Catherine Curtis Blake (born July 27, 1950) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

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 Maryland The United States District Court for the District of Maryland (in case citations, D. Md.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Maryland. Appeals from the District of Maryland are taken ...

Early life and education

Blake was born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. After receiving an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

in 1972, she enrolled in

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, where she received 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 ...

in 1975.

Career

Blake was in private practice in Boston, from 1975 to 1977. She was with the Office of the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the District of Maryland from 1977 to 1987. During that period, she was 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 ...

from 1977 to 1983, then became a first assistant from 1983 to 1985, when she was appointed by the court to serve as the United States Attorney, a position she held until 1987, when she again became the first assistant.

Federal judicial service

In 1987 Blake became a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

of the District of Maryland. In 1995, Blake became a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. She was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

on May 4, 1995, to a seat vacated by John R. Hargrove Sr. She was confirmed 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 August 11, 1995, and received her commission on August 14, 1995. She served as Chief Judge of the District of Maryland from October 3, 2014 to October 6, 2017. She assumed senior status on April 2, 2021. Judge Blake presided over the infamous Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force case. She is portrayed in the final episode of the HBO miniseries "We Own This City" which depicts the events surrounding the case. In October 2020, Judge Blake struck down a constitutional challenge to Governor Hogan's executive order that mandated state contractors were not allowed to engage in a political or economic boycott of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in their business or personal life. The case was one of several constitutional challenges to

anti-BDS laws With regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict, many supporters of the State of Israel have often advocated or implemented anti- BDS laws (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), which effectively seek to retaliate against people and organizations engag ...

since 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Catherine C. 1950 births Living people 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges Assistant United States attorneys Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland Lawyers from Boston Radcliffe College alumni United States attorneys for the District of Maryland United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States magistrate judges