Thomas Shawn Kleeh (born September 14, 1974) is the Chief United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia The United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia (in case citations, N.D. W. Va.) is a federal court in the Fourth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are ...

Biography

Kleeh was born and raised in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

and graduated from Wheeling Central High School. He earned his

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

from

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

and 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 the

West Virginia University College of Law The West Virginia University College of Law is the professional school for the study of law at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. The law school was established in 1878 as the first professional school in the s ...

, where he was inducted into the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

. From 1999 to 2018, he practiced with Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, and specialized in labor and employment issues covering both the public and private sectors. He rose to become a member of the firm before becoming a judge. He also served as counsel to the

West Virginia Senate The West Virginia Senate is the upper house of the West Virginia Legislature. There are seventeen senatorial districts. Each district has two senators who serve staggered four-year terms. Although the Democratic Party held a supermajority in the ...

's Committee on the Judiciary.

Federal judicial service

In the summer of 2017, Kleeh met with Senators

Shelley Moore Capito Shelley Wellons Moore Capito ( ; born November 26, 1953) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from West Virginia since 2015. A me ...

and

Joe Manchin Joseph Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Manchin was the 34th governor of ...

and received their recommendation to the Trump administration for a federal judgeship. On February 12, 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 Pe ...

announced his intent to nominate Kleeh to an undetermined seat on the

. On February 15, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Kleeh to the seat vacated by Judge Irene Patricia Murphy Keeley, 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 August 12, 2017. On April 25, 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 May 24, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 14–7 vote. On October 11, 2018, his nomination was confirmed by a 65–30 vote. He received his judicial commission on November 5, 2018. He became Chief Judge on March 19, 2022. As of 2022, Kleeh is overseeing the trial for the murder of

Whitey Bulger James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bost ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleeh, Thomas Shawn 1974 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia Lawyers from Wheeling, West Virginia United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump University of Charleston West Virginia University alumni West Virginia University College of Law alumni