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Joseph Louis Tauro (; September 26, 1931 – November 30, 2018) was 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 Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was hel ...
. He was the son of the late Massachusetts Chief Justice
G. Joseph Tauro G. Joseph Tauro (January 10, 1906 – October 6, 1994) was the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1970 to 1976. Biography Tauro was born in Lynn, Massachusetts to an Italy, Italian immigrant cobbler and his wife. ...
.


Education and career

Born in
Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, in 1931, Tauro received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from
Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in 1953 and a
Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from
Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...
in 1956. He was a First Lieutenant in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
from 1956 to 1958, and was 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 District of Massachusetts from 1959 to 1960. He was in private practice in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Lynn, Massachusetts from 1960 to 1971. He was a chief legal counsel to the
Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts ...
, John A. Volpe, from 1965 to 1968. He was the
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
for the District of Massachusetts in 1972.


Federal judicial service

On September 12, 1972, Tauro was nominated by President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
to a seat on the
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was hel ...
vacated by Judge Francis Ford. Tauro was confirmed by 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 October 12, 1972, and received his commission on October 17, 1972. He served as Chief Judge from 1992 to 1999. Tauro took
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 ...
effective September 26, 2013, retaining approximately a 60% caseload with a focus on criminal cases. Until taking
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 ...
, Tauro was the longest-serving active judge appointed by Nixon. Tauro died on November 30, 2018, at his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts.


Notable cases

On July 8, 2010, in the cases of ''
Gill v. Office of Personnel Management ''Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management'', 682 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012) is a United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit decision that affirmed the judgment of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts in a lawsuit challe ...
'' and ''
Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services ''Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services'' 682 F.3d 1 is a United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit decision that affirmed the judgment of the District Court for the District of Massachus ...
'', Tauro issued decisions holding unconstitutional that part of the federal
Defense of Marriage Act The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marr ...
that defined marriage "as a legal union exclusively between one man and one woman." Those decisions were affirmed by the
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maine * District of Massachusetts * ...
, and certiorari was denied after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in ''
United States v. Windsor ''United States v. Windsor'', 570 U.S. 744 (2013), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage. The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition o ...
''.See Massachusetts v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 682 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012) cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2884, 186 L. Ed. 2d 933 (U.S. 2013) and cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2887 (U.S. 2013) and cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2887 (U.S. 2013) In a lawsuit under NEPA involving possible radiations dangers from the original 1978 Pave Paws on Cape Cod he offered the plaintiffs a guided tour of the facility so they could see for themselves how "safe" it was.


See also

*
List of United States federal judges by longevity of service This is a list of Article III United States federal judges by longevity of service. The judges on the lists below were presidential appointees who have been confirmed by the Senate, and who served on the federal bench for over 40 years. It includ ...


References


Sources

* * ''Gill v. OPM'', 1:09-cv-10309-JLT, (D.Mass. July 8, 2010), at 38. Available a
online
* ''Mass. v. US Dept.'' Availabl
online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tauro, Joseph L. 1931 births 2018 deaths People from Winchester, Massachusetts Military personnel from Massachusetts Brown University alumni Cornell Law School alumni United States Attorneys for the District of Massachusetts Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon 20th-century American judges United States Army officers Assistant United States Attorneys