Matthew William Brann (born July 25, 1965) is the Chief United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, M.D. Pa.) is a district level federal court with jurisdiction over approximately one half of Pennsylvania. The court was created in 1901 by subdividing t ...

Early life and education

Brann was born in Elmira,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, on July 25, 1965. He received his

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 in 1987 from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

. He received 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 1990 from the

Dickinson School of Law Penn State Dickinson Law, formerly Dickinson School of Law, is a public law school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is one of two separately accredited law schools of The Pennsylvania State University. According to Penn State Dickinson Law's 2019 ...

of the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

Career

From 1990 to 1991, he served 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 ...

with the Court of Common Pleas in Bradford County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He became an associate at Brann, Williams, Caldwell & Sheetz in 1991, becoming a partner at that firm in 1995. He also spent years as a Republican Party official in

and was active in 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 ...

and

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

. In private practice, he focused on tort, contract, commercial, and real estate litigation.

Federal judicial service

On May 17, 2012, President

Barack 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, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Brann to be a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, to the seat vacated by Judge

Thomas I. Vanaskie Thomas Ignatius Vanaskie (born November 11, 1953) is a former United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and former Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. E ...

, who was elevated to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * Ea ...

in 2010. Brann was recommended by Republican Senator

Pat Toomey Patrick Joseph Toomey Jr. (born November 17, 1961) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator for Pennsylvania since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms as the U.S. representat ...

as part of a paired nomination with a recommendation by Democratic Senator

Bob Casey Jr. Robert Patrick Casey Jr. (born April 13, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Pennsylvania, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, Casey previously served as Penn ...

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 ...

held a hearing on his nomination on June 27, 2012, and reported it to the floor on July 19, 2012. The Senate confirmed his nomination by

unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...

on December 21, 2012. He received his commission on December 27, 2012. Brann entered on duty as a United States District Judge on January 17, 2013. He sits at the United States Courthouse and Federal Building in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It recorded a population of 27,754 at the 2020 Census. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a popula ...

. In September 2019, Brann was admonished by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for making conclusions a jury should address and for glossing over serious disputes regarding the facts of a case.

Notable rulings

Brann presided over the case ''Donald J. Trump for President v. Boockvar'' in which the

Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign Incumbent Republican Donald Trump led an unsuccessful campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election. He was inaugurated for his first term on January 20, 2017, and officially announced his reelection campaign on June 18, 2019. Do ...

sought to block the certification of the nearly seven million

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

votes cast in Pennsylvania. This case is one of the lawsuits challenging results from states won by president-elect Joe Biden. During an appearance before the court, Trump's lead attorney

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

asserted there was “widespread, nationwide voter fraud,” but under questioning by Brann, Giuliani stated, "This is not a fraud case." Brann dismissed the case

with prejudice Prejudice is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, "prejudice" differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical meanings. ...

on November 21, 2020, citing "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations" which were "unsupported by evidence". Judge Brann also ruled an evidentiary hearing was not needed. He stated that the Trump team's argument "like

Frankenstein's Monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

, has been haphazardly stitched together from two distinct theories in an attempt to avoid controlling precedent" and characterized the requested remedy to disqualify the votes as "unhinged from the underlying right being asserted." The Trump campaign appealed to the

, where a three-judge panel ruled on November 27 that the District Court under Brann had been correct in preventing the Trump campaign from amending its complaint a second time. The panel also praised the District Court under Brann, stating that it had demonstrated "fast, fair, patient handling of this demanding litigation".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brann, Matthew William 1965 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers Dickinson School of Law alumni Federalist Society members Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania Republicans People from Elmira, New York University of Notre Dame alumni United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama