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Gregory G. Katsas

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Gregory G. Katsas
Official portrait, 2008
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 8, 2017
Appointed byDonald Trump
Preceded byJanice Rogers Brown
Deputy White House Counsel
In office
January 20, 2017 – December 8, 2017
PresidentDonald Trump
LeaderDon McGahn
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division
In office
July 2008 – January 20, 2009
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byPeter Keisler
Succeeded byTony West
Acting United States Associate Attorney General
In office
June 22, 2007 – April 2008
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byWilliam W. Mercer (acting)
Succeeded byKevin J. O'Connor
Personal details
Born (1964-08-06) August 6, 1964 (age 60)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Gregory George Katsas (born August 6, 1964) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2017 as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[1] Before becoming a federal judge, Katsas served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Donald Trump, as an Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a partner at the law firm Jones Day.

Early life and education

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Katsas was born in 1964 in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Greek immigrants.[2] Katsas graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was an executive editor of the Harvard Law Review and an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy.[3][4][5] He graduated in 1989 with a Juris Doctor, cum laude.

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After law school, Katsas served as a law clerk to Judge Edward R. Becker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1989 to 1990. From 1990 to 1991, Katsas clerked for Clarence Thomas, who was then a judge of the District of Columbia Circuit. After President George H. W. Bush appointed Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991, Katsas again clerked for Thomas from 1991 to 1992.[6][5]

Katsas then entered private practice at the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Jones Day, where he specialized in civil and appellate litigation.[7] He argued more than 75 appeals, including three cases in the U.S. Supreme Court.[5] He was at Jones Day from 1992 to 2001, becoming a partner in 1999.[6]

From 2001 to 2009, Katsas served in various positions within the United States Department of Justice, including Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division and Acting Associate Attorney General.[5] Katsas returned to Jones Day from 2009 to 2017. From January to December 2017, Katsas served as Deputy White House Counsel.

Federal judicial service

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On September 7, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Katsas to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who retired on August 31, 2017.[8][9]

On October 17, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[10] On November 9, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote.[11][12]

On November 27, 2017, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 52–48 vote.[13] On November 28, 2017, by a party line vote except for John Neely Kennedy R-LA[14] and Joe Manchin D-WV, with Bob Corker and John McCain absent, Katsas was confirmed by a 50–48 vote.[15] He received his judicial commission on December 8, 2017.[16]

He is currently considered the top “feeder” judge, sending the highest number of his law clerks to clerk on the Supreme Court since his appointment to the bench in 2018. Katsas “has sent at least 18 of his law clerks to the high court since the October 2019 term,” according to National Law Journal.[17][18] Legal commentator David Lat has stated Katsas “feeds so much that he also exhibits breadth, placing clerks with Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Kavanaugh, and Barrett.”[19]

Notable cases

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In 2017, Katsas recused himself from matters regarding the Mueller probe on which he personally worked, but said he would consider the facts of a case before making a decision.[20]

On September 9, 2020, President Trump included him on a list of his potential nominees to the Supreme Court.[21] He has been suggested as a potential nominee in a second Trump administration.[22]

On July 6, 2021, Judge Katsas gave the tie-breaking 2-1 vote that overturned the FDA's ban on GEDs used predominantly by the Judge Rotenberg Center on disabled patients in Canton, MA.[23]

On April 7, 2023, Katsas authored a dissent in United States v. Fisher, a case interpreting whether January 6 participants could be charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), a provision of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act enacted to combat corporate fraud that penalizes anyone who “otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding.”[24] Rejecting the government’s argument, Katsas argued that interpreting “the structure and history of section 1512, and with decades of precedent applying section 1512(c) only to acts that affect the integrity or availability of evidence” suggest that the government’s reading is “implausibly broad and unconstitutional in a significant number of its applications.”[25] On appeal, the approach of his dissent was adopted by the Supreme Court in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts.[26]

Memberships

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He is a member of the Federalist Society,[27] and also a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.[6]

Awards

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In 2009, he was awarded the Edmund Randolph award for outstanding service, the highest award bestowed by the U.S. Department of Justice.[6]

Scholarly works

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  • Katsas, Gregory G. (2015). "Targeted Drone Killings: Legal Justifications Under the Bush and Obama Administrations" (PDF). Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. 38 (1): 251–60.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Karuppur, Abhiram (March 7, 2017). "Katsas '86 named Deputy Counsel and Deputy Assistant to President Trump". Daily Princetonian. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  2. ^ Profile of Gregory Katsas. VettingRoom.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  3. ^ "About". Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. March 24, 2009. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  4. ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Gregory George Katsas
  5. ^ a b c d "President Donald J. Trump Announces Seventh Wave of Judicial Candidates". whitehouse.gov. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017 – via National Archives. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ a b c d Severino, Carrie (September 7, 2017). "Who is Gregory Katsas?". National Review. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  7. ^ "Gregory Katsas to rejoin Jones Day". Jones Day. October 2009. Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  8. ^ "Eight Nominations Sent to the Senate Today". whitehouse.gov. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017 – via National Archives.
  9. ^ Marimow, Ann E. (September 7, 2017). "Trump taps White House legal adviser to serve on high-profile D.C. Circuit". Washington Post. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  10. ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Nominations for October 17, 2017
  11. ^ Results of Executive Business Meeting – November 9, 2017, Senate Judiciary Committee
  12. ^ Schneier, Cogan (November 7, 2017). "More Than 200 Civil Rights Groups Oppose DC Circuit Nominee Greg Katsas". Law.com. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  13. ^ On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture Gregory G. Katsas, of Virginia, to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit), United States Senate, November 27, 2017
  14. ^ "Louisiana GOP Sen. Kennedy opposes controversial Trump judicial nominee". Politico. November 28, 2017.
  15. ^ On the Nomination (Confirmation Gregory G. Katsas, of Virginia, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit), United States Senate, November 28, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  16. ^ Gregory G. Katsas at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  17. ^ "These Judges Feed the Most Law Clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court". National Law Journal. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  18. ^ Rubino, Kathryn (July 25, 2023). "This Federal Judge Has A Strong Record Of Feeding Law Clerks To The Supreme Court - Page 2 of 2 - Above the Law". abovethelaw.com. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  19. ^ Lat, David (December 16, 2022). "Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Up-And-Coming Feeder Judges". Original Jurisdiction. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  20. ^ Allan Smith (October 18, 2017). "One of Trump's top judicial nominees got grilled on Capitol Hill over his involvement with Mueller's Russia probe". BusinessInsider.com. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  21. ^ "Remarks by President Trump on Judicial Appointments"
  22. ^ Shannon Bream, Bill Mears (June 10, 2024). "Potential candidates for Supreme Court under a second Donald Trump term". Fox News. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  23. ^ Pierson, Brendan (July 7, 2021). "D.C. Circuit overturns FDA ban on shock device for disabled students". Reuters.
  24. ^ "United States v. Fischer, 64 F.4th 329 | Casetext Search Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  25. ^ "United States v. Fischer, 64 F.4th 329 | Casetext Search Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  26. ^ "Fischer v. United States". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  27. ^ "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). judiciary.senate.gov. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
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Legal offices
Preceded by United States Associate Attorney General
Acting
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division
2008–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
2017–present 		Incumbent
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