Robert Edward Blackburn (born April 12, 1950) is a
senior United States district judge of the
United States District Court for the District of Colorado.
Personal life and education
Blackburn was born in
Lakewood Lakewood may refer to:
Places Australia
* Lakewood, Western Australia, an abandoned town in Western Australia
Canada
* Lakewood, Edmonton, Alberta
* Lakewood Suburban Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Philippines
* Lakewood, Zamboanga del S ...
,
Colorado. He received a
Bachelor of Arts degree from
Western State College of Colorado
Western Colorado University (Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 2,600 undergraduate and 400 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state.
Western offers more than 100 undergraduate areas ...
in 1972. He received 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 ...
from the
University of Colorado Law School in 1974. He was in private practice in
Las Animas, Colorado, from 1975 to 1980. He was a deputy district attorney of Sixteenth Judicial District Attorney's Office, Colorado from 1980 to 1986. He was a
county attorney of
Bent County, Colorado, from 1980 to 1988. He was a Municipal judge, Town of
Kim
Kim or KIM may refer to:
Names
* Kim (given name)
* Kim (surname)
** Kim (Korean surname)
*** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties
**** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948
** Kim, Vietnamese ...
, Colorado, from 1985 to 1988. He was a judge on the Sixteenth Judicial District of Colorado from 1988 to 2002.
Federal judicial service
Blackburn was nominated to be a United States District Judge for the
United States District Court for the District of Colorado by President
George W. Bush on September 10, 2001, to a seat vacated by
Zita Leeson Weinshienk
Zita Leeson Weinshienk (April 3, 1933 – October 7, 2022) was an American lawyer who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado from 1979 to 2011. She was inducted into the Colorado ...
. He was confirmed by the
United States Senate on February 26, 2002, and received his commission on March 6, 2002. He assumed
senior status on April 12, 2016.
Jurisprudence in practice
Individual rights
Blackburn has argued that the
Fifth Amendment protection from individuals being compelled to testifying against themselves does not apply to testimony which is required to decrypt a protected data source in order to provide prosecutors with evidence. He suggests that the convenience of prosecutors in acquiring evidence in this manner overrules the otherwise inalienable right to avoid being "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself".
Critics have argued that since the password to an encrypted data source is a part of the defendant's mind, compelled testimony to reveal it is a direct violation of the Fifth Amendment.
References
External links
*
Robert E. BlackburnDistrict of Colorado
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, Robert Edward
1950 births
Living people
Colorado state court judges
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado
People from Lakewood, Colorado
United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush
21st-century American judges
University of Colorado Law School alumni
Western Colorado University alumni