Arianna Julia Freeman (born 1978) is an American lawyer from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who serves as a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Early life and education

Freeman was born in 1978 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. She received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, with honors, from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

in 2001 and her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 2007.

Career

Freeman served as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Judge James T. Giles from 2007 to 2008 and Judge

C. Darnell Jones II Cardozie Darnell Jones II (born November 23, 1949) is a Senior status, Senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Education and career Born in Cl ...

from 2008 to 2009, both on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. From 2009 to 2022, she worked at the Federal Community Defender Office including as an assistant federal defender as a research and writing specialist from 2009 to 2014 and in the Non-Capital Habeas Unit from 2014 to 2016. From 2016 to 2022, she was a managing attorney with the Federal Community Defender office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Freeman was part of the legal team handling the federal ''habeas corpus'' challenge of the death sentence of Terrance Williams, who was convicted of a 1984 murder.

Federal judicial service

On January 19, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Freeman to serve as a

for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. President Biden nominated Freeman to the seat vacated by Judge Theodore McKee, who on July 29, 2021, notified the White House that he intended to assume

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

upon confirmation of his successor. On January 28, 2022, following Justice

Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...

's announcement of his intention to retire as an

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is any member of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 18 ...

, Freeman was mentioned as one of the potential nominees for a Supreme Court appointment by President Joe Biden. On March 2, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, Republican senators criticized her work as a public defender. On April 4, 2022, the committee failed to report her nomination by an 11–11 vote. On June 22, 2022, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

discharged the committee from further consideration of her nomination by a 50–48 vote. On September 6, 2022, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on her nomination. On September 12, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 45–44 vote. On September 13, 2022, the Senate rejected her nomination by a 47–50 vote. Freeman was the first Biden judicial nominee to be rejected by the Senate. On September 29, 2022, upon reconsideration, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–47 vote. She received her judicial commission on October 20, 2022. She is the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

woman to serve on the Third Circuit.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Arianna J. 1978 births Living people 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges African-American judges African-American lawyers American women lawyers Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Lawyers from Boston Pennsylvania lawyers Public defenders Swarthmore College alumni United States court of appeals judges appointed by Joe Biden Yale Law School alumni 21st-century African-American lawyers

Early life and education

Career

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links