Richard J. Leon

Richard J. Leon (1949-) is a judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 2002 to the present.cite news
url=http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/leon-bio.html
title=Judge Richard J. Leon
publisher=Department of Justice
accessdate=2008-02-01] cite news
url=http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2921
title=Leon, Richard J.
accessdate=2008-02-01]

Leon was born in 1949 in South Natick, Massachusetts and graduated in 1971 from the College of the Holy Cross, where he was a classmate of future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and from Suffolk University Law School in 1974 and Harvard Law School in 1981.

Leon served as a law clerk to the chief justice and associate justices of the Superior Court of Massachusetts from 1974 to 1975. He then served as a Law clerk to Thomas F. Kelleher, of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1975 to 1976. Leon was an attorney for the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1976 to 1977 and a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1977 to 1978. Leon was an assistant professor of law, St. John's University School of Law from 1979 to 1983 and then became a senior trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice from 1983 to 1987. Leon served as deputy chief minority counsel on the Select 'Iran-Contra' Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1988. In 1988 Leon was appointed deputy assistant U.S. attorney general, serving from 1988 to 1989. In 1989 Leon was in private practice in Washington, DC until 2002. Leon was also a Commissioner on White House Fellows Commission from 1990 to 1993. He was appointed chief minority counsel on the 'October Surprise' Task Force of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1992 to 1993. Leon served as special counsel to the 'Whitewater Investigation,' on Banking, Finance & Urban Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. He has also been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University School of Law since 1997.

Leon was nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by George W. Bush on September 10, 2001, to a seat vacated by Norma Holloway Johnson. He was confirmed by the Senate on February 14, 2002, and received commission on February 19, 2002.

Guantanamo cases

Leon was responsible for adjudicating the habeas corpus petitions of several dozen Guantanamo captives.cite web
url=http://www.pegc.us/archive/OK_v_Bush/govt_resp_to_GK_20060815.pdf
title=Respondents' response to Court's August 7, 2006 order
date=August 15 2006
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-23
format=PDF [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pegc.us%2Farchive%2FOK_v_Bush%2Fgovt_resp_to_GK_20060815.pdf&date=2008-08-18 mirror] ] cite news
url=http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/archives/law-lib/law-lib.log0701/att-0174/01-GITMO_AttyList.pdf
title=Lead Petitioners' Counsel in Guantanamo Habeas Cases
publisher=Center for Constitutional Rights
date= January 8, 2007
accessdate=2008-06-11
quote=
format=PDF [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Flistproc.ucdavis.edu%2Farchives%2Flaw-lib%2Flaw-lib.log0701%2Fatt-0174%2F01-GITMO_AttyList.pdf&date=2008-08-18 mirror] ] cite news
url=http://www.pegc.us/archive/In_re_Gitmo/gov_mot_to_dismiss_20070419.pdf
title=Exhibit B: List Of Enemy Combatant Detainees With Pending Habeas Corpus Petitions Who Have Been Released From United States Custody
page=
pages=
publisher=United States Department of Justice
author=
date=April 17 2007
accessdate=2008-05-05
quote=
format=PDF]
Boumediene v. Bush, which was eventually considered by the United States Supreme Court, was first heard in Leon's court.

On August 28 2008 the "Associated Press" reported Leon currently has 24 cases assigned to him.cite news
url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUxng-zkl2uhqdCATFQyY9_8QV3QD92QQ83O9
title=Judge fears secret hearings over Guantanamo Bay
publisher=Associated Press
author=Matt Apuzzo
date=2008-08-28
accessdate=2008-08-29
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fap.google.com%2Farticle%2FALeqM5gUxng-zkl2uhqdCATFQyY9_8QV3QD92QQ83O9&date=2008-08-29 mirror] ] "AP" reported Leon hoped to resolve those cases prior to the next Presidential inaugural."AP" reported Leon is concerned that the public and the detainees will be barred from observing the hearings.

References