Wagner
Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
In office September 15, 1983 – March 11, 1994
Appointed by	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Catherine B. Kelly
Succeeded by	Vanessa Ruiz
Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia
In office April 12, 1979 – September 15, 1983
Mayor	Marion Barry
Preceded by	Louis Robbins (Acting)
Succeeded by	Inez Smith Reid
Personal details
Born	Judith Ann Wilson July 27, 1939 New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (BA, LLB) University of Virginia (LLM)

Education and career

Born in New York City, New York, Rogers received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Radcliffe College of Harvard University in 1961, a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1964 and a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1988. After graduating from law school, she was a law clerk at the Juvenile Court of the District of Columbia from 1964 to 1965. She then worked as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1965 to 1968, a staff attorney at San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation from 1968 to 1969, and a trial attorney at the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division from 1969 to 1971. From 1971 to 1972, she was General Counsel for the Congressional Commission on the Organization of the District Government, where she helped develop home rule legislation for the District of Columbia. She worked on legislative affairs in the District government from 1972 to 1979, a period in which the District held its first elections for city council and mayor under the new District of Columbia Home Rule Act. In 1979, Rogers became the first female corporation counsel for the District of Columbia.

In 1983, Rogers became an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest court for the District of Columbia. She served as Chief Judge of that court from 1988 to 1994.[1]

Federal judicial service

Rogers was nominated by President Bill Clinton on November 17, 1993, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated by Judge Clarence Thomas. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10, 1994, and received her commission on March 11, 1994.[2] She became the fourth woman to be appointed to the court.

In March 2017, Rogers argued the First Amendment provides the public a qualified right to access prisoners' court filings when the court, unanimous in judgment but in divided opinions, found that the press could not access classified video of Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab being force fed during the Guantanamo Bay hunger strikes.[3][4]

In August 2017, Rogers partially dissented when the court found that mandatory minimum sentences as applied to the Nisour Square massacre killers were unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishments.[5][6]

In February 2020, Rogers dissented when the majority held that the United States House Committee on the Judiciary could not enforce a subpoena upon President Trump's former White House Counsel, Don McGahn.[7][8]

References

1. Report of District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission
2. Pres. Nom. 879, 103rd Cong. (2004).
3. Note, Recent Case: D.C. Circuit Holds Press Cannot Unseal Classified Videos of Guantanamo Bay Detainee, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 902 (2018).
4. Dhiab v. Trump, 852 F.3d 1087 (D.C. Cir. 2017).
5. Note, Recent Case: D.C. Circuit Holds It Cruel and Unusual to Impose Mandatory Thirty-Year Sentence on Military Contractors for Gun Charge, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 1465 (2018).
6. United States v. Slatten, 865 F.3d 767 (D.C. Cir. 2017).
7. "House Judiciary Committee v. McGahn" (PDF). www.cadc.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
8. Savage, Charlie (29 February 2020). "Court Rules Congress Cannot Sue to Force Executive Branch Officials to Testify". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 29 February 2020.

Sources

• Judith W. Rogers at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• American Bar Association profile

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN