Maurice Miller Baker (born 1962)United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: M. Miller Baker
/ref> is a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

of the

United States Court of International Trade The United States Court of International Trade (case citations: Int'l Trade or Intl. Trade) is a U.S. federal court that adjudicates civil actions arising out of U.S. customs and international trade laws. Seated in New York City, it exercises ...

Education and military service

Baker attended

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

and earned 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 ...

from

Tulane University Law School Tulane University Law School is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in the United States. In addition to the usual common ...

. From 1986 to 1994, Baker served as a Naval Reserve intelligence officer in the Selected Reserve and earned an Honorable Discharge."President Donald J. Trump Announces Fifteenth Wave of Judicial Nominees, Fourteenth Wave of United States Attorney Nominees, and Ninth Wave of United States Marshal Nominees" White House, June 7, 2018

Legal career

After graduating from law school, Baker served as a law clerk to Judge John Malcolm Duhé Jr. of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (in case citations, W.D. La.) is a United States federal court with jurisdiction over approximately two thirds of the state of Louisiana, with courts in Alexandria, Lafayette, ...

and Judge

Thomas Gibbs Gee Thomas Gibbs Gee (December 9, 1925 – October 25, 1994) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Education and career Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Gee received a Bachelor of Science degre ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

. Baker then worked at the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

as an attorney-advisor in the

Office of Legal Policy The Office of Legal Policy (OLP) is a division within the United States Department of Justice which describes itself as the "focal point for the development and coordination of Departmental policy." In addition to rendering legal advice to the Un ...

and as a special assistant to the

United States 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 ...

for

Civil Rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

. From 1989 to 1991, he practiced as an associate at Myerson & Kuhn, Dilworth Paxson, and Carr Goodson & Lee in successive periods. From 1991 to 1993, Baker served as counsel to Senator

Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator ...

on the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary 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 ...

. He then returned to Carr Maloney, where he became a partner in 1996. From 2000 to 2019 he served as a litigation partner and co-chair of the appellate practice group in the Washington, D.C., office of

McDermott Will & Emery McDermott Will & Emery is an international law firm with a diversified business practice. The firm is one of the largest grossing law firms in the US and globally, and its lawyers represent a wide range of commercial, industrial and financial e ...

. As an appellate attorney, he argued appeals in the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

and nine of the thirteen federal courts of appeals. As a trial attorney, he appeared in state and federal trial courts in seventeen states and the

District of Columbia ) , 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, ...

Trade Court service

On June 7, 2018,

President 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 Baker to serve as a

of the

. On June 18, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Baker to the seat vacated by Judge Donald C. Pogue, 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 July 1, 2014. On November 28, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held 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 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,

announced his intent to renominate Baker 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 13–9 vote. On August 1, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a

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 December 18, 2019.

Affiliations and memberships

Baker has been a member of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered ...

since 1985.

References

External links

*
Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court
from the

Oyez Project The Oyez Project at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law is an unofficial online multimedia archive of the Supreme Court of the United States, especially audio of oral arguments. The website "aims to be a complete an ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Maurice Miller 1962 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Federalist Society members Judges of the United States Court of International Trade Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Louisiana lawyers Louisiana Republicans Louisiana State University alumni People from Houma, Louisiana Tulane University Law School alumni United States Department of Justice lawyers United States Navy officers United States Navy reservists United States Senate lawyers Virginia lawyers Virginia Republicans United States federal judges appointed by Donald Trump