Brian Theadore "Ted" Stewart (born 1948) is a senior United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Utah The United States District Court for the District of Utah (in case citations, D. Utah) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Utah. The court is based in Salt Lake City with another courtroom leased in thstate courtho ...

Early life and education

Born in Logan,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, Stewart received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree from

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

in 1972 and 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 S.J. Quinney College of Law at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Professional career

From 1974 until 1980, Stewart worked in private legal practice in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. He then served as an assistant to

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

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 ...

in 1980, and then worked as an administrative assistant to

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

James V. Hansen James Vear Hansen (August 14, 1932 – November 14, 2018) was an American Republican politician from Utah, who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 2003. Early life and education Hansen was born in Salt Lake C ...

from 1981 until 1985. From 1985 until 1992, Stewart was a commissioner on the

Public Service Commission of Utah The Utah Division of Public Utilities regulates the energy, telecommunications, gas and water companies located in Utah. See also * Public Utilities Commission External links Utah Division of Public Utilities Website Utah State agencies o ...

. From 1993 until 1998, Stewart served as the executive director of Utah's Department of Natural Resources. From 1998 until becoming a federal judge in 1999, Stewart served as a chief of staff to then-Utah Governor

Mike Leavitt Michael Okerlund Leavitt (born February 11, 1951) is an American politician who served as the List of Governors of Utah, 14th Governor of Utah from 1993 to 2003 in the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, as Administrator of the E ...

Nomination to federal district court, filibuster and confirmation

In mid-1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Stewart to federal district court to fill a seat vacated by Judge John Thomas Greene, who had taken

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 ...

in November 1997. Clinton, a Democrat, nominated Stewart, a Republican, because Stewart was a friend of Senator

of Utah, and Hatch at that time was the chairman of 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 ...

. Clinton did so as a courtesy to Hatch, hoping the gesture would encourage Republican senators to act to confirm many of the president's languishing judicial nominees. However, Hatch demanded that Stewart be confirmed before senators could consider other judicial nominees. That enraged Senate Democrats, who refused to allow for a vote on Stewart. That prompted Republican senators to take the then very rare move of filing for

cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ...

on the nomination of a federal district judge. On September 21, 1999, Democrats unified to successfully filibuster Stewart's nomination, in a 55-44 party-line vote on the Senate floor that may well have been the only successful filibuster ever on a federal district court nominee. Two weeks later, Democratic and Republican senators announced a deal that paved the way for votes on the nominations of Stewart and two other judicial nominees. On October 5, 1999, the Senate vote 93-5 to confirm Stewart. Stewart received his judicial commission on November 11, 1999. He served as Chief Judge from 2011 to 2014. He assumed

on September 1, 2014.

Notable case

Stewart made the initial ruling in favor of the terms-of sale restrictions on the easement in the LDS plaza by the

Salt Lake Temple The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple ...

Personal

Stewart is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. With his brother, Chris Stewart, he wrote the book <
Seven Miracles That Saved America: Why They Matter and Why We Should Have Hope
/u>, which was published in 2009, and the book <
The Miracle of Freedom: 7 Tipping Points that Saved the World
/u>, which was published in 2011. In 2017, he wrote the book <
Supreme Power: 7 Pivotal Supreme Court Decisions That Had a Major Impact on America
/u>.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Ted 1948 births Living people 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges American Latter Day Saints Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Utah People from Logan, Utah United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Utah alumni Utah State University alumni Utah State University faculty