Karen L. Henderson

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Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson (born 1944) was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in July 1990, by President George H. W. Bush.

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[edit] Background

Henderson was born in Oberlin, Ohio. She received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following law school, she was in private practice in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. From 1973 to 1983, she was with the Office of the South Carolina Attorney General, ultimately in the position of Deputy Attorney General. In 1983, she returned to private practice as a member of the firm of Sinkler, Gibbs & Simons of Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina. In June 1986, Judge Henderson was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina where she served until her appointment to the D.C. Circuit.[1].

[edit] Religious Freedom Restoration Act

In 2008 ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a statute that applies by its terms to all “persons” did not apply to detainees at Guantánamo, effectively ruling that the detainees are not persons for purposes of U.S. law[2].

[edit] Parker v. District of Columbia

In Parker, et al. v. District of Columbia (2007) Henderson authored a dissent in which she wrote "the right of the people to keep and bear arms relates to those Militia whose continued vitality is required to safeguard the individual States."[3] She also wrote that "the Constitution, case law and applicable statutes all establish that the District is not a state within the meaning of the Second Amendment."[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ *Federal Judicial Center - Henderson, Karen LeCraft
  2. ^ Guantanamo detainees are not human beings - US judges
  3. ^ D.C.'s Ban On Handguns In Homes Is Thrown Out
  4. ^ The Seat Congress Can't Offer

[edit] External links