William Shaw Stickman IV (born 1979) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Education

Stickman earned 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 ...

, ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'', in 2002 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 ...

in 2005 from Duquesne University in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He was a member of the ''Duquesne Law Review'' during law school."President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees, United States Attorney Nominee, and United States Marshal Nominees" White House, May 3, 2019

Legal career

From 2006 to 2007, Stickman 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 ...

to Chief Justice

Ralph Cappy Ralph J. Cappy (August 25, 1943 – May 1, 2009) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1990 to 1998 and chief justice of the Court from 2003 to 2008. Prior to joining the state Supreme Court, Cappy was named to the Allegheny Co ...

of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He was then hired as an associate with Del Sole Cavanaugh Stroyd LLC in 2007 and became a partner in 2013, where his practice focused on commercial litigation and

appellate In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

matters. From 2011 to 2017, he served on the Pennsylvania Civil Procedural Rules Committee.

Federal judicial service

On May 3, 2019, 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 Stickman to serve as a

for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. On May 13, 2019, President Trump nominated Stickman to the seat vacated by Judge

Joy Flowers Conti Joy Flowers Conti (born December 7, 1948) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Early life and education Born in Kane, Pennsylvania, Conti grew up in an army famil ...

, 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 December 6, 2018. On June 5, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On June 27, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On July 30, 2019, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

voted 57–31 to invoke cloture on his nomination. On July 31, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a 56–34 vote. He received his judicial commission on August 5, 2019.

Notable ruling

On September 14, 2020, Stickman ruled that the stay at home order issued by

Pennsylvania Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforc ...

Tom Wolf Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett in the 2014 guber ...

amidst the coronavirus pandemic was unconstitutional, violating the right to freedom of assembly guaranteed by the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. The Wolf administration filed an appeal for a stay of the ruling. On October 1, 2020, Stickman's ruling was stayed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, pending appeal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stickman, William Shaw IV 1979 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Duquesne University alumni Duquesne University faculty Duquesne University School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Lawyers from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania Republicans United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump