George Levi Russell III (born September 4, 1965) 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 United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Biography

George Levi Russell III was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He received his

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

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

in 1988. He received his

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 University of Maryland School of Law in 1991. He served as a law clerk for Judge

Robert M. Bell Robert Mack Bell (born July 6, 1943) is an American lawyer and jurist from Baltimore, Maryland. From 1996 to 2013, he served as Chief Judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state. He was the first African American to hol ...

of the Maryland Court of Appeals from 1991 to 1992. He worked at Hazel & Thomas PC from 1992 to 1994. He served as 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 1994 to 1999 handling civil matters. He worked at the law firm of Peter G. Angelos, PC from 2000 to 2002. He again served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 2002 to 2007 handling criminal cases. He was appointed as an associate judge of the Circuit Court of Maryland in Baltimore where he served from 2007 until 2012.

Federal judicial service

On November 10, 2011, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Russell to be a District Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. He would replace Judge

Peter Jo Messitte Peter Jo Messitte (born July 17, 1941) is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Early life and education Messitte was born on July 17, 1 ...

who took senior status in 2008. He received his hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 26, 2012 and his nomination was reported to the floor on February 16, 2012 by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

, with Senator Mike Lee recording the only no vote. On May 14, 2012, the Senate confirmed his nomination by

. He received his commission on May 22, 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, George L. III 1965 births African-American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland Living people Maryland state court judges Morehouse College alumni United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama 21st-century American judges University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law alumni