Beryl A. Howell
Beryl A. Howell is a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She was first nominated to the court on July 14, 2010, and was confirmed by the Senate on December 22, 2010.[1] She was named chief judge on March 17, 2016, with the retirement of Judge Richard Roberts.[2] Her term as chief judge ended on March 17, 2023.[3]
She assumed senior status on February 1, 2024.[4] Amir Ali was nominated by President Joe Biden (D) to replace Howell on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on February 1, 2024.[5][6]
Early life and education
A native of Fort Benning, Georgia, Howell received her B.A. in 1978 from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D. from Columbia University in 1983.[7]
Professional career
- 2010-2024: Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
- 2024-present: Senior judge
- 2016-2023: Chief judge
- 2004-2013: Commissioner, U.S. Sentencing Commission
- 2003-2009: Executive managing director and general counsel, Stroz Friedberg
- 1993-2003: Counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee
- 1997-2003: General counsel
- 1993-1996: Senior counsel
- 1987-1993: Assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of New York
- 1985-1987: Private practice, New York City
- 1983-1984: Law clerk, Hon. Dickinson Debevoise, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey[7][1]
Judicial career
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
 |
| Nominee Information |
| Name: Beryl A. Howell |
| Court: District of Columbia |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 161 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: July 14, 2010
|
| ABA Rating: Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified
|
| Questionnaire: Questionnaire |
| Hearing: July 28, 2010
|
| QFRs: QFRs (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: September 23, 2010
|
| Confirmed: December 22, 2010
|
| Vote: Voice vote
|
Howell was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 14, 2010, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia vacated by Judge Paul Friedman. The American Bar Association rated Howell Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified for the nomination, with one member abstaining. Hearings on Howell's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 28, 2010, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on September 23, 2010. Howell was confirmed on a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on December 22, 2010, and she received her commission on December 27, 2010. She was chief judge of the district court from 2016 to 2023 and assumed senior status on February 1, 2024.[4][8][9]
Noteworthy cases
Order regarding firing of National Labor Relations Board member stayed by Supreme Court
In January and February 2025, respectively, President Donald Trump (R) removed Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and removed Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).[10][11] Both Wilcox and Harris filed separate lawsuits challenging their removals, which were later consolidated. Wilcox and Harris argued that their firings were unlawful based on the statutes authorizing the creation of the NLRB and MSPB, and that their firings went against previously established Supreme Court precedent regarding the president's power to remove individuals from independent federal agencies.[12][13]
Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on March 6 that Wilcox should be reinstated, and on March 4, 2025, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Harris should be reinstated.[14][15] The federal government appealed both decisions to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. An en banc panel of judges on the court upheld the lower court rulings.[16]
The federal government then filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court on April 9, 2025, saying that the Constitution did grant Trump the authority to fire Wilcox and Harris and that Supreme Court precedent preventing the president from removing certain members of independent agencies did not apply to the MSPB or the NLRB.[16] On May 22, the Supreme Court granted the federal government's request in a 6-3 decision and stayed Howell and Contreras' orders. Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.[17]
Law professor wins in border fence case (2014)
University of Texas at Austin clinical professor Denise Gilman made a Freedom of Information Act request to get information on a border fence project undertaken by the United States government. She wanted to know the names of the landowners for a human-rights research project. A federal law passed in 2006 allowed the government to build a 700-mile-long fence between the United States and Mexico. The exact location of the fence was not specified in the law, but rather left to the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security.
The government released hundreds of documents to Gilman but redacted names and addresses of the landowners. As a result, Gilman sought judicial help. Gilman argued that the public had a right to know how the government was putting up the fence, and if it was treating all private landowners the same and fairly.
In March 2014, Judge Beryl A. Howell ordered that the government provide Gilman with that information. Judge Howell wrote that "[r]evealing the identities of landowners in the wall's planned construction site may shed light on the impact on indigenous communities, the disparate impact on lower-income minority communities, and the practices of private contractors."[18]
Articles:
Role in special counsel investigation
On August 3, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that special counsel Robert Mueller had impaneled a grand jury in Washington, D.C., in addition to a grand jury previously impaneled in Virginia related to an investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Under Rule 40.3 of the rules for the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, the assignment for supervising proceedings for the grand jury fell to Judge Howell as the chief judge of the district court. By rule, the district court's chief judge presides over grand jury proceedings in what are known as miscellaneous cases, which include, but are not limited to, "proceedings ancillary to an action pending in another district."[19][20]
See also
- United States District Court for the District of Columbia
- United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Main Justice, "Senate Confirms Three Ex-Prosecutors as Federal Judges," December 23, 2010
- ↑ United States District Court for the District of Columbia, "Media advisory: Judge Beryl A. Howell appointed chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia," March 21, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Gavel to Pass to New Chief Judge Overseeing Grand Jury in Trump Inquiry," accessed April 14, 2023
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Beryl Alaine Howell," accessed April 14, 2023
- ↑ United States Courts, "Current Judicial Vacancies," accessed February 1, 2024
- ↑ United States Courts, "Future Judicial Vacancies," accessed September 11, 2023
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedwh - ↑ United States Congress, "PN 1967 — Beryl Alaine Howell — The Judiciary," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees," accessed May 10, 2017
- ↑ Associated Press, "Federal judge reinstates labor board member fired by President Donald Trump," March 6, 2025
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Federal judge rules Trump’s firing of merit board chair was illegal," March 4, 2025
- ↑ CourtListener, "WILCOX v. TRUMP," accessed June 20, 2025
- ↑ CourtListener, "HARRIS v. BESSENT," accessed June 20, 2025
- ↑ CourtListener, "Order on Motion for Declaratory Judgment," March 4, 2025
- ↑ CourtListener, "Order on Motion for Summary Judgment AND Order on Motion for Summary Judgment," March 6, 2025
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Supreme Court, "Wilcox-Harris Application," accessed June 20, 2025
- ↑ SCOTUSBlog, "Trump v. Wilcox," accessed June 20, 2025
- ↑ Courthouse News, “U.S. Ordered to Disclose Border Fence Landowners,” March 17, 2014
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Special Counsel Robert Mueller Impanels Washington Grand Jury in Russia Probe," August 3, 2017
- ↑ U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, "Rules of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia," updated April 2017
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paul Friedman |
United States District Court for the District of Columbia 2010-2024 |
Succeeded by Amir Ali |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Nominated | |||
