Edward Willis Nottingham Jr. (born January 9, 1948) is a former

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Colorado The United States District Court for the District of Colorado (in case citations, D. Colo. or D. Col.) is a federal court in the Tenth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are a ...

, having served in that office from November 24, 1989, until his resignation on October 21, 2008, after a year of scandal.

Early life, education, and career

Born in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, Nottingham was raised in

Eagle County Eagle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,731. The county seat is the Town of Eagle and the most populous community is Edwards. The county is named for the Eagle River. Eag ...

, Colorado. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1969, and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of Colorado School of Law The University of Colorado Law School is one of the professional graduate schools within the University of Colorado System. It is a public law school, with more than 500 students attending and working toward a Juris Doctor or Master of Studies i ...

in 1972. Prior to his appointment as a judge, Nottingham was a local coordinator for Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. From 1972 to 1973, he was a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado for Chief United States District Judge Alfred A. Arraj. Before becoming a judge, he spent a decade and a half in private practice in Grand Junction, Colorado, interrupted by a two-year stint as an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

for the District of Colorado from 1976 to 1978.

Federal judicial service

Nottingham was nominated to the

by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

on October 20, 1989,Public Papers of the Presidents, White House Press Release, October 20, 1989. to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. After a brief delay brought on by Senate efforts to block some Bush appointees, Nottingham was confirmed on by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on November 21, 1989, and received his commission on November 27, 1989. During his nineteen-year tenure, Nottingham oversaw a number of high-profile cases, such as a copyright infringement case involving

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

, a ruling barring the State of Colorado from withholding public funds for abortion, a ruling invalidating a law creating a federal "no-call list" for telemarketers which was ultimately overturned, and the prosecution of former

Qwest Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western and midwestern U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dako ...

CEO Joe Nacchio for

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

. Although Nottingham's talent as a jurist was never in serious dispute, the consistency of his work and his judicial temperament were matters of widespread concern. On the one hand, ''The Denver Post'' reported that Nottingham had a reputation for judicial efficiency, and as "one of the best legal minds on the bench". He received both notoriety and admiration for dressing down witnesses, demanding professionalism from attorneys, and punishing lawyers who brought what he judged to be frivolous cases by scheduling them for hearings at 6 AM. In August 2007, a complaint of

judicial misconduct Judicial misconduct occurs when a judge acts in ways that are considered unethical or otherwise violate the judge's obligations of impartial conduct. Actions that can be classified as judicial misconduct include: conduct prejudicial to the eff ...

was filed against him with the

Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Distr ...

and an investigation started that included two hearings over the course of a year; the complaint concerned allegations that he had spent thousands of dollars at a strip club. Over the course of the year, he was also named as a figure in an investigation into a prostitution ring, in which a prostitute said that he had asked her to mislead investigators. He resigned from the bench on October 21, 2008, and the misconduct charges were dismissed, as he was no longer a judge.

Private law practice

After leaving the bench, Nottingham opened a private law practice in Colorado.

References

Sources

FJC Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nottingham, Edward 1948 births Living people Assistant United States attorneys Cornell University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado People from Eagle County, Colorado United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush University of Colorado alumni Lawyers from Denver University of Colorado Law School alumni