Gerald Bruce Lee | |
---|---|
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | |
In office October 1, 1998 –September 30, 2017 | |
Appointed by | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | James C. Cacheris |
Succeeded by | Rossie D. Alston Jr. |
Personal details | |
Born | Washington,D.C.,U.S. | February 9,1952
Education | American University (BA,JD) |
Gerald Bruce Lee (born February 9,1952) [1] is an American former district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Lee was educated at American University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973,and a Juris Doctor in 1976 from American University's Washington College of Law. Lee worked in private practice in Alexandria,Virginia until 1992,when he became a Circuit court judge on the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia,Fairfax Circuit Court. Lee was nominated to his present position as United States District Judge by President Bill Clinton on May 22,1998,and received his commission on October 1,1998. [2] He retired from active service on September 30,2017.
Prior to ascending to the bench,Lee was a trial lawyer for fifteen years,representing individuals and businesses in civil and criminal cases in state and federal courts. He was a partner at Cohen,Dunn &Sinclair,an Alexandria,Virginia,law firm.
As an attorney,Lee was involved in a number of notable cases. He was one of the first to assert the "battered woman defense" in a murder case in 1978 and his client was acquitted of murder. He successfully defended a Vietnam veteran in a criminal case and arranged for the veteran to receive proper medical treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and drug treatment. As counsel for local civil rights organization he defended the principal of a local high school against disciplinary action after school officials learned he was in an interracial marriage. He defended a number of corporations against commercial and employment claims.
Lee was an active member of the Virginia State Bar. He was an elected member of the Virginia State Bar Council,Chairman of the General Practice of Law Section,President of the Northern Virginia Black Attorneys Association,and Chairman of the Judicial Selection Committee of the Alexandria Bar Association.
In 1990,Governor Douglas Wilder appointed Lee to serve on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority,the managers of Washington National and Dulles International Airports. During his tenure on the board both airports were in the midst of modernization and expansion.
When he was under consideration for the appointment,Lee's credentials were reviewed by twelve bar associations. Lee received the highest rating possible for all twelve bar associations for the appointment.
Prior to his appointment to the United States District Court,Lee was a trial judge with the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia (Fairfax) for six and one-half years. As a Circuit Court Judge in Virginia's largest and busiest trial court,he tried a wide variety of cases,both jury and non-jury. His trial docket included cases involving commercial law,products liability,personal injury,medical malpractice,contracts,and criminal law.
During his tenure on the Fairfax Bench,Lee was an active member of the Virginia Judges Judicial Conference. He served on two key committees of the conference,the Circuit Court Judicial Education Committee,and the Circuit Court Judges Bench Book Committee. He served as Chairman of the Judicial Educational Committee,and was responsible for ongoing training and continuing education programs for 150 state trial judges. Lee served as a member of the Bench Book Committee,where he was responsible for editing and updating the Virginia Judges' courtroom reference text,the Virginia Circuit Court Judges Benchbook.
Lee has been a member of the legal community for twenty-five years. Subsequent to his appointment to the Fairfax Circuit Court in 1992,he became known throughout the legal community for his handling of complex civil cases,his efforts to improve the court's use of technology,and his commitment to community service.
In April 1998,Virginia's United States Senators Chuck Robb and John Warner recommended Lee for appointment to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia,to fill the seat vacated when Judge James C. Cacheris assumed senior status. President Clinton made the nomination on May 22,1998,which was confirmed by the Senate in unanimous vote on September 28,1998. He received his commission on October 1,1998. [2] He retired from active service on September 30,2017. [2]
Lee coined the phrase "adrenaline of excellence" for what occurs in the instant before entering the courtroom to begin a proceeding.
Lee's motto is "To whom much is given,much is expected."
In 2003,Lee dismissed the kidnapping and murder charges against Jay E. Lentz,a former naval intelligence officer,even though a jury had found him guilty. It marked the first time a judge dismissed a jury verdict in a federal death penalty case. Earlier in the case,Lee advised a witness that if she cried he would stop her testimony,a move that is unusual in that it is rare for a judge to preview testimony in a death penalty hearing or restrict how witnesses can act or what they can say. [4]
In the 2011 case of USA v. Ishmael Jones,a pen name, [5] Lee ruled in summary judgment for the government that Jones,a former CIA officer,had violated his agreement with the Agency by failing to obtain pre-publication approval for his book. [6] [7]
James Andrew Wynn Jr. is an American jurist. He serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and formerly served on both the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court.
A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms,which may also be known as "courts",may be housed in a courthouse. In recent years,courtrooms have been equipped with audiovisual technology to permit everyone present to clearly hear testimony and see exhibits.
The United States Court of Federal Claims is a United States federal court that hears monetary claims against the U.S. government. It was established by statute in 1982 as the United States Claims Court,and took its current name in 1992. The court is the successor to trial division of the United States Court of Claims,which was established in 1855.
In the judicial system of Japan,the Constitution of Japan guarantees that "all judges shall be independent in the exercise of their conscience and shall be bound only by this constitution and the Laws". They cannot be removed from the bench "unless judicially declared mentally or physically incompetent to perform official duties",and they cannot be disciplined by executive agencies. Supreme Court judges,however,may be removed by a majority of voters in a referendum that occurs at the first general election following the judge's appointment and every ten years thereafter. The judiciary was far more constrained under the Meiji Constitution than it is under the present Constitution and had no authority over administrative or constitutional law cases. Moreover,the Ministry of Justice had complete and direct control over the courts' administrative affairs. Nonetheless,Professor John Haley argues that the courts maintained complete independence in the adjudication of particular cases. "Judicial independence from the political branches was emphatically established as a fundamental principle of governance in Article 57 of the Meiji Constitution. Of all branches of government only the courts exercised authority 'in the name of the Emperor'." Haley argues that this was and remains a matter of great pride for Japanese judges and notes that "placed prominently in all courtrooms was the inscription 'in the name of the Emperor' as a meaningful reminder to imperial officials and subjects alike that the Emperor's judges were not subject to political control or direction."
Barbara Louise Milano Keenan is a senior United States circuit judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Robert James "Bob" Conrad Jr. is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. He served as chief judge from 2006 to 2013 and was a former nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to take the place of the retired James Dickson Phillips Jr. He previously served as a member of the executive committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 2016 to 2020.
Henry Clay McDowell Jr. was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Colm Felix Connolly is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. He formerly served as United States Attorney for the District of Delaware.
Robert Bruce King is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Dale Albert Kimball is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
Richard D. Bennett is a United States Senior District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Born in Maryland,Bennett is a graduate of Severn School,the University of Pennsylvania,and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. He previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney and the United States Attorney for Maryland,and was awarded multiple commendations for his service. In private practice,Bennett was a partner in a major Maryland law firm,where he specialized in white collar criminal defense. Appointed to the federal bench in 2003,he took senior status in 2021. While maintaining an active trial docket in the District of Maryland,Bennett has increasingly been sitting by designation with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Cormac Joseph Carney is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Leonard E. Davis is an American lawyer and former judge. He served as Chief Justice of the Twelfth Court of Appeals of Texas,from 2000–2002,and was nominated by George W. Bush on January 23,2002 to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas until his retirement May 15th,2015.
Henry Edward Hudson is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Virginia Mary Kendall is an American attorney and jurist serving as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. President George W. Bush appointed her to the bench on January 3,2006. In addition to serving on the bench,Judge Kendall is also a noted expert on child exploitation and human trafficking,as well as an adjunct professor and author.
Albert Diaz is an American lawyer who is the chief circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Diaz is the first Hispanic judge to serve on the Fourth Circuit. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeals,Diaz was a North Carolina state superior court judge and an appellate judge for the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.
Jimmie V. Reyna is an American lawyer,former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association,and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Zuberi Bakari Williams is an American attorney and jurist serving as an associate judge of the District Court of Maryland,for Montgomery County. He was appointed by former Governor Martin O'Malley in December 2014. He was later confirmed by the Maryland Senate and sworn in on January 6,2015. At the age of 36,Williams became one of the youngest judges to be appointed in Maryland history.
David Bernhard is an American jurist who is a trial judge of the Fairfax Circuit Court,elected February 23,2017,by the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates,for an 8-year term commencing July 1,2017. Bernhard is the second immigrant,and the first one from Latin America,to have been elected to the Virginia Circuit Court. Bernhard was sworn into office on June 30,2017.
Thomas Benton Smith was an American judge serving for 20 years in the federal and state courts of Florida. He inspired the creation of Florida's first specialized business court,and was considered a leader on improving the quality and efficiency of business litigation.