Jerome Holmes

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Judge Jerome A. Holmes
Judge Jerome A. Holmes

Jerome A. Holmes (born November 18, 1961 in Washington, DC) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He is the first African American to serve on the Tenth Circuit.

His first published opinion for the court, United States v. Ahidley, was released on May 25, 2007. Holmes wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel holding that a criminal defendant was improperly ordered to pay immediate restitution to the victim of his crime.

[edit] Nominations and confirmation

Holmes was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 4, 2006 to fill a seat vacated by Judge Stephanie Kulp Seymour. The U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination less than three months later on July 26, 2006 by a vote of 67-30. Holmes is the sixth judge Bush has appointed to the Tenth Circuit. Originally, Holmes was nominated by Bush to a vacancy on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, but that nomination was withdrawn on the same day Holmes was nominated to the Tenth Circuit. Bush's previous pick to replace Judge Seymour, U.S. District Judge James Hardy Payne, withdrew over criticism of his handling of cases in which he allegedly had a conflict of interest.

For another example of the White House elevating a federal district nominee to a Circuit Court, see Judge Leslie H. Southwick of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

[edit] Background

Prior to joining the federal bench, Holmes had over eighteen years worth of experience in both the public and private practices of the law. Holmes began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Wayne E. Alley at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma in 1988. Holmes then clerked for another federal judge, William Judson Holloway, Jr., on the Tenth Circuit from 1990-1991. He then entered private practice with the firm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, DC, in 1991, where he worked as an associate for three years before he returned to Oklahoma as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Holmes served in that capacity from 1994-2005. Holmes re-entered private practice in 2005 as a Director of the Oklahoma firm Crowe & Dunlevy, where his practice was focused on white collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation, and corporate law.

Holmes graduated from Wake Forest University in 1983 with a B.A.. He then attended the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was editor of the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. He received his J.D. in 1988. In 2000, Holmes received a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Stephanie Kulp Seymour		 Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
2006-present		 Succeeded by
incumbent