Stephanie Dawn Thacker (née Young; born August 22, 1965) is a United States circuit judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...

Early life and education

Born Stephanie Dawn Young in Huntington,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, she was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia. Thacker 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 yea ...

degree in marketing, ''

magna 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 ...

'', from

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges ...

in 1987 and her

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 l ...

, with honors, from

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

in 1990.

Professional career

After graduating from law school, Thacker spent two years working in the

Pittsburgh 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 ...

office of the law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates). She then worked briefly for the West Virginia Office of the Attorney General before joining the law firm King, Betts & Allen. In 1994, Thacker took a job in the United States Attorney's office for the Southern District of West Virginia, serving 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 go ...

in the Criminal Division and handling a wide range of criminal prosecutions. In 1999, Thacker moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a trial attorney in the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. She worked there for seven years, serving as Deputy Chief of Litigation for two years and then as Principal Deputy Chief of Litigation for five years. She also was part of the team that prosecuted the first case the United States ever brought involving the

Violence Against Women Act The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law (Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, ) signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investi ...

. In 2006, Thacker joined the Charleston, West Virginia, law firm Guthrie & Thomas as a partner.

Federal judicial service

In July 2011, the West Virginia Record reported that President Obama would select Thacker to the judicial vacancy on the

that was created by the death of Judge M. Blane Michael. On September 8, 2011, Obama formally nominated her. The Judiciary Committee reported her nomination out of the committee on November 3, 2011 by a

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 ...

. 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 po ...

confirmed her nomination on April 16, 2012 by a 91–3 vote. She received her commission on April 17, 2012. In October 2017, Thacker wrote for the panel majority when it found that the Bladensburg Peace Cross memorial from World War I now violated the Constitution's

Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

and ordering either its arms removed or the entire monument razed. Her judgement was ultimately reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in '' American Legion v. American Humanist Association'' (2019). In April 2018, Thacker wrote for the majority when it found that a Maryland law prohibiting price gouging in prescription drug prices violated the constitution's

Dormant Commerce Clause The Dormant Commerce Clause, or Negative Commerce Clause, in American constitutional law, is a legal doctrine that courts in the United States have inferred from the Commerce Clause in Article I of the US Constitution. The primary focus of the d ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thacker, Stephanie 1965 births Living people 21st-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Marshall University alumni Pennsylvania lawyers People from Hamlin, West Virginia Lawyers from Huntington, West Virginia United States court of appeals judges appointed by Barack Obama United States Department of Justice lawyers West Virginia University College of Law alumni 21st-century American women judges

Early life and education

Professional career

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links