Norton District Court Recommendation, Casey Cooper, Confirmed by Senate

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that Christopher “Casey” Cooper’s nomination to become a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was confirmed by the Senate today. Cooper’s nomination was recommended to President Obama by Norton.

“I could not be more pleased that Casey Cooper has been confirmed to serve our city and country on the district court here,” said Norton. “His outstanding background and broad criminal and civil experience give me every confidence that, as our newest judge to join our federal district court, he will continue along the path of excellence that has characterized his entire career.”

Cooper, an African American, is a graduate of Yale College, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and Stanford Law School, where he graduated with distinction and served as president of the law review. He clerked for Judge Abner J. Mikva, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. After his clerkship, he served as Special Assistant to then-Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick for two years. When he left the Department of Justice, he joined the law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, L.L.P. (later merged into the law firm Baker Botts L.L.P.), where he served as an associate and partner from 1996 to 2012. After practicing in D.C. for his entire career, Cooper moved with his family to London, where he joined Baker Botts’ London office. In 2012, he became a partner at Covington & Burling in its London office, and has since moved back to the firm’s D.C. office.

President Obama, like President Clinton, granted Norton senatorial courtesy to recommend candidates for federal district court judges and other important federal law enforcement officials in the District. The Congresswoman recommended Cooper from a number of candidates screened by her Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, chaired by Pauline Schneider, a special counsel at Ballard Spahr LLP and a former president of the D.C. Bar. President Obama has nominated and the Senate has confirmed six of Norton’s other recommendations for district court judges – Ketanji Brown Jackson, Amy Berman Jackson, James E. Boasberg, Rudolph Contreras, Beryl A. Howell and Robert L. Wilkins, who was recently elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Another Norton recommendation, Tanya Chutkan, was nominated by the President, is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is expected to be confirm her soon.

Published: March 26, 2014