Catherine Curtis Blake (born July 27, 1950) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Early life and education

Blake was born in Boston, Massachusetts. After receiving an

Artium Baccalaureus 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 ...

degree from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

in 1972, she enrolled in

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, where she received a

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 ...

in 1975.

Career

Blake was in private practice in Boston, from 1975 to 1977. She was with the Office of the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the District of Maryland from 1977 to 1987. During that period, she was an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

from 1977 to 1983, then became a first assistant from 1983 to 1985, when she was appointed by the court to serve as the United States Attorney, a position she held until 1987, when she again became the first assistant.

Federal judicial service

In 1987 Blake became a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

of the District of Maryland. In 1995, Blake became a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. She was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

on May 4, 1995, to a seat vacated by

John R. Hargrove Sr. John R. Hargrove Sr. (October 25, 1923 – April 1, 1997) was the first African American to be appointed Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland and was later appointed by President Ronald Reagan to be a United States distri ...

She was confirmed by 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 ...

on August 11, 1995, and received her commission on August 14, 1995. She served as Chief Judge of the District of Maryland from October 3, 2014 to October 6, 2017. She assumed

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 ...

on April 2, 2021. Judge Blake presided over the infamous Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force case. She is portrayed in the final episode of the HBO miniseries "We Own This City" which depicts the events surrounding the case. On October 2020, Judge Blake struck down a constitutional challenge to Governor Hogan's executive order that mandated state contractors were not allowed to engage in a political or economic boycott of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in their business or personal life. The case was one of several constitutional challenges to

anti-BDS laws Anti-BDS laws and resolutions oppose boycotts of Israel. The name comes from the BDS movement, which calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel to pressure Israel to meet what it describes as Israel's obligations under internationa ...

since 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Catherine C. 1950 births Living people 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges Assistant United States Attorneys Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland Lawyers from Boston Radcliffe College alumni United States Attorneys for the District of Maryland United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States magistrate judges