John C. Coughenour | |
---|---|
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington | |
Assumed office July 27, 2006 | |
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington | |
In office 1997–2004 | |
Preceded by | Carolyn R. Dimmick |
Succeeded by | Robert S. Lasnik |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington | |
In office September 28, 1981 –July 27, 2006 | |
Appointed by | Ronald Reagan |
Preceded by | Morell Edward Sharp |
Succeeded by | Richard A. Jones |
Personal details | |
Born | John C. Coughenour 1941 (age 78–79) Pittsburg, Kansas |
Education | Pittsburg State University (BS) University of Iowa (JD) |
John C. Coughenour (born 1941) is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. [1] Before being appointed as a judge, Coughenour was a leading litigator with Bogle and Gates and has taught trial and appellate practice at the University of Washington School of Law. [2]
Coughenour was born in Pittsburg, Kansas. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State College of Pittsburg in 1963. He received a Juris Doctor from University of Iowa College of Law in 1966. Coughenour entered private practice in Seattle, Washington in 1966. He was an assistant professor of law at the University of Washington from 1970 to 1973. [3]
Coughenour was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on August 11, 1981, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington vacated by Judge Morell Edward Sharp. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 25, 1981, and received commission on September 28, 1981. He served as Chief Judge from 1997 to 2004. He assumed senior status on July 27, 2006. [3]
Coughenour testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 7 April 2004 and 4 June 2008. [4] [5] [6]
Coughenour has opposed federal mandatory minimum sentences for a variety of crimes. He also frequently visited individuals in prison to better understand the system and effects of mandatory minimums. [7]
In 1995 Coughenour found Washington State's Sexually Violent Predator Law to be "criminal in nature". [8] He ruled the law unconstitutionally violated protections against post facto laws and double jeopardy.
Coughenour was the judge who first sentenced Ahmed Ressam, the "millennium bomber", who planned to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999. [9]
Coughenour wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, entitled "How to Try a Terrorist", commenting on Michael B. Mukasey's nomination for Attorney General of the United States. [10] Coughenour compared his experience trying Ahmed Ressam with Michael B. Mukasey's trial of Omar Abdel Rahman for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He noted that Mukasey had complained about "the inadequacy of the current approach to terrorism prosecutions." He noted that Mukasey had complained about the limited number of terrorism convictions. [10] Coughenour paraphrased Mukasey: "Open prosecutions… potentially disclose to our enemies methods and sources of intelligence-gathering. Our Constitution does not adequately protect society from 'people who have cosmic goals that they are intent on achieving by cataclysmic means.'" Coughenour wrote that his experience: [10] "only strengthened my conviction that American courts, guided by the principles of our Constitution, are fully capable of trying suspected terrorists."
On July 27, 2005, Coughenour sentenced Ressam to 22 years in prison, plus 5 years of supervision after his release. [11] On February 2, 2010, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 22-year sentence Coughenour had handed down was too lenient, and did not fit in the then-mandatory sentencing guidelines which indicated Ressam should have received at least 65 years, and up to 130 years, in prison. The court ordered that Ressam be re-sentenced by a different district court judge than Coughenour. [12] An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit subsequently reconsidered the 2010 opinion. The en banc panel agreed that the 22-year sentence was too lenient, but refused to remand the case to a different judge, instead sending the case back to Judge Coughenour. [13] On remand, Judge Coughenour sentenced Ressam to 37 years imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. The United States did not appeal the sentence.
In 1995, Coughenour also presided over the civil trial of the Jason Scott case, which resulted in damages awarded against the Cult Awareness Network and deprogrammer Rick Ross. [14]
Ahmed Ressam is an Algerian al-Qaeda member who lived for a time in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He received extensive terrorist training in Afghanistan.
John Glover Roberts Jr. is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as Chief Justice of the United States. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including Shelby County v. Holder, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, King v. Burwell, Department of Commerce v. New York, and Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California. He has been described as having a conservative judicial philosophy but has shown a willingness to work with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc, and since the retirement of Anthony Kennedy in 2018 has come to be regarded as a key swing vote on the Court. Roberts presided over the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
Ahcene Zemiri, also known as Hassan Zumiri, is an Algerian citizen who was for seven years a legal resident of Canada, where he lived in Montreal. He and his Canadian wife moved to Afghanistan in July 2001. They were separated when trying to leave in November 2001 and Zemiri was arrested and turned over to United States forces. He was transferred to the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2002, where he was detained for eight years without charge.
Kent J. Dawson is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
Michael Bernard Mukasey is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009.
Scott Milne Matheson Jr. is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He has served on that court since 2010.
Loretta A. Preska is an American federal judge who is currently a senior U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Born in Albany, Preska received law degrees from Fordham University School of Law and New York University School of Law. She practiced law in New York City from 1973 to 1992 at the law firms of Cahill Gordon & Reindel and Hertzog, Calamari & Gleason. President George H. W. Bush appointed her to the district bench in 1992. She served as chief judge of the court for a seven-year term from 2009 to 2016, and took senior status in 2017. President George W. Bush nominated Preska to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2008, but the Senate did not act on the nomination. During Preska's time on the district bench, she has presided over many noteworthy civil and criminal cases.
Edward Robert Korman is a Senior United States District Judge serving on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn, New York.
Robert Neil Chatigny is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Barry G. Silverman is a Senior United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Richard Joseph Sullivan is an American lawyer who serves as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was formerly a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2007 to 2018.
Milton Irving Shadur was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Amul Roger Thapar is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He is a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Thapar was the first South Asian federal judge in American history. He was also President Trump's first Court of Appeals appointment and Trump's second judicial appointment after Justice Neil Gorsuch. Thapar is frequently discussed as a candidate for the Supreme Court of the United States.
Allison Hartwell Eid is a United States Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit who previously served as the 95th Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court.
Patty Shwartz is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Gershwin Allen Drain is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Luis Felipe Restrepo, known commonly as L. Felipe Restrepo, is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Cornelia Thayer Livingston Pillard, also known as Nina Pillard, is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before becoming a judge, Pillard was a tenured law professor at Georgetown University.
James Chiun-Yue Ho is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
This is a timeline of events in 2020 and 2021 related to investigations into links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials that are suspected of being inappropriate, relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, both before and after July 2016, until November 8, 2016 election day, the transition, the first and second halves of 2017, the first and second halves of 2018, and 2019.
We also welcome Judge John Coughenour. He is a respected judge who has significant experience with terrorism cases, having presided over the trial of the so-called "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam. He speaks with authority on the capacity of our constitutional system to handle new challenges.
Because the sexual predator law authorizes civil commitment of persons following a prison term, it has faced several constitutional challenges. The Washington State Supreme Court found the law constitutional in 1993. In 1995, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour found the statute to be criminal in nature and thus in violation of constitutional protections against ex post facto laws and double jeopardy. This ruling has been appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Legal offices | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Morell Edward Sharp | Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington 1981–2006 | Succeeded by Richard A. Jones |
Preceded by Barbara Jacobs Rothstein | Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington 1997–2004 | Succeeded by Carolyn R. Dimmick |