Amy B. Jackson

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
	Name: Amy Berman Jackson
	Court: United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Progress
	Confirmed 273 days after nomination.
	Nominated: June 17, 2010
	ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
	Questionnaire:
	Hearing: September 15, 2010
	Hearing Transcript: Hearing Transcript
	QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more)
	Reported: February 3, 2011 December 1, 2010
	Confirmed: March 17, 2011
	Vote: 97-0
	Returned: December 22, 2010

Amy Berman Jackson is a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She joined the court in 2011 after being nominated by Barack Obama (D). She assumed senior status on May 1, 2023.^[1]

Early life and education

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Jackson received her A.B. from Harvard College in 1976 and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979.^[1]

Professional career

2011-present: Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
- 2023-present: Senior judge
- 2011-2023: Judge
1986-1994; 2000-2011: Private practice, Washington, D.C.
1980-1986: Assistant U.S. attorney, District of Columbia
1979-1980: Law clerk, Hon. Harrison Winter, United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit^[1]

Judicial career

District of Columbia

Jackson was nominated by President Barack Obama to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia vacated by Judge Gladys Kessler.^[2]^[3]

The American Bar Association rated Jackson Unanimously Well Qualified for the nomination. Hearings on Jackson's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 15, 2010, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on December 1, 2010. Jackson's nomination was returned to the president at the sine die adjournment of the 111th United States Congress. Jackson's nomination was resubmitted by President Obama on January 5, 2011, and her nomination was reported by Sen. Leahy, without hearings, on February 3, 2011. Jackson was confirmed on a recorded 97-0 vote of the U.S. Senate on March 17, 2011, and she received her commission the next day.^[1]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Jackson assumed senior status on May 1, 2023.^[1]

Noteworthy cases

Order reinstating U.S. Special Counsel challenged before Supreme Court (2025)

See also: Supreme Court emergency orders related to the Trump administration, 2025

On February 7, 2025, the federal government fired Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger from his position leading the United States Office of Special Counsel one year into his five year term. Dellinger filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on February 10, 2025, saying the firing was illegal since the Office of the Special Counsel was an independent agency whose leader could only be removed by the president for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office" according to the statute establishing the office, which Dellinger said he had not committed. Dellinger asked the court to find his firing unlawful and restore him to his position.^[7]

Judge Amy B. Jackson ruled that day to grant a temporary administrative stay in the case, preventing Dellinger's firing, and extended the stay a couple of days later.^[8] The federal government appealed the orders to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which dismissed the appeals.^[9]^[10]

The federal government filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court, saying Article II of the United States Constitution empowered Trump to fire Dellinger. The federal government asked the court to vacate the lower court's order.^[11] On February 21, 2025, the Supreme Court said it would determine whether to grant or deny the application on February 26, when the lower court's order reinstating Dellinger was set to expire. The lower court's order expired and was not renewed, so the Supreme Court denied the federal government's application as moot.^[12]

Jackson presides in federal trial of Paul Manafort (2017-2019)

See also: United States District Court for the District of Columbia (United States of America v. Paul J. Manafort Jr. and Richard W. Gates III)

On October 30, 2017, it was announced that Judge Amy Berman Jackson would preside over the federal trial of Paul Manafort, the one-time campaign manager for President Donald Trump (R) and Manafort's associate, Rick Gates. Manafort and Gates entered pleas of not guilty in response to an indictment on 12 charges related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. On November 8, 2017, Judge Jackson issued a gag order that prohibited "all interested participants in the matter, including the parties, any potential witnesses, and counsel for the parties ... from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case." ^[13] Manafort challenged the charges, arguing that Mueller had exceeded his authority as special counsel by bringing charges that did not directly relate to the investigation into Russian interference.

On May 15, 2018, Jackson ruled that the charges against Manafort could move forward, concluding that the charges fell within Mueller's authority as special counsel.^[14]

On March 13, 2019, Jackson sentenced Manafort to 43 months in prison on federal conspiracy charges, which brought his total sentence across two different cases to seven and a half years. Prior to sentencing, Manafort pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy against the United States and witness tampering.^[15]

For more, see Investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election