David Brookman Smith (born December 4, 1951), known professionally as D. Brooks Smith, 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 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. ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:
* District of Delaware
* District of New Jersey
* Ea ...
. He was previously
Chief Judge
A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...
of both the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and is the only judge in the history of the Third Circuit to have served as both a chief district judge and chief of the Court of Appeals. Since January 2022, Smith has served as
Penn State Law
Penn State Law, located in University Park, Pennsylvania, is one of two separately accredited law schools of the Pennsylvania State University. Penn State Law offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees. The school also offers a joint J.D./M.B. ...
's new jurist in residence.
Legal career
Smith was born in
Altoona, Pennsylvania
Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. ...
. After graduating from
Dickinson School of Law
Penn State Dickinson Law, formerly Dickinson School of Law, is a public law school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is one of two separately accredited law schools of The Pennsylvania State University. According to Penn State Dickinson Law's 2019 ...
, Smith began his legal career in Altoona, eventually becoming managing partner of Jubelirer, Carothers, Krier, Halpern and Smith. From 1977 to 1979, Smith served as an Assistant District Attorney for
Blair County, Pennsylvania. Smith was later named as a special prosecutor, conducting a grand jury investigation from 1981 to 1983 into organized criminal activity in central Pennsylvania. He became Blair County's District Attorney in 1983, and in December 1984,
Pennsylvania Governor
The governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's military forces.
The governor has a duty to enforc ...
Dick Thornburgh appointed Smith to a judgeship on the Court of Common Pleas of Blair County. The following year, Smith received the nominations of both the Republican and Democratic Parties for a ten-year term as judge on the same court. In 1987, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Robert N. C. Nix Jr. appointed Smith Administrative Judge of the Blair County Courts, charging him with responsibility to address that court's chronic backlog.
Federal judicial service
District court service
In 1988, President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, with the advice of Senators
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from ...
and
H. John Heinz III
Henry John Heinz III (October 23, 1938 – April 4, 1991) was an American businessman and Republican politician from Pennsylvania. Heinz represented the Pittsburgh suburbs in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and ...
, recommended Smith to the
. He was confirmed by the Senate on October 14, 1988. He received his commission on October 17, 1988. He served as
Chief Judge
A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...
from 2001 to 2002. His service as a district court judge was terminated on September 23, 2002 when he was elevated to the
3rd Circuit Court.
Court of appeals service
Smith was nominated to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:
* District of Delaware
* District of New Jersey
* Ea ...
by President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
on September 10, 2001. Having been unanimously rated "well qualified" by the Standing Committee of the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
, his nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 31, 2002. He received his commission on August 2, 2002.
He served as chief judge of the
Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:
* District of Delaware
* District of New Jersey
* Easte ...
from October 1, 2016 to December 4, 2021. Smith 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 December 4, 2021.
Professional affiliations and activities
While Chief Judge of the Third Circuit, Smith was a member of the
Judicial Conference of the United States
The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...
, the federal judiciary's policy-making body, and also sat on its eight-member Executive Committee. In 2013, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Smith to chair the Committee on Space and Facilities of the Judicial Conference of the United States for a three-year term. In that capacity, he led a national space reduction initiative which was the federal judiciary's major cost containment measure. Smith began serving as a member of the Committee on Space and Facilities in 2006. Smith also served on the Criminal Rules Advisory Committee of the Judicial Conference from 1993 to 1999. In addition, Smith is a member of the
American Law Institute
The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...
, the Federal Judges Association, the
Allegheny County Bar Association and the
Pennsylvania Bar Association. In early 2020, he was one of four federal judges named to the Federal Judiciary's COVID-19 Task Force.
International rule-of-law efforts
Judge Smith has assisted in efforts to enhance the rule of law in the judicial systems of Central and Eastern Europe.
[''Judge D. Brooks Smith '76 celebrates 25 years on the bench'', Penn State Law (Oct. 30, 2013), https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/news/judge-d-brooks-smith-76-celebrates-25-years-bench][''Judge D. Brooks Smith, "An Independent Judiciary: If You Can Keep It'', University of Chicago Law School (May 29, 2013), https://www.law.uchicago.edu/recordings/judge-d-brooks-smith-independent-judiciary-if-you-can-keep-it] He has taught in judicial training sessions in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
for the
Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
and with the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
’s
Central and Eastern European Legal Initiative; in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
and
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
with the
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
(USAID); in
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
with the
International Development Law Organization
The International Development Law Organization (IDLO) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the promotion of the rule of law.
With a joint focus on the promotion of rule of law and development, it works to empower people and communiti ...
; and in
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
and
Macedonia with the
U.S. Justice Department
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States ...
’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training.
In 2007, he assisted USAID with an assessment of the legal system in the
Republic of the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
as part of that Agency’s Commercial Law and Institutional Reform initiative; participated in seven judicial ethics trainings for the USAID Judicial Development Project in Chisinau,
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...
; and addressed an International Conference “On the Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights to the Development of the Azerbaijani Legal System,” in Baku,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
.
In October 2008, Judge Smith returned to Moldova to speak on “The New Judicial Ethics Code: Interpretation and Application.”
In 2014, as part of a USAID project in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, Judge Smith delivered two training sessions for over 100 judges and judicial assistants of the Belgrade Misdemeanor Court and the Appellate Misdemeanor Court on the role of judges in a modern, independent judiciary.
[USAID, Judicial Reform and Government Accountability Project, Annual Report – Year 3 at p.42, https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00K2MV.pdf]
Judge Smith’s rule-of-law seminars in several former Soviet republics have led him to conclude both that the public perception of corruption there “probably outruns the reality” but also that corruption remains a serious problem. For example, high-ranking judges in one such republic invited Judge Smith into their private offices where he observed the signs of “telephone justice,” in which a powerful politician calls a judge with instructions on how to dispose of a particular case. As Judge Smith put it, “
judge needs three or more telephones in his private office.”
[D. Brooks Smith, ''Promoting the Rule of law and Respecting the Separation of Powers: The Legitimate Role of the American Judiciary Abroad'', 7 Ave Maria L. Rev. 1, 10 (2008)] The independence and public reputation of judges in developing countries also suffer, he has observed, from many judges’ practice of “speak
ngto the media, perhaps even commenting on how a prosecutor is handling a particular case,” and from the fact that—in war-torn regions like Kosovo—autocrats may remove sitting judges and replace them with favored officials as patronage.
Noteworthy rulings
* Smith held in ''Washington v. Klem'', 497 F.3d 272 (3d Cir. 2007), that under the
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), , codified as et seq., is a United States federal law that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please and gives churches and oth ...
(RLUIPA), a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections policy allowing only 10 books in a prisoner’s cell—but permitting additional magazines and newspapers, four large storage boxes of personal property, and more than 10 books if approved for educational purposes—substantially burdened an inmate’s right to freely exercise his religion. Smith wrote that a less restrictive alternative would have been to allow prisoners to choose what property could be kept in their permitted storage units.
* ''Petruska v. Gannon Univ.'', 462 F.3d 294 (3d Cir. 2006), ''cert. denied'', 550 U.S. 903 (2007): Smith adopted the “ministerial exception,” which “operates to bar any claim, the resolution of which would limit a religious institution’s right to select who will perform particular spiritual functions,” to preclude a former chaplain’s Title VII and related claims against the private Catholic college that had employed her. The Supreme Court cited Smith’s opinion with approval in ''
'', 565 U.S. 171, 188 n.2, 194–95 n.4 (2012).
* ''United States v. Green'', 617 F.3d 233 (3d Cir.), ''cert. denied'', 562 U.S. 942 (2010): Smith was confronted with whether a defendant’s conviction for a drug trafficking offense should be vacated based on trial testimony that the defendant had tried to purchase dynamite and threatened to use it to murder an undercover police officer. After surveying the history of the “intrinsic exception” to the rule governing admission of other bad acts evidence, Smith held that the challenged testimony was not intrinsic because it did not directly prove the charged offense. But it was admissible as evidence of uncharged bad acts because, for example, it explained the testifying witness’s motive to cooperate with the Government (fear for officers’ safety).
* ''United States v. Tomko'', 562 F.3d 558 (3d Cir. 2009) (en banc), involved an appeal of a defendant’s non-custodial sentence and statutory maximum $250,000 fine for income tax invasion. Smith held for the en banc court that the abuse-of-discretion standard applies to appellate review of a district court’s sentence. A court of appeals, Smith wrote, cannot presume that a sentence is unreasonable just because it falls outside the advisory sentencing guidelines range: “if the district court's sentence is procedurally sound, we will affirm it unless no reasonable sentencing court would have imposed the same sentence on that particular defendant for the reasons the district court provided.”
* In ''J.S. ex rel. Snyder v. Blue Mountain School Dist.'', 650 F.3d 915 (3d Cir. 2011) (en banc) (Smith, J., concurring), ''cert. denied'', 565 U.S. 1156 (2012), Smith concurred with the majority’s conclusion that a public school district violated a student’s First Amendment rights by suspending her for creating—from her home computer on a Sunday evening—an internet profile containing her school principal’s photograph and profanity-laced statements insinuating that he was a sex addict and pedophile. But Smith would have held that ''
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
''Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District'', 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The ''Tinker'' test, also ...
'', 393 U.S. 503 (1969), under which school officials may justify a restriction on expression only by showing that the forbidden conduct would materially and substantially disrupt the school’s necessary discipline, does not apply to off-campus speech in the first place.
* Writing for the en banc majority in ''B.H. ex rel. Hawk v. Easton Area School District'', 725 F.3d 293 (3d Cir. 2013) (en banc), ''cert. denied'', 572 U.S. 1002 (2014), Smith held that a school district’s ban on breast-cancer awareness bracelets violated students’ First Amendment rights because the bracelets could plausibly be commenting on political or social issues. The school district’s ban could not be justified under ''
Bethel School District v. Fraser'', 478 U.S. 675 (1986), because the bracelets were not lewd, profane, or offensive. Nor would permitting students to wear them substantially disrupt the school environment, as required under ''Tinker'' to justify restrictions on such expression.
* ''
NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...
v. New Vista Nursing and Rehabilitation'', 719 F.3d 203, 218–44 (3d Cir. 2013), ''abrogated by
NLRB v. Noel Canning'', 573 U.S. 513 (2014): Smith held that the phrase “Recess of the Senate” in the
Recess Appointments Clause “refers to only intersession breaks,” not long intrasession breaks or times where the Senate is not “open to conduct business.” Smith concluded that one NLRB member was invalidly appointed by the president during an intrasession break.
* In ''King v. Governor of State of New Jersey'', 767 F.3d 216 (3d Cir. 2014), ''abrogated by
National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra
''National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra'', 585 U.S. ___ (2018), was a case before the Supreme Court of the United States addressing the constitutionality of California's FACT Act, which mandated that crisis pregnancy centers ...
'', 138 S. Ct. 2361 (2018), Smith held that New Jersey’s prohibition on counselors engaging in sexual orientation change therapy did not violate the counselors’ First Amendment free speech or religious free exercise rights. Smith recognized “professional speech” as a separate category of speech, the content-based regulation of which is not subject to heightened First Amendment
strict scrutiny
In U.S. constitutional law, when a law infringes upon a fundamental constitutional right, the court may apply the strict scrutiny standard. Strict scrutiny holds the challenged law as presumptively invalid unless the government can demonstrate th ...
. Four years later, in a fractured ruling with four Justices dissenting, the Supreme Court held that professional speech of those performing personalized services under a state license is not exempt from the rule that content-based regulations of speech are subject to strict scrutiny.
* ''In re
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
Players Concussion Injury Litig.'', 775 F.3d 570 (3d Cir. 2014): Smith held, as a matter of first impression, that only orders granting or denying
class-action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...
certification pursuant to Rule 23(c)(1) are subject to appellate jurisdiction under Rule 23(f). Smith concluded that the district court’s order preliminarily approving class certification only for settlement purposes was thus unreviewable on
interlocutory appeal
An interlocutory appeal (or interim appeal), in the law of civil procedure in the United States, occurs when a ruling by a trial court is appealed while other aspects of the case are still proceeding. Interlocutory appeals are allowed only under sp ...
.
* In the immigration context, Smith has held that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(e) forecloses subject-matter jurisdiction over habeas challenges to the adequacy of credible fear proceedings conducted pursuant to expedited removal orders. ''Castro v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec.'', 835 F.3d 422 (3d Cir. 2016), ''cert. denied'', 137 S. Ct. 1581 (2017). In ''Castro'', Smith also held that application of § 1252(e) to petitioners apprehended near the border shortly after illegal entry does not violate the Suspension Clause of the U.S. Constitution because such aliens were effectively seeking initial admission to the U.S. and thus had no constitutional rights regarding their applications for admission. In ''
Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam
''Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a United States Supreme Court case involving whether the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which limits ''habeas corpus'' judicial re ...
'', 140 S. Ct. 1959 (2020), the Supreme Court agreed with the ''Castro'' decision in resolving a
Circuit split
In United States federal courts, a circuit split occurs when two or more different circuit courts of appeals provide conflicting rulings on the same legal issue. The existence of a circuit split is one of the factors that the Supreme Court of ...
over whether application of § 1252(e) violates the
Suspension Clause
Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. Under Article One, Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the Sen ...
.
* Confronted with a suit arising out of a mentally ill prisoner’s suicide after repeated stints in solitary confinement, Smith concluded that the parents could sue prison officials and health care providers for Eighth Amendment violations. Smith held that the parents stated claims for deliberate indifference to both the inhumane confinement conditions and the decedent’s serious medical need for mental health care, for failure to train, and for failure to prevent suicide. ''Palakovic v. Wetzel'', 854 F.3d 209 (3d Cir. 2017).
* Presiding over a three-judge panel of the District Court under 28 U.S.C. § 2284, Smith held that Pennsylvania residents were not entitled to a declaratory judgment that a redistricting plan violated the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution by favoring candidates from one political party. ''Agre v. Wolf'', 284 F. Supp. 3d 591 (E.D. Pa. 2018), ''appeal dismissed as moot'', 138 S. Ct. 2756 (2018). Smith concluded that such claims are non-justiciable under
Article III. In 2019, the Supreme Court in a 5–4 decision held that partisan gerrymandering claims present non-justiciable political questions beyond the reach of federal courts. ''
Rucho v. Common Cause
''Rucho v. Common Cause'', No. 18-422, 588 U.S. ___ (2019), is a landmark case of the United States Supreme Court concerning partisan gerrymandering. The Court ruled that while partisan gerrymandering may be "incompatible with democratic principl ...
'', 139 S. Ct. 2484 (2019).
* ''Ragbir v. United States'', 950 F.3d 54 (3d Cir. 2020): Smith examined the historical roots and modern scope of the writ of error
coram nobis
A writ of ''coram nobis'' (also writ of error ''coram nobis'', writ of ''coram vobis'', or writ of error ''coram vobis'') is a legal order allowing a court to correct its original judgment upon discovery of a fundamental error that did not appear i ...
, concluding that petitioner failed to meet the requirements for issuance of the writ.
* ''United States v. Raia'', 954 F.3d 594 (3d Cir.), as revised (Apr. 8, 2020): Smith noted that motions for compassionate release under the
First Step Act
The First Step Act, formally known as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, is a bipartisan criminal justice bill passed by the 115th Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in Decembe ...
are subject to the exhaustion requirements of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1) and held that a motion by a defendant who did not give the Bureau of Prisons 30 days to respond to his request was futile. Smith concluded that “strict compliance with 3582(c)(1)(A)’s exhaustion requirement takes on added—and critical—importance” during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Review by Supreme Court
* ''United States v. Stevens'', 533 F.3d 218 (3d Cir. 2008) (en banc), ''affirmed'',
559 U.S. 460 (2010): Smith declined to recognize depictions of animal cruelty as a
category of speech unprotected by the First Amendment. Smith held that the then-current 18 U.S.C. § 48, which made it illegal to create, sell, or possess depictions of animal cruelty, was unconstitutional because the government lacked a
compelling interest
Government or state interest is a concept in law that allows the state to regulate a given matter. The concept may apply differently in different countries, and the limitations of what should and should not be of government interest vary, and hav ...
in preventing depictions of animal cruelty without regulating the underlying acts of animal cruelty.
* ''Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, Inc.,'' 561 F.3d 233 (3d Cir. 2009), ''affirmed'',
562 U.S. 223 (2011): Smith held that plaintiffs’ state tort law claims of strict liability and negligent design for a vaccine administered to their daughter were preempted by the
National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986 (42 U.S.C. §§ 300aa-1 to 300aa-34) was signed into law by United States President Ronald Reagan as part of a larger health bill on November 14, 1986. NCVIA's purpose was to eliminate t ...
.
* ''Greene v. Palakovich'', 606 F.3d 85 (3d Cir. 2010), ''aff'd sub nom.
Greene v. Fisher'', 565 U.S. 34 (2011): Smith held that the phrase "clearly established Federal law," part of the standard of review for ''
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' petitions since the
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), , was introduced to the United States Congress in April 1995 as a Senate Bill (). The bill was passed with broad bipartisan support by Congress in response to the bombings of th ...
, refers to Supreme Court decisions which existed at the time of the relevant state-court decision.
* ''Manning v.
Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc.'', 772 F.3d 158 (3d Cir. 2014), ''affirmed'',
136 S. Ct. 1562 (2016): Smith held that the exclusive jurisdiction provision, § 27, of the
Exchange Act is coextensive with 28 U.S.C. § 1331, the general federal-question statute.
* ''Knick v. Twp. of Scott'', 862 F.3d 310, 327 (3d Cir. 2017), ''reversed'',
139 S. Ct. 2162, 2178 (2019): Smith acknowledged that the Township's ordinance was "constitutionally suspect," but declined to overlook the state litigation requirement of ''Williamson Countys prudential doctrine. The Supreme Court reversed and overruled the state litigation requirement of its ''Williamson County'' precedent, noting that the continuing evolution of the justification for this prudential doctrine “is another factor undermining the force of ‘stare decisis.’”
* In ''Bognet v. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'', 980 F.3d 336 (3d Cir. 2020), voters and a congressional candidate on the eve of the 2020 election sought to enjoin the counting of mail-in ballots received during a three-day extension of the Commonwealth’s ballot-receipt deadline that was ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Smith held that both sets of plaintiffs lacked standing to sue for the alleged violations of the
Elections Clause
Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. Under Article One, Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the ...
,
Electors Clause
Article Two of the United States Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government, which carries out and enforces federal laws. Article Two vests the power of the executive branch in the office of the president of the Un ...
, and the
Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Separately, Smith wrote, awarding an injunction would have been improvident under the Supreme Court’s decision in ''
Purcell v. Gonzalez'', 549 U.S. 1 (2006) (per curiam), which counsels federal courts against altering election rules immediately before an election. In April 2021, after the election results were certified, the Supreme Court granted the plaintiffs' petition for certiorari in order to vacate the Third Circuit's decision with instruction to dismiss the case as
moot
Moot may refer to:
* Mootness, in American law: a point where further proceedings have lost practical significance; whereas in British law: the issue remains debatable
* Moot court, an activity in many law schools where participants take part in s ...
under the
''Munsingwear'' doctrine. 593 U.S. __ (2021).
Academic
Beginning in January 2022, Smith will be a jurist in residence at Penn State Law teaching class actions and complex litigation and a course in judicial decision-making. Previously, since 2008, Smith had been an adjunct professor at Penn State Law, teaching class actions and complex litigation. In addition, he has been a speaker or a faculty member in academic programs offered by foreign law schools. He also served as a trustee in the past for more than a decade at
Saint Francis University
Saint Francis University (SFU) is a private Catholic university in Loretto, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1847 and conducted under the tradition of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. The university is situated on in the fore ...
and then for a five-year period at
Mount Aloysius College.
Awards
Smith was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Mount Aloysius College in 2012. He has been named an Alumni Fellow by the Penn State Alumni Association, and was given the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2017, the highest honor bestowed by Penn State on an alumnus. He was named the Person of the Year by the Blair and Bedford County Central Labor Council in 1997 and after assisting in an investigation into organized crime in the early 1980s, received a commendation from the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, D. Brooks
1951 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
Dickinson School of Law alumni
Franklin & Marshall College alumni
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
People from Altoona, Pennsylvania
United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush
United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan