Donald Marsh Middlebrooks (born December 31, 1946) is a
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
.
Education and career
Middlebrooks was born in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
. He received a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...
degree from the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
in 1968. He 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 ...
from the
Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida in 1972, and had served as student government president during his time in law school.
From 1973 to 1974, Middlebrooks was in private practice in Orlando, and was an assistant general counsel, governmental assistant, and general counsel for
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Reubin Askew
Reubin O'Donovan Askew (September 11, 1928 – March 13, 2014) was an American politician, who served as the 37th governor of Florida from 1971 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 7th U.S. Trade representative from 1979 ...
from 1974 to 1977. He returned to private practice for the next twenty years in
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...
.
U.S. district judge
Middlebrooks serves as a United States district judge of the
.
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 January 7, 1997 to a seat vacated by
James W. Kehoe
James W. Kehoe (September 27, 1925 – December 13, 1998) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Education and career
Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Kehoe received an Associat ...
, Middlebrooks 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 May 23, 1997, and received his commission on May 27, 1997.
Notable cases
* ''Electronic Frontier Foundation vs. Shipping & Transit'' (2016): Middlebrooks dismissed the case against
patent troll
In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...
Martin Kelly Jones (Case No.:16-CV-80855-MIDDLEBROOKS/BRANNON).
* ''
Donald J. Trump v. Hillary R. Clinton, et.al (2022)'': Middlebrooks dismissed the suit brought by
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
against
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, the
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
, and 26 others, seeking damages for alleged conduct surrounding the
2016 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*7 January: Kirib ...
.
Donald J. Trump v Hillary R Clinton, et. al.
' (2022), US District Court for the Southern District of Florida (2:22-cv-14102-DMM Document 267), p.2. p.65 Middlebrooks concluded that "most of Plaintiff’s claims are not only unsupported by any legal authority but plainly foreclosed by binding precedent as set forth by the Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit." and that Trump "is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm; instead, he is seeking to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him, and this Court is not the appropriate forum."
Two months after he dismissed the case, Middlebrooks assessed Trump's lawyers $50,000 in penalties, plus $16,000 to cover the legal fees paid by one of the defendants. In a later ruling, he imposed additional sanctions of $937,989.39 on Trump and his lead law firm in the litigation for bringing a lawsuit “in bad faith for an improper purpose” that “needlessly harmed” the defendants, “in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative.”
References
External links
*
1946 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Lawyers from Orlando, Florida
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
University of Florida alumni
Members of the American Law Institute
{{US-federal-judge-stub