John Milton Younge (born July 19, 1955) 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 Eastern District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, E.D. Pa.) is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Phila ...

Biography

Younge received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1977 from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, 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 ...

in 1981 from

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the oldes ...

, and a Master of Judicial Studies in 2011 from the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

. He began his legal career as a solo practitioner in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

from 1982 to 1985. From 1985 to 1995, Younge worked at the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, serving as Deputy Executive Director and subsequently as

General Counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

from 1991 to 1995. From 1996 to 2019, Younge was a Judge on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, where he presided over both criminal and civil cases. Younge served on the Ward Executive Committee with the Philadelphia Democratic Party since 1984, when he served on the Ward Executive Committee for the Party. Younge won election to the bench as a Democrat and ran twice unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the

Pennsylvania Superior Court The Superior Court of Pennsylvania is one of two Pennsylvania intermediate appellate courts (the other being the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania). It is based in Harrisburg. Jurisdiction The Superior Court hears appeals in criminal and most ...

Federal judicial service

Expired nomination to district court under Obama

On July 30, 2015,

President 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 (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

nominated Younge to serve as a United States District Judge of the

, to the seat vacated by Judge

Mary A. McLaughlin Mary A. McLaughlin (born 1946) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Education and career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, McLaughlin received a Bache ...

, 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 November 18, 2013. He received a hearing 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 ...

on December 9, 2015. His nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the

114th Congress The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from Ja ...

Renomination to district court under Trump

On July 13, 2018, President

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 ...

announced his intent to nominate Younge to a seat on the

."President Donald J. Trump Announces Sixteenth Wave of Judicial Nominees, Sixteenth Wave of United States Attorney Nominees, and Eleventh Wave of United States Marshal Nominees" White House, July 13, 2018
On July 17, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump re-nominated Younge to the same seat to which President Obama had previously nominated him. On January 3, 2019, 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 ...

. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Younge for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 15–7 vote with the seven negative votes coming from Republicans. On July 31, 2019, the Senate confirmed his nomination 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 ...

. He received his judicial commission on August 20, 2019.

References

External links