Jabari Brooks Wamble (born 1979) is an American lawyer who is the nominee to serve as 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 Kansas The United States District Court for the District of Kansas (in case citations, D. Kan.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Kansas. The Court operates out of the Robert J. Dole United States Courthouse in Kansas Ci ...

. He is the former nominee of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Dist ...

Education

Wamble earned a

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 the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

in 2002 and 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

University of Kansas School of Law The University of Kansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Kansas, a public research university in Lawrence, Kansas. The University of Kansas Law School was founded in 1893, replacing the earlier Department of Law, which had exi ...

in 2006.

Career

In 2006 and 2007, Wamble served as an

Assistant District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

in the Johnson County

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

's Office. From 2007 to 2011, he was an

Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general. The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...

in the Office of the Kansas Attorney General. Wamble has 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 ...

in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas since 2011.

Notable cases

*In 2011, Wamble prosecuted Luis Lozano-Lara who was not a citizen of the United States. He was charged with unlawfully re-entering the United States after having been convicted of an

aggravated felony The term aggravated felony was used in the United States immigration law to refer to a broad category of criminal offenses that carry certain severe consequences for aliens seeking asylum, legal permanent resident status, citizenship, or avoidance ...

and deported. *In 2013, Wamble prosecuted Advantage Framing, a framing company in

Spring Hill, Kansas Spring Hill is a city in Johnson and Miami counties in the U.S. state of Kansas, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,952. History In 1856, James B. Hovey named the community aft ...

charged with harboring

undocumented workers Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

employed by the company. The company allegedly issued checks to crew leaders, who then cashed the checks and paid the workers in cash. The company didn’t pay the undocumented workers

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

costs,

workers compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

unemployment benefits Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployment, unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are fun ...

that would be paid to lawfully employed workers. The three owners of the company were each sentenced to 366 days in prison. *In 2015, Wamble prosecuted Dale Williamson of

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, who pleaded guilty to five counts of

bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...

. He was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison. *In 2016, Wamble prosecuted Alan Wenk on 20 counts of

bank fraud Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many ins ...

in connection with an embezzlement scheme at

Lenexa Lenexa is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is one of four principal cities of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and 9th most populated city of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,434. It is th ...

-based Performance Contracting Group (PCG) that netted $135,000. Wenk was sentenced to 15 months in Federal prison. *In 2016, Wamble prosecuted

Overland Park Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As o ...

businessman Richard Ballard on two counts of

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to fraud, defraud another, and are Federal crime in the United States, federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the ...

after he raised about $1.23 million from 18 people for five business ventures Ballard founded. Ballard was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $415,000 in

restitution The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court o ...

. *In 2016, Wamble prosecuted Susan Wooten-Robb, a former employee at Community America Credit Union for

embezzling Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

$34,000 from two customer accounts and a teller drawer. She was sentenced to three years

supervised release Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

and ordered to reimburse the full amount of the money she stole in exchange for her guilty plea. *In March 2022, a federal judge ordered Kansas businessman Charlie James to pay approximately $215,000 in restitution and serve one year of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

as part of his sentence for failing to pay over

payroll tax Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees, and are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the em ...

collections to the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

. James was the co-owner of KC United, LLC and pleaded guilty to one count of

conspiracy to defraud Conspiracy to defraud is an offence under the common law of England and Wales and Northern Ireland. England and Wales The standard definition of a conspiracy to defraud was provided by Lord Dilhorne in '' Scott v Metropolitan Police Commissioner'' ...

the United States. Jabari Wamble prosecuted the case.

Expired nomination to federal court of appeals

On August 9, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Wamble to serve 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

. On September 6, 2022, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Wamble to the seat vacated by Judge

Mary Beck Briscoe Mary Kathryn Beck Briscoe (born April 4, 1947) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Early life and education Briscoe was born in Council Grove, Kansas, and grew up on a farm ne ...

, 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 March 15, 2021. On January 3, 2023, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of 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 ...

Nomination to district court

On February 22, 2023, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Wamble to serve as a

of the

. On February 27, 2023, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Wamble to the seat vacated by Judge

Julie A. Robinson Julie Ann Robinson (born January 14, 1957) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Education and career Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Robinson received a Bachelor of Science from the ...

, who assumed

on January 14, 2022. His nomination is pending before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...

Personal life

Wamble is married to Marissa Cleaver and is the

son-in-law Son-in-Law (22 April 1911 – 15 May 1941) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and an influential sire, especially for sport horses. The National Horseracing Museum says Son-in-Law is "probably the best and most distinguished stayer this count ...

of Missouri

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Emanuel Cleaver Emanuel Cleaver II (born October 26, 1944) is a United Methodist pastor and American politician who has represented in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005. Cleaver represents a district that includes the southern three-fourths of Kans ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wamble, Jabari 1979 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers African-American lawyers Assistant United States Attorneys Kansas lawyers People from Oklahoma City University of Kansas alumni University of Kansas School of Law alumni