Richard Gary Taranto (born May 6, 1957) is a

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 Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...

Biography

Taranto was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on May 6, 1957. He 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 year ...

degree, summa cum laude, in 1977 from

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...

in Claremont, California. He spent a semester each at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and then the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

in their Ph.D. programs in Mathematics. He then received his Juris Doctor from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

in 1981. While in law school he served as an article and book editor for the '' Yale Law Journal''. Upon completion of law school, he clerked for Judge

Abraham David Sofaer Abraham David Sofaer (born May 6, 1938) is an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and legal adviser to the United States State Departm ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

from 1981 to 1982. From 1982 to 1983, he clerked for Judge

Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American jurist who served as the solicitor general of the United States from 1973 to 1977. A professor at Yale Law School by occupation, he later served as a judge on the U.S. Cour ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate co ...

. He then clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. From 1984 to 1986, Taranto worked at the law firm of Onek, Klein & Farr in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

From 1986 to 1989 he spent three years as an assistant to the Solicitor General. In 1989, he returned to Onek, Klein & Farr (later named Farr & Taranto) as a partner. Taranto has taught a course on patent law at Harvard Law School and various courses at

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

. Since 2009, he has served as a member of the appellate rules advisory committee for the

United States Judicial Conference The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

. He has argued nineteen cases before the United States Supreme Court.

Federal judicial service

On November 10, 2011, President Obama nominated Taranto to serve as a

of the

to replace

Paul Redmond Michel Paul Redmond Michel (born February 3, 1941) is a retired United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and a former Chief Judge of that court. Education and experience Born on February 3, 1941,>Joint C ...

, who retired in 2010. President Obama withdrew the previous nominee for this position, Edward C. DuMont, after his nomination languished in the Senate for eighteen months without action. On January 2, 2013, Taranto's nomination was returned to the President, due to the

sine die In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is opp ...

adjournment of the Senate. On January 3, 2013, Taranto was re-nominated to the same office. On February 7, 2013, the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

reported his nomination to the floor by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

. On March 11, 2013, the Senate confirmed him by a 91–0 vote. He received his commission on March 12, 2013, and assumed office on March 15, 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taranto, Richard Gary 1957 births Living people 21st-century American judges American people of Italian descent Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from New York City Pomona College alumni United States court of appeals judges appointed by Barack Obama Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Yale Law School alumni

Biography

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links