Kent Markus

Kent Richard Markus (born February 1, 1959) is an American lawyer and an official in the administration of President Barack Obama, working in the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.^[1] Markus also previously was a law professor at Capital University Law School and during the administration of President Clinton was an official in the U.S. Department of Justice. Markus also is a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

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. His father, Richard M. Markus^[2] is a prominent retired judge who served on the Ohio Court of Appeals. Judge Markus is also a past President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Ohio State Bar Association and the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers.

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 later became an associate professor at the school.

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 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.^[3]

In 2001, Bush nominated Jeffrey Sutton to the seat to which Markus had been nominated. Sutton won confirmation on April 29, 2003.

Career in state and federal government

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 came up as a possible interim replacement for former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who resigned from office on May 14, 2008.^[4]

In January 2009, Markus said he was throwing his hat in the ring to be nominated by President Barack Obama to become a U.S. district judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.^[5] However, in July 2009, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown announced that he would be recommending then-U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Black for the seat.^[6] The Senate confirmed Black to that seat in May 2010.

In 2011, Markus became the deputy director of enforcement for the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.^[7] He became the bureau's director of enforcement in January 2012.^[8]

Markus stepped down from his job as deputy director of enforcement for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January 2015 after being on medical leave for the previous year.^[9] He was succeeded by Tony Alexis. Markus is expected to return to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in February 2015 as a senior adviser to the bureau's deputy director.^[10]

See also

• Bill Clinton judicial appointment controversies

References

External links