Kent Markus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kent R. Markus (born February 1, 1959) is an American lawyer, a law professor at Capital University, a former official in the U.S. Department of Justice and a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
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[edit] Early life and education
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Markus earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1981 and a law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1984.
[edit] Professional career
After graduating from law school, Markus clerked for U.S. District Judge Alvin I. Krenzler from 1984 until 1986. He then worked at an Ohio law firm from 1986 until 1989, while also serving as an adjunct law professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law from 1986 until 1988. He later worked in Ohio's attorney general's office as chief of staff to then-Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher before joining the U.S. Department of Justice in 1994, during the Clinton administration. Markus worked as Counsel to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General in 1994, Acting Assistant Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs from 1995 to 1996, and as Counselor to Attorney General Janet Reno and Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of the Attorney General from 1996 to 1998. He joined Capital University as a visiting law professor in 1998, and now is an associate professor at the school.
[edit] Nomination to the Sixth Circuit
On February 9, 2000, President Clinton nominated Markus to the Sixth Circuit to take the place of David Aldrich Nelson, who previously had assumed senior status. With the U.S. Senate controlled by Republicans during the Clinton's second term, Markus' nomination languished. Despite Markus waging an unusually high-profile lobbying effort to win confirmation to the Sixth Circuit seat and despite the fact that he had the support of both of his home-state senators, no hearing was ever scheduled on his nomination by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and no confirmation vote ever was taken by the full Senate. When George W. Bush became president in 2001, he subsequently withdrew 62 executive and judicial nominations, including that of Markus.[1]
In 2001, Bush nominated Jeffrey Sutton to the seat to which Markus had been nominated. Sutton won confirmation on April 29, 2003.
[edit] Career since the failed nomination
On January 8, 2007, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced that Markus would be taking a leave of absence from Capital University to serve as Strickland's chief legal counsel. Markus' name also has come up as a possible interim replacement for former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who resigned from office on May 14, 2008. On May 2, 2008, Dann admitted to an extramarital affair with an unidentified subordinate in his office.[2]
