Leonard Philip Stark (born July 5, 1969) 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. Cou ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the Federal judiciary of ...

. He is a former

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 District of Delaware and was a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

of the same district.

Early life and education

Born July 5, 1969, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Stark earned a

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 ...

and 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 ...

in history and political science and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in history from the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

, all in 1991.President Obama Nominates Judge Leonard Stark and Amy Totenberg to the United States District Court
, ''

whitehouse.gov whitehouse.gov (also simply known as wh.gov) is the official website of the White House and is managed by the Office of Digital Strategy. It was launched on July 29, 1994 by the Clinton administration. The content of the website is in the ...

'' (March 17, 2010). Stark also earned a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in politics from

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1993 as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

. Finally, Stark earned 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

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1996. From 1996 to 1997, Stark 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 ...

for United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judge

Walter King Stapleton Walter King Stapleton (born June 2, 1934) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delawa ...

Professional career

From 1997 to 2001, Stark was an associate with the

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

office of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where he specialized in corporate and securities law. From 2002 to 2007, Stark served as an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

Federal judicial service

United States magistrate judge tenure

In 2007, the judges on the United States District Court for the District of Delaware selected Stark to be a

in Wilmington.

United States district court service

On March 17, 2010, 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 U ...

nominated Stark to fill the district court vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Kent A. Jordan to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2006. On August 5, 2010, he was confirmed in 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 ...

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

and he received his judicial commission on August 10, 2010. He became Chief Judge on July 1, 2014, and served until July 1, 2021. His service as the district court judge was terminated on March 17, 2022 when he was elevated to the court of appeals.

Court of appeals service

On November 3, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Stark to serve as a

for the

Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...

. President Biden nominated Stark to the seat vacated by Judge

Kathleen M. O'Malley Kathleen Patricia McDonald O'Malley (born November 17, 1956) is a former United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Early life and education Born in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, O'Malley received ...

, who subsequently retired on March 11, 2022. On December 1, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On January 3, 2022, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the

; he was later renominated the same day. On January 13, 2022, his nomination was favorably reported by the committee by a 16–6 vote. On January 20, 2022, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on his nomination. On February 3, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 54–33 vote. On February 9, 2022, his nomination was confirmed by a 61–35 vote. He received his judicial commission on March 16, 2022. He was sworn in on March 17, 2022.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Leonard P. 1969 births Living people 21st-century American judges Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford American Rhodes Scholars Assistant United States Attorneys Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware Lawyers from Wilmington, Delaware Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom people United States court of appeals judges appointed by Joe Biden United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama United States magistrate judges University of Delaware alumni University of Delaware faculty Yale Law School alumni