Clare Elizabeth Connors (born May 1974) is an American lawyer who served as 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 Hawaii The United States attorney for the District of Hawaii is the chief law enforcement officer representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and principal authority of the United States Department of ...

from 2022 to 2025. She served as the 16th

attorney general of Hawaii The attorney general of Hawaii () is the chief legal officer and chief law enforcement officer of Hawaii. In present-day statehood within the United States, the attorney general is appointed by the elected Governor of Hawaii, governor with the app ...

from January 3, 2019, to December 10, 2021. She was also a former nominee for

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 Hawaii The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii (in case citations, D. Haw.) is the principal trial court of the United States Federal Court System in the state of Hawaii. The court's territorial jurisdiction encompasses the st ...

Early life and education

Connors was born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and raised in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and graduated from

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through 12th grade. The school was established by P ...

. She subsequently received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree, ''cum laude'', in 1996 from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

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

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 ...

in 2002.

Career

After graduating from Yale, Conners worked for the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

. She began her legal career as 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 ...

for Judge

David Alan Ezra David Alan Ezra (born June 27, 1947) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Since January 2013, Ezra has been designated by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court to ...

of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, from 2002 to 2003. From 2003 to 2004, she served as a trial attorney in the Tax Division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

and also served on detail as a special assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. From 2004 to 2011, she served as an assistant United States attorney in the Criminal Division of the

's Office for the District of Hawaii. From 2011 to 2019, she was an attorney at the law firm of Davis Levin Livingston in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, where her practice focused on civil litigation.

Expired nomination to federal district court

On September 8, 2015,

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

nominated Connors to serve as a

of the

, to the seat vacated by Judge Susan Oki Mollway, who assumed senior status on November 6, 2015. She received a hearing on her nomination on January 27, 2016. On April 14, 2016 her nomination was reported out of committee by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by 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 respondin ...

. Her nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the

114th Congress The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from Ja ...

Appointment as attorney general of Hawaii

Connors was appointed attorney general of Hawaii by Governor

David Ige David Yutaka Ige (; 伊芸豊, ''Ige Yutaka'', born January 15, 1957) is an American politician and engineer who served as the eighth governor of Hawaii from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he served in the Hawaii State Senate from 1994 to 2014 and ...

on January 3, 2019. On April 22, 2019, Connors was confirmed by the

Hawaii State Senate The Hawaii State Senate ( Hawaiian: Ka ‘Aha Kenekoa) is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President o ...

U.S. attorney for the District of Hawaii

On September 28, 2021, President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

nominated Connors to be the United States attorney for the District of Hawaii. On November 4, 2021, her nomination was reported out of committee by

, senators

Lee Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

, Hawley and

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

voted "no". On December 7, 2021, Connors was confirmed in the Senate by

. She was sworn into office on January 3, 2022. On January 6, 2025, she resigned from the post, effective January 20.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Connors, Clare Elizabeth 1974 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women American women lawyers Hawaii attorneys general Lawyers from Hawaii Harvard Law School alumni Lawyers from New York City Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Punahou School alumni United States attorneys for the District of Hawaii Virginia lawyers Yale College alumni