Lonny Ray Suko (born 1943) is a

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

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 Eastern District of Washington The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington (in case citations, E.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Adams, Asotin, Benton, Che ...

Early life and education

Born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, Suko received 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 ...

degree from

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

in 1965 and 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 the

University of Idaho College of Law The University of Idaho College of Law is the law school of the University of Idaho, with its main location in Moscow and a second campus in the state capital of Boise. As of the entering class of 2017–18, students may take all three years of ins ...

in 1968. He was 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 Judge Charles L. Powell, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington from 1968 to 1969.

Career

Suko was in private practice in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

, from 1969 to 1995. He served as a part time

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 ...

in the Eastern District of Washington from 1971 to 1991. He served as a full time United States magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Washington from 1995 to 2003.

Federal judicial service

On April 28, 2003, Suko was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

to serve as a United States district judge of the

. He was nominated to a seat vacated by Judge William Fremming Nielsen. 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 ...

on July 15, 2003 and received his commission on July 16, 2003. Suko 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 November 1, 2013.
District Judge Lonny R. Suko to Take Senior Status
', U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. Retrieved 2013-07-15.

References

Sources

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Suko, Lonny Ray 1943 births Living people 21st-century American judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington Lawyers from Spokane, Washington United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush United States magistrate judges University of Idaho alumni Washington (state) lawyers Washington State University alumni