Jerome A. Holmes (born November 18, 1961) is an American lawyer serving as the Chief United States circuit judge 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 ...

. He is the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

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 ...

to serve on the Tenth Circuit.

Early life and education

Holmes graduated from Wake Forest University in 1983 with 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. He then attended the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of the ''Georgetown Immigration Law Journal''. He graduated with 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 ...

in 1988. Later in his career, Holmes studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, receiving a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

in 2000.

Legal career

Holmes began his legal career as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for judge

Wayne Alley Wayne Edward Alley (born May 18, 1932) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. Biography Born in Portland, Oregon, Alley received an Artium Baccalaureus from ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma (in case citations, W.D. Okla. or W.D. Ok.) is a federal court in the Tenth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which ...

from 1988 to 1990. Holmes then clerked for judge William Judson Holloway, Jr. of the Tenth Circuit from 1990 to 1991. After his clerkships, Holmes entered private practice with the law firm Steptoe & Johnson in its

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

office. He practiced at the firm as an associate for three years before he returned to Oklahoma to serve 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 ...

for the Western District of Oklahoma. Holmes served in that capacity from 1994 to 2005. Holmes re-entered private practice in 2005 as a Director of the Oklahoma firm

Crowe & Dunlevy Crowe & Dunlevy is an American law firm headquartered in Oklahoma. Founded in 1902, it is the second largest law firm in Oklahoma with offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Dallas, and is Oklahoma's second oldest law firm."The Journal Record", 2012 ...

, where his practice was focused on white collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation, and corporate law.

Federal judicial service

Holmes was initially nominated for a federal judgeship in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, having been chosen from group of finalists that included Tulsa attorneys Lane Wilson and

John M. O'Connor John Michael O'Connor (born December 5, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 19th attorney general of Oklahoma between 2021 and 2023. O’Connor was previously a shareholder of Hall Estill and a nominee to be a United ...

(Wilson would later serve as U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District before leaving to become General Counsel at the

Williams Companies The Williams Companies, Inc., is an American energy company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its core business is natural gas processing and transportation, with additional petroleum and electricity generation assets. A Fortune 500 company, its commo ...

). While his nomination for a United States District Court seat was pending, Holmes was nominated 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 May 4, 2006, to fill a seat vacated by Judge

Stephanie Kulp Seymour Stephanie Kulp Seymour (born October 16, 1940) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She was the first female federal court judge in Oklahoma. Background and Career Seymour was bor ...

. Bush's previous pick to replace Judge Seymour, United States District Judge

James H. Payne James Hardy Payne (born 1941 in Lubbock, Texas, Lubbock, Texas) is an inactive Senior status, Senior United States federal judge, United States District Judge in Oklahoma, sitting simultaneously on the federal courts for the United States District ...

, withdrew over criticism of his handling of cases in which he allegedly had a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

. 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 ...

confirmed his nomination less than three months later on July 26, 2006, by a 67–30 vote. He received his commission on August 9, 2006. He became the chief judge on October 1, 2022.

Notable cases

*Holmes' first published opinion for the court
''United States v. Ahidley''
was released on May 25, 2007. Holmes wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel holding that a criminal defendant was improperly ordered to pay immediate restitution to the victim of his crime. *Holmes was on the first federal appellate court panel to weigh affirmatively on the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry. He penned an important concurrence on the role of animus in the ban of same-sex marriage in Oklahoma. *In 2017, Holmes found that the

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (, ''et seq.'') is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the act ...

did not permit the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

to force a state to participate in mediation with a tribe after the state had asserted its sovereign immunity.

References

External links

*
Blawg Search - Judge Jerome A. Holmes
* ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/07/30/same-sex-marriage-and-animus/ "Same-sex marriage and animus" by Prof. Dale Carpenter - Washington Post - July 30, 2014br>"Holmes' nomination confirmed," ''Tulsa World'', July 27, 2006Report on Holmes by Alliance for Justice
* ttp://abovethelaw.com/jerome-holmes/ Above The Law - Yo Holmes! The Tenth Circuit's Newest Member - July 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Jerome A. 1961 births Living people 21st-century American judges African-American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Georgetown University Law Center alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush Wake Forest University alumni