Joseph Anthony Greenaway Jr. (born November 16, 1957) 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 Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * East ...

and previously sat on the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the ...

. On February 9, 2010, he was confirmed to his seat on the Third Circuit, filling the vacancy created by Justice Samuel Alito's elevation to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Greenaway had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Supreme Court by 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 ...

Early life and education

Greenaway was born of West Indian parents in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and emigrated to the United States at the age of two. His father is a carpenter and his mother is a nurse. Greenaway was on the varsity baseball team at the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

, from which he graduated in 1974. Greenaway earned a

Bachelors 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 ...

degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1978 and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1981. From 1982 until 1983, he worked as a law clerk for Judge

Vincent Lyons Broderick Vincent Lyons Broderick (April 26, 1920 – March 3, 1995) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education and career Born on April 26, 1920, in New York City, New York, Br ...

of the

United States District Court 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 ...

Legal and academic career

Greenaway worked in private practice in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from 1981 until 1985. He became an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey from 1985–1989, when he became the chief of narcotics for the District of New Jersey. From 1990–1996, Greenaway worked as in-house counsel for Johnson & Johnson in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. From 2002–2006, Greenaway was an adjunct professor at

Rutgers School of Law Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...

in Newark, New Jersey. He is an adjunct professor at

Cardozo School of Law The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo graduated its first class in 1979. An LL.M. ...

where he teaches a course on trial practice and a seminar on the Supreme Court as well as an adjunct at

, where he also teaches a seminar on the Supreme Court. Since 2018, he has been a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School.

Federal judicial service

District court service

Greenaway was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

on November 27, 1995, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge John F. Gerry. He 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 voice vote on July 16, 1996, and received commission on July 26, 1996. His service terminated on February 24, 2010, due to his elevation to the Third Circuit.

Court of appeals service

Greenaway was nominated by President

on June 19, 2009, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Samuel Alito, who was elevated to the Supreme Court of the United States on January 31, 2006. On February 9, 2010, he was confirmed by the Senate by an 84–0 vote. He received his commission on February 12, 2010. On February 7, 2023, it was announced that he is going to retire from the bench on June 15, 2023.

Awards

Greenaway was the 1997 recipient of the Columbia University Medal of Excellence, the 1999 recipient of the Garden State Bar Association’s Distinguished Jurist Award, a 2003 recipient of Columbia’s John Jay Award, a 2007 recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Award of Excellence, and the 2007 recipient of the Roger M. Yancey Award from the Garden State Bar Association. In 2006, Greenaway delivered the commencement address at the Cardozo School of Law. In 1998, Greenaway delivered the Class Day address at Columbia College’s commencement. He also presented Rutgers Law School’s Weintraub Lecture in 1998 (published as Judicial Decision Making and the External Environment, 51 Rutgers L. Rev. 181 (1998)). In November 1996, he received the New Jersey Corporate Counsel Association’s Distinguished Service Award. In 2019, the Birmingham City University (UK), Centre for American Legal Studies, in conjunction with the Birmingham (UK) Law Society, instituted the Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. Lecture Series on Law and Justice, in which Greenaway delivered the inaugural lecture.

Personal life

Greenaway is married to

professor Valerie Purdie Greenaway. He is currently a trustee of Columbia University.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greenaway, Joseph Anthony Jr. 1957 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges African-American judges African-American lawyers Assistant United States Attorneys British emigrants to the United States Cardozo School of Law faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia University faculty Harvard Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey New Jersey lawyers People from London Rutgers School of Law–Newark faculty United States court of appeals judges appointed by Barack Obama United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton