John Carbone Porfilio (born October 14, 1934) is an inactive Senior United States circuit judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for 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 a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

Education and career

Born John Carbone Porfilio in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, his name was changed to John Porfilio Moore when his mother remarried and his step father adopted him. Porfilio received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

in 1956 and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

from the

University of Denver College of Law The Sturm College of Law ("Denver Law") is the professional graduate law school of the University of Denver. It is one of two law schools in the state of Colorado. Founded in 1892, the Sturm College of Law was one of the first in America's Mounta ...

in 1959. He was in private practice in Denver from 1959 to 1962. He was an assistant state attorney general of Colorado from 1962 to 1968. He was the Deputy Attorney General of Colorado from 1968 to 1972 under Attorney General Duke Dunbar. In 1972, Dunbar died in office. Governor John Love appointed Moore to the position of

Colorado Attorney General The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the U.S. state of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Colorado state government. It is an elected position with a four ...

. He served as Colorado Attorney General from 1972 until 1975. In the 1974 general election, Democratic candidate and former state legislator J.D. MacFarlane defeated Moore for a full-term.

Federal judicial service

On January 15, 1975, Chief Judge Alfred A. Arraj swore Moore into office as a United States Bankruptcy Judge of the District of Colorado, filling a long vacant position due to a rise in bankruptcy filings.Doris G. Kaplan
The Honorable John P. Moore, United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
71 Denv. U.L. Rev. 33 (1993). He served in this position from 1975 to 1982. On May 18, 1982, Porfilio was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado vacated by Judge Fred M. Winner. Porfilio was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

on June 24, 1982, and received his commission on June 25, 1982. Porfilio served in that capacity until May 13, 1985, due to elevation to the court of appeals. On April 5, 1985, Reagan nominated Porfilio to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Robert Hugh McWilliams Jr. Porfilio was confirmed by the Senate on May 3, 1985, and received his commission on May 10, 1985. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on October 15, 1999. On January 8, 1996, Porfillio legally changed his name back to his birth name.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porfilio, John Carbone 1934 births 20th-century American judges American people of Italian descent Colorado Attorneys General Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado Living people Lawyers from Denver United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of Denver alumni Judges of the United States bankruptcy courts