Thomas Owen Rice (born December 9, 1960) is a

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 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 Cana ...

, Rice earned a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

degree from

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the ...

in 1983 and a Juris Doctor from

Gonzaga University School of Law The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Established in 1912, the Jesuit-affiliated law school has been fully accredi ...

in 1986.

Career

From 1986 until early 1987, Rice worked for 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 ...

as a trial attorney in Washington in the department's tax division. From 1987 to 2012, Rice worked in the United States Attorney's Office for the

. He was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1987 to 2012. He served as the deputy criminal chief for his prosecutor's office from 2000 until 2003, and then was the criminal chief from 2003 until 2006. From 2006 until his appointment to the bench, he was a First Assistant United States Attorney.

Federal judicial service

On June 29, 2011, President Obama nominated Rice to the seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington that had been vacated by Judge Robert H. Whaley, who 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 ...

in 2009. He received a hearing before the

Senate Judiciary Committee 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 ...

on September 20, 2011. His nomination was reported out of committee on October 13, 2011 by

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 ...

. On March 6, 2012, 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 ...

confirmed Rice's nomination by a 93–4 vote. He received his commission on March 8, 2012. Rice served as Chief Judge of the court from January 27, 2016 to July 24, 2020. In April 2023, in a lawsuit brought by 17 states and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, Rice issued a temporary injunction that the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

should not reduce access to the abortion medication

mifepristone Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. This combination is 97% effective during the first 63 days of ...

in these states and the district.

References

External links

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Thomas Owen 1960 births 21st-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Gonzaga University School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington Lawyers from Spokane, Washington Living people United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama