Linda Rae Reade (born February 1, 1948) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

Early life and education

Born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Reade graduated from Drake University with her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970, Iowa State University with a Master of Science degree in 1973, and Drake University Law School 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 ...

with honors and Order of the Coif in 1980. During law school, Reade worked at two firms in

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, Rosenberg & Marguiles and Brown, Winick, Graves, Donnelly, & Baskerville, and campaigned for

Lawrence Pope Lawrence Edgar Pope (February 29, 1940 – May 22, 2013) was an American educator and politician. Born in Rockford, Illinois, Pope grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. He received his bachelors and law degrees from Drake University. He practiced law, ...

. She also published a case note in the

Drake Law Review Drake University Law School is a professional graduate law school of Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa. The school has over 330 full-time students. The school is led by Dean Jerry Anderson. Founded in 1865, Drake Law School is one of t ...

Legal and state judicial career

After graduation, Reade was in private practice as an attorney in Des Moines at Brown, Winick from 1980 to 1981, at Rosenberg & Marguiles from 1981 to 1984, and at Rosenberg, Rosenberg, & Reade from 1984 to 1986. She also served as president of the Des Moines

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

from 1985 to 1987. Reade 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 ...

in the

U.S. Attorney's Office United States attorneys are officials of the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 United States federal judicial district, U.S. federal judici ...

for the Southern District of Iowa from 1986 to 1993, serving as Chief of the General Criminal Prosecutions Division from 1990 to 1993. Reade was appointed to serve on the Iowa District Court in Des Moines in 1993 and continued until her appointment to the federal bench in 2002. During that time, she served on many committees for the Iowa Supreme Court, the Iowa Judges' Association, and the Iowa State Bar Association. While she served on the District Court, 18 of her cases were reversed.

Federal judicial career

On Senator Chuck Grassley's recommendation, President George W. Bush nominated Reade to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa on June 26, 2002, to a seat vacated by Michael Joseph Melloy. The

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

confirmed her on November 14, 2002, and she received her commission on November 26. She became Chief Judge on January 1, 2007. Her term as Chief Judge ended on February 11, 2017. She assumed senior status on October 1, 2017.

Notable cases

Rubashkin case

Reade presided over the trial and sentencing of kosher

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

operator

Sholom Rubashkin Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin (born October 30, 1959) is a convicted felon and the former CEO of Agriprocessors, a now-bankrupt kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, formerly owned by his father, Aaron Rubashkin. Dur ...

. The case and Reade's 27-year sentence garnered the attention of many prominent politicians and received widespread media coverage. Rubashkin alleged on appeal that Reade improperly met with prosecutors before the Postville raid without disclosing her involvement, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit unanimously affirmed. On December 20, 2017, after having served eight years of his 27-year sentence, Donald Trump commuted Rubashkin's sentence to time served, and he was released from prison that day.

Aossey case

Reade presided over the case of William Aossey, the founder of Midamar Corporation and Islamic Services of America, who was convicted of fraud for falsifying labels on beef exported to Malaysia and Indonesia. Aossey was found guilty and Reade departed from federal guidelines, sentencing Aossey to two years.

Dierks case

On June 13, 2018, Reade sentenced Joseph Dierks to six years in prison for threatening to kill Senator Joni Ernst on Twitter. The sentence, which exceeded federal sentencing guidelines, was imposed on Dierks for disparaging comments he made regarding Reade, the prosecutor, the prosecutor's children, and black corrections officers.

References

Sources

* *Judge Linda R. Reade at The Robing Room, A judge ranking website. https://web.archive.org/web/20101225030406/http://therobingroom.com/Judge.aspx?ID=1793 {{DEFAULTSORT:Reade, Linda Rae 1948 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges Assistant United States Attorneys Drake University alumni Drake University Law School alumni Iowa state court judges Iowa State University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa Lawyers from Des Moines, Iowa Politicians from Sioux Falls, South Dakota United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush