Richard Joseph Sullivan (born April 10, 1964) is an American lawyer who serves as a
United States circuit judge
In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...
. He was formerly a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
from 2007 to 2018.
Background and education
Sullivan was born in
Manhasset
Manhasset is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 at the 2020 United States ce ...
,
New York. He graduated from
Chaminade High School
Chaminade High School is a Roman Catholic Marianist college preparatory high school for boys in Mineola, New York, United States. Chaminade’s main campus is also home to Saragossa Retreat Center, one of their three retreat houses.
Athletics
T ...
in 1982 and earned a
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 year ...
in government and English at the
College of William & Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...
in 1986. He received a
Juris Doctor from
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...
in 1990.
Legal career
After law school, Sullivan worked as a
law clerk to Judge
David M. Ebel of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* District of Colorado
* District of Kansas
* Distr ...
and as a litigation associate at
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is an American law firm in New York City. The firm is known for corporate law, regularly handling large and complex transactions. On both a profit per lawyer, and profit per equity partner basis, it is the most p ...
.
[
From 1994 to 2005, Sullivan served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the ]Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
, where he successfully prosecuted the Maisonet heroin organization, which sold approximately $100,000 worth of heroin per day in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx and carried out numerous murders in aid of its racketeering activity. Among those prosecuted in that case was Bronx defense attorney Pat Stiso, who acted as house counsel to the RICO enterprise. Other notable cases included the investigation and indictment of Mario Villanueva Madrid
Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, sometimes known as "El Chueco",''Chueco'' is a Spanish adjective meaning "crooked"; it was originally a reference to Villanueva's facial features which are affected by some sort of facial paralysisUNESCO./ref> ...
, who as governor of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo accepted millions of dollars from Mexican drug cartels in exchange for providing safe passage for ton quantities of cocaine en route to the United States. Madrid was eventually extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy.
In 2002, Sullivan became chief of the newly created International Narcotics Trafficking Unit (INT), which was responsible for investigating and prosecuting the world's largest and most powerful narcotics organizations. Among the noteworthy defendants prosecuted by that unit were Colombia kingpins Alberto Orlandez Gamboa, Diego Murillo Bejarano, and Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela; Afghan warlord Bashir Noorzai; Dutch ecstasy kingpin Henk Rommy; and the leadership of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...
(FARC).
Sullivan was named Prosecutor of the Year by the Federal Law Enforcement Association in 1998 and was awarded the Henry L. Stimson Medal from the New York City Bar Association in 2003. In 2005, Sullivan joined Marsh, Inc., a global risk and insurances firm, as deputy general counsel for litigation. He was named general counsel of Marsh in June 2006.
Federal judicial service
District court service
On February 15, 2007, Sullivan was nominated by President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
to the seat on the vacated by Judge Michael Mukasey
Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009.
Born in New York City in 1941, Mukasey attended Ramaz School, gradua ...
, who assumed senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
on August 1, 2006. Sullivan 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 ...
by a 99–0 vote on June 28, 2007, and received his commission on August 1, 2007. Sullivan was among the "Judges to Watch" named in the September 2012 issue of ''The American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.[Fordham University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test t ...]
, where he teaches courses on white collar crime and trial advocacy, and Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
, where he teaches a course on sentencing. In 2015, Above the Law listed Sullivan as one of several District Court "feeder" judges who have sent multiple former clerks on to Supreme Court clerkships. His service on the district court terminated on October 25, 2018, upon elevation to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...
.[
]
Court of appeals service
On April 26, 2018, President Donald 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 P ...
announced his intent to nominate Sullivan to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...
.[ ] On May 7, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Richard C. Wesley, who assumed senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
on August 1, 2016. On August 1, 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 ...
. On September 13, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 17–4 vote. On October 11, 2018, his nomination was confirmed by a 79–16 vote. He received his judicial commission on October 17, 2018.[
]
Memberships
Sullivan is 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. Headquarter ...
.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Richard Joseph
1964 births
Living people
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
Assistant United States Attorneys
College of William & Mary alumni
Columbia Law School faculty
Federalist Society members
Fordham University faculty
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Lawyers from New York City
New York (state) lawyers
People from Manhasset, New York
United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush
United States court of appeals judges appointed by Donald Trump
Yale Law School alumni
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz people