Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson (born August 8, 1951), known commonly as O. Rogeriee Thompson, is an American lawyer who serves as a Senior

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and a former

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

Superior Court justice.

Early life and education

Thompson was born in segregated

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. She attended

Scarsdale High School Scarsdale High School (SHS) is a public high school in Scarsdale, New York, United States, a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York. It is a part of the Scarsdale Union Free School District. The school was founded in 1917. ...

in Scarsdale, New York, under the auspices of the Student Transfer and Exchange Program (STEP), graduating in 1969. She came to

to attend Pembroke College, which was the coordinate women's college for Brown University. Thompson earned an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Brown University in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from the Boston University School of Law in 1976.Katie Mulvaney and John E. Mulligan
Thompson, McConnell selected for federal judgeships
''

The Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...

'' (April 14, 2009).

Professional career

Thompson began her career working as a cashier at the

Providence Civic Center The Amica Mutual Pavilion (originally Providence Civic Center and formerly Dunkin' Donuts Center) is an indoor arena located in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1972, as a home court for the emerging Providence College men's ba ...

in 1973. In 1975 she worked as a law clerk for the

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau ("HLAB") is the oldest student-run legal services office in the United States, founded in 1913. The bureau is one of three honors societies at the law school, along with the ''Harvard Law Review'' and the Board of Stu ...

. In 1974 Thompson started out as a legal intern for Rhode Island Legal Services and then returned in 1976 as Senior Staff Attorney and Family Law Manager until 1979. From 1979 to 1980 she was an Associate for the law firm of McKinnon and Fortunato. In 1980, Thompson became the Assistant City Solicitor for Providence, Rhode Island, and held this position until 1982. Also in 1980, Thompson was a solo practitioner until 1984 when she opened a law firm in South Providence while raising a family with her husband, Rhode Island District Court judge William Clifton. In 1988, Thompson was appointed to the Rhode Island District Court by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Edward D. DiPrete. In 1997, she was elevated to the

Rhode Island Superior Court The Rhode Island Superior Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction in Rhode Island. Jurisdiction The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in all felony proceedings, civil matters with an amount in controversy in excess of $10,000, ...

by Governor

Lincoln Almond Lincoln Carter Almond (born June 16, 1936) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 72nd Governor of Rhode Island from 1995 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the United States Attorney for the District ...

Federal judicial career

On April 13, 2009, United States Senators Jack Reed and

Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Attorney from 1993 to 1998 ...

announced that they were recommending that President Obama nominate Thompson to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, to fill the seat left vacant by First Circuit Judge

Bruce M. Selya Bruce Marshall Selya (born May 27, 1934) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and former chief judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review who is kn ...

's transition to

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 ...

at the end of 2006. On October 6, 2009, Obama formally nominated Thompson to the seat on the First Circuit.President Obama Nominates Judge Denny Chin for United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson for United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
, ''

whitehouse.gov whitehouse.gov (also simply known as wh.gov) is the official website of the White House and is managed by the Office of Digital Strategy. It was launched on July 29, 1994 by the Clinton administration. The content of the website is in the ...

'' (October 6, 2009). She was confirmed by the Senate on March 17, 2010 by a 98–0 vote. She received her commission on March 30, 2010. She assumed

on September 21, 2022. In August 2017, Thompson dissented when the ''

en banc In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...

'' circuit rejected a lawsuit seeking to give Puerto Ricans the right to vote in U.S. federal elections. In July 2020 Thompson was part of an appellate court decision that vacated the death sentence and overturned three of the firearm convictions of Boston Marathon bomber

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Dzhokhar "Jahar" Anzorovich Tsarnaev born July 22, 1993)russian: Джоха́р Анзо́рович Царна́ев, link=no ; ce, Царнаев Анзор-кIант ДжовхӀар o; ( Kyrgyz language, Kyrgyz: Жохар Анзор уу� ...

, and referred the matter back to the lower courts. The appellate court cited errors in the sentencing proceedings that found Dzhokhar guilty and condemned him to death; however, the appellate court upheld the life sentence for Dzhokhar. Tsarnaev's death sentence was reinstated by the Supreme Court on March 4, 2022.

Personal

Thompson lives in Cranston, Rhode Island. She has three children.

References

External links