Jerome Holmes

Jerome Holmes
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Assumed office
August 9, 2006
Appointed by George W. Bush
Preceded by Stephanie Seymour
Personal details
Born (1961-11-18) November 18, 1961
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater Wake Forest University
Georgetown University
Harvard University

Jerome A. Holmes (born November 18, 1961 in Washington, DC) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He is the first African American to serve on the Tenth Circuit.

Background

Holmes graduated from Wake Forest University in 1983 with a B.A.. He then attended the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was editor of the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. He received his J.D. in 1988. In 2000, Holmes received a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Holmes began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Wayne E. Alley at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma in 1988. Holmes then clerked for another federal judge, William Judson Holloway, Jr., on the Tenth Circuit from 1990-1991. Next, he entered private practice with the firm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, DC, in 1991, where he worked as an associate for three years before he returned to Oklahoma as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Holmes served in that capacity from 1994-2005. Holmes re-entered private practice in 2005 as a Director of the Oklahoma firm Crowe & Dunlevy, where his practice was focused on white collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation, and corporate law.

Tenth Circuit nomination and confirmation

While his nomination for a United States District Court seat was pending, Holmes was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 4, 2006 to fill a seat vacated by Judge Stephanie Kulp Seymour. The U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination less than three months later on July 26, 2006 by a vote of 67-30. Holmes is the fifth and last judge Bush appointed to the Tenth Circuit. Originally, Holmes was nominated by Bush to a vacancy on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, but that nomination was withdrawn on the same day Holmes was nominated to the Tenth Circuit. Bush's previous pick to replace Judge Seymour, U.S. District Judge James H. Payne, withdrew over criticism of his handling of cases in which he allegedly had a conflict of interest.

Judge Holmes' first published opinion for the court, United States v. Ahidley, was released on May 25, 2007. Holmes wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel holding that a criminal defendant was improperly ordered to pay immediate restitution to the victim of his crime.

Judge Holmes was on the first federal appellate court panel to weigh affirmatively on the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry. He penned an important concurrence on the role of animus in state bans on same-sex marriage.[1]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/us/politics/ruling-poses-potential-obstacle-at-supreme-court-for-same-sex-marriage.html?_r=0
Legal offices
Preceded by
Stephanie Seymour		 Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
2006–present 		Incumbent
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