Catharina Haynes

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Catharina Haynes (born 1963 in Melbourne, Florida) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She maintains chambers in Dallas, Texas.

[edit] Background

Haynes received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1983. She graduated from Emory University School of Law in 1986 with her J.D. At Emory, she was an editor for the Emory Law Journal. She graduated from FIT at age 19, and from law school when she was only 22. She became a member of the State Bar of Texas in 1986.

After law school, she was in private practice in Texas from 1986-1998 with the firms of Thompson & Knight, and then Baker Botts. She became a partner at Baker Botts in 1995.

In 1998, Haynes was elected to the 191st District Court in Dallas, Texas. She was re-elected in 2002. As a state district court judge, she presided over jury and bench trials involving civil litigation. After losing re-election in 2006, she returned to Baker Botts as a partner, where she practiced complex business litigation and maintained an appellate and Supreme Court practice.

[edit] Fifth Circuit nomination and confirmation

Haynes was nominated on July 17, 2007 by President George W. Bush to fill a vacancy on the Fifth Circuit created by Judge Harold R. DeMoss, Jr., who took Senior status on July 1, 2007. Haynes received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 21, 2008, and was voted out of committee on April 3, 2008. She was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on April 10, 2008, just under nine months after her nomination. Haynes is the sixth judge nominated to the Fifth Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the Senate.