John Melvin Gerrard (born November 2, 1953) is a senior

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

United States District Court for the District of Nebraska The United States District Court for the District of Nebraska (in case citations, D. Neb.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Nebraska. Court offices are in Omaha and Lincoln. Appeals from the District of Nebraska ...

Education and legal career

Gerrard graduated from

Nebraska Wesleyan University Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) is a private Methodist-affiliated university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2017, it has approximately 2,100 students including 1,500 full-time students and 300 ...

with 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 o ...

in 1976; from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

with a

Masters in Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

in 1977; and from

McGeorge School of Law University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law is a private, American Bar Association (ABA)-approved law school in the Oak Park neighborhood of the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the University of the Pacific and is located on t ...

at the University of the Pacific with a Juris Doctor in 1981. He is a member of

Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...

fraternity. Prior to joining the bench, he was in private practice in

Norfolk, Nebraska Norfolk ( or ) is a city in Madison County, Nebraska, United States, 113 miles northwest of Omaha and 83 miles west of Sioux City at the intersection of U.S. Routes 81 and 275. The population was 24,210 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth ...

from 1981 to 1995 and was

city attorney A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city att ...

for Battle Creek, Nebraska from 1982 to 1995.

Judicial service

Nebraska Supreme Court

In 1995, Governor

Ben Nelson Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the De ...

appointed Gerrard to the

Nebraska Supreme Court The Nebraska Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Nebraska. The court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. Each justice is initially appointed by the governor of Nebraska; using the Missouri Plan, each jus ...

. At 41 years of age, Gerrard was the youngest ever appointee to the Nebraska Supreme Court. He left the court in 2012 upon appointment to the federal bench.

Federal judicial service

In January 2011, then Senator Ben Nelson, recommended Gerrard to fill a seat on the

that would be vacated later that year by Judge Richard G. Kopf. On May 4, 2011, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

formally nominated Gerrard to replace Kopf on the federal bench. 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 ...

reported Gerrard's nomination to the Senate floor on October 13, 2011. The Senate confirmed Gerrard's nomination on January 23, 2012, by a 74–16 vote. He received his commission on February 6, 2012. He served as chief judge from 2018 to 2021. Gerrard 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 February 6, 2023.

References

External links

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State Judicial Branch
Legislature of Nebraska. Accessed 2011-02-01.
Honorable John M. Gerrard

. Accessed 2011-02-01.
Phi Kappa Tau Hall of Fame

. Accessed 2011-02-01. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerrard, John M. 1953 births Living people 21st-century American judges Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska Justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court McGeorge School of Law alumni Nebraska state court judges Nebraska Wesleyan University alumni People from Madison County, Nebraska People from Norfolk, Nebraska People from Schuyler, Nebraska United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama University of Arizona alumni