Rudolph Contreras | |
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Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court | |
In office May 19, 2021 –May 18, 2023 | |
Preceded by | James Boasberg |
Succeeded by | Anthony Trenga |
Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court | |
In office May 19,2016 –May 18,2023 | |
Appointed by | John Roberts |
Preceded by | Thomas F. Hogan |
Succeeded by | Sara Elizabeth Lioi |
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia | |
Assumed office March 23,2012 | |
Appointed by | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Ricardo M. Urbina |
Personal details | |
Born | Miami,Florida,U.S. | December 6,1962
Education | Florida State University (BS) University of Pennsylvania (JD) |
Rudolph Contreras (born December 6,1962) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He served as Presiding Judge on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2021 to 2023.
In December 2017 he briefly presided over the case of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn,accepting Flynn's guilty plea,but was later recused from the case. [1]
Contreras was born in 1962 in Staten Island,New York. [2] His parents were immigrants from Cuba,and he grew up in Miami. [3]
Contreras graduated from Florida State University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science. From 1985 to 1988,he worked for the Miami Herald as an account executive. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School,graduating in 1991 with a Juris Doctor and Order of the Coif honors. [4] [2]
From 1991 to 1994,Contreras was an associate at Jones Day. In 1994 he was a government attorney in the District of Columbia. From 1994 to 2012,he served as an assistant United States attorney;serving in the District of Columbia from 1994 to 2003,then in the District of Delaware and as chief of the civil division from 2003 to 2006. He returned as an AUSA to the District of Columbia serving from 2006 to 2012,and serving concurrently as chief of the civil division. [4] [2]
On July 28,2011,President Barack Obama nominated Contreras to fill a vacancy on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia [4] to replace Judge Ricardo M. Urbina,who assumed senior status in 2011. On October 4,2011,the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on his nomination and on October 3,2011,reported his nomination to the floor of the Senate. On March 22,2012,the Senate confirmed Contreras in a voice vote. He received his commission on March 23,2012. [2]
In April 2016 Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Contreras to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a term starting May 19,2016. [5] [2] On May 19,2021,Contreras was named the Presiding Judge. [6]
On November 17,2016,Contreras dismissed a lawsuit against U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seeking to compel a vote on the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland,finding that the plaintiff,who had simply alleged he was a voter,had no standing to sue. [7]
In 2017 Contreras was randomly assigned the case of United States of America v. Michael T. Flynn ,the former National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump. The two-page indictment was released on December 1,2017. [8] Contreras accepted Flynn's guilty plea to one count of making false statements to the FBI in the course of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The guilty plea was part of a plea bargain with the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III. [8] On December 7,2017,Contreras was recused from further sentencing hearings scheduled to take place in the future. [9] The case was randomly reassigned to District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. [10] According to several reputable sources,text messages show that Peter Strzok,a veteran FBI counterintelligence official who worked on the Flynn case as part of Mueller's team,knew Contreras. [11] [12]
On August 6,2020,Contreras dismissed a lawsuit filed by House Republicans against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that challenged proxy voting rules adopted during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. He ruled that the Constitution's "Speech or Debate Clause" prohibited lawsuits over Congress' legislative efforts. He concluded that "the Court can conceive of few other actions,besides actually debating,speaking,or voting,that could more accurately be described as 'legislative' than the regulation of how votes may be cast". [13] [14]
On March 5,2021,Contreras ruled that the states of Illinois,Nevada,and Virginia had ratified the Equal Rights Amendment too late –as it had occurred after the congressionally-imposed 1982 deadline –for the amendment to be valid. [15]
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This is a timeline of major events in the first half of 2017 related to the investigations into links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and spies that are suspected of being inappropriate,relating to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Following the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8 and the post-election transition,this article begins with Donald Trump and Mike Pence being sworn into office on January 20,2017,and is followed by the second half of 2017. The investigations continued in the first and second halves of 2018,the first and second halves of 2019,2020,and 2021.
This is a timeline of events in the first half of 2019 related to investigations into the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies 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,the transition,the first and second halves of 2017,the first and second halves of 2018,and followed by the second half of 2019,2020,and 2021.
The Special Counsel investigation was a United States law enforcement and counterintelligence investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere in United States politics and any possible involvement by members of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. It was primarily focused on the 2016 presidential election.
Crossfire Hurricane was the code name for the counterintelligence investigation undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from July 31,2016,to May 17,2017,into links between Trump campaign and Russia,and "whether individuals associated with [Trump's] presidential campaign were coordinating,wittingly or unwittingly,with the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election". Trump was not personally under investigation until May 2017,when his firing of FBI director James Comey raised suspicions of obstruction of justice,which triggered the Mueller investigation.
This is a timeline of major events in second half of 2018 related to the investigations into the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8,and the transition,the first and second halves of 2017,and the first half of 2018,but precedes that of the first and second halves of 2019,2020,and 2021. These events are related to,but distinct from,Russian interference in the 2018 United States elections.
This is a timeline of major events in the second half of 2017 related to the investigations into the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8,the post-election transition,and the first half of 2017. The investigations continued in the first and second halves of 2018,the first and second halves of 2019,2020,and 2021.
This is a timeline of events from 2020 to 2022 related to investigations into the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies 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 the first and second halves of 2019.
United States v. Flynn was a criminal case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia which was dismissed without any convictions in December 2020 following a presidential pardon. Michael Flynn,a retired lieutenant general in the United States Armed Forces,had accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer for the position of National Security Advisor in 2016 and then briefly served as National Security Advisor. He pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Flynn's alleged false statements involve conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak when Flynn was incoming National Security Advisor to President-elect Trump,and Flynn agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel investigation as part of a plea deal.
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This is a timeline of major events in second half of 2019 related to the investigations into the myriad links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies 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 before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8,and the transition,the first and second halves of 2017,the first and second halves of 2018,and the first half of 2019,but precedes that of 2020 and 2021.