Eunice Cheryl Lee (born 1970) is an American lawyer 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 Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

. Born in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, she attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and

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 2021, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Second Circuit after being nominated by President Joe Biden.

Early life and education

Lee was born on a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

base in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, Germany. 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 ...

degree from

in 1993 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

in 1996.

Career

Lee began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Susan J. Dlott on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio from 1996 to 1997, and Judge Eric L. Clay on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 to 2019, she worked with the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City; from 2003 to 2019 she also served as director of recruitment and outreach at the Office of the Appellate Defender. She joined the office as a staff attorney and was named supervising attorney in 2001. She served as an adjunct assistant professor of clinical law at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

from 2003 to 2019, teaching a criminal appellate defense clinic. On January 26, 2022, it was speculated by some media outlets that Lee would be considered by Joe Biden as a nominee to replace

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 ...

on the U.S. Supreme Court. Biden ultimately chose U.S. Court of Appeals judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Federal judicial service

On May 12, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Lee to serve as a

for the

to the seat vacated by Judge

Robert Katzmann Robert Allen Katzmann (April 22, 1953 – June 9, 2021) was a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2020. Early life Rober ...

, who 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 January 21, 2021. On June 9, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, she distanced herself from the contents of a letter she wrote as an

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

undergrad in 1991, which talks about Thomas being a "black conservative." On July 15, 2021, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 11–10 vote, with Senator Lindsey Graham passed on the vote. On August 5, 2021, the Senate invoked cloture on Lee's nomination by a 50–49 vote, with Senator Graham absent. On August 7, 2021, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–47 vote. Upon confirmation, Lee became the longest-serving

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

to ever serve as a judge on a U.S. Court of Appeals. She is the second

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

woman ever to serve on the Second Circuit and was the only judge with experience as a federal defender serving on that circuit court until the confirmation of

Sarah A. L. Merriam Sarah Ann Leilani Merriam (born 1971) is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She is a former United States magistrate judge of the United States District Cou ...

. She received her commission on August 16, 2021.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Eunice C. 1970 births Living people 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women judges African-American judges African-American lawyers Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit New York (state) lawyers New York University School of Law faculty Ohio State University alumni People from Wiesbaden Public defenders United States court of appeals judges appointed by Joe Biden Yale Law School alumni

Early life and education

Career

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links