Edward Carroll DuMont (born December 1961) is a former

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

of California. In 2010 and 2011 he was nominated by President

Barack 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. O ...

to a seat on 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 one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has special appellate jurisdiction over certain categories of cases in the U.S. federa ...

.President Obama Nominates Edward C. DuMont for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
White House press release (April 14, 2010). In November 2011, however, DuMont sent a letter to President Obama asking him to withdraw his nomination to the judgeship. Obama withdrew DuMont's nomination on November 10, 2011, nominating Richard G. Taranto in DuMont's place.

Early life and education

Born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, and raised in northern California, DuMont 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 ...

(''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

,''

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize) from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1983, 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

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

in 1986. DuMont then served as a law clerk to Judge

Richard A. Posner Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American legal scholar and retired United States circuit judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chicag ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, courts in the following United Stat ...

from 1986 to 1987. After his clerkship, he was awarded a

Henry Luce Scholar A Luce Scholar is a recipient of a cultural exchange and vocational fellowship sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation, a private foundation established by Time, Inc. founder Henry R. Luce. The program Founded in 1974, The Luce Scholars Progra ...

ship, which allowed him to spend a year working at a law firm in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Career

DuMont spent several years as an assistant to the

United States Solicitor General The solicitor general of the United States (USSG or SG), is the fourth-highest-ranking official within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and represents the federal government in cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. ...

at that time,

Seth Waxman Seth Paul Waxman (born November 28, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 41st Solicitor General of the United States from 1997 to 2001. He is the co-chairman of the appellate and Supreme Court litigation practice group at the law firm W ...

, and as an

associate deputy attorney general Associate deputy attorney general is a position in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice. The number of positions varies widely depending on the staffing discretion of the deputy attorney general, ...

in 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 ...

, handling issues relating to

computer crime Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cybercriminals may exp ...

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

and

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

. DuMont has argued eighteen cases before the

Supreme Court of the United States 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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

, and has briefed many more. Those cases have covered a wide range of legal issues. DuMont joined

WilmerHale Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as WilmerHale, is an American multinational law firm with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Co-headquartered in Washington, D.C., and Boston, it was formed in 2004 through the m ...

in 2002.

Failed nomination to the Federal Circuit

On April 14, 2010, President

nominated DuMont to fill the vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that was to be created by Judge Paul Redmond Michel retiring on May 31, 2010. DuMont's nomination languished for more than 18 months without a hearing.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

commented on the delay in an August 4, 2011 article, stating that "Some of the longest waiting nominees,

Louis B. Butler Louis Bennett Butler Jr. (born February 15, 1952) is a former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Butler was appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Jim Doyle in August 2004; his term expired on July 31, 2008. He is the first African Am ...

of Wisconsin, Charles Bernard Day of Maryland and Edward Dumont of Washington happen to be black or openly gay". DuMont would have been the first

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

United States appeals court judge.Chris Geidner
Breaking Barriers: Edward DuMont, praised by colleagues as "brilliant," would be the first openly gay federal appellate judge in the country
''

Metro Weekly ''Metro Weekly'' is a free weekly magazine for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) community in Washington, D.C., United States. It was first published on May 5, 1994. ''Metro Weekly'' includes national and local news, intervi ...

'' (April 16, 2010). His partner is Newton Kendig.Ryan Holman
Obama Nominates Gay Man to Fed. Court
, ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'' (April 23, 2010). The

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

never scheduled a hearing on the nomination. On November 9, 2011, the National Law Journal reported that DuMont had submitted a letter to President Obama, asking that the president withdraw his nomination. Obama did so on November 10, 2011.

California Solicitor General

After his failed judicial nomination, DuMont remained at WilmerHale. On October 28, 2013, California Attorney General

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

appointed DuMont to be California's solicitor general, serving as the chief appellate lawyer for the

California Department of Justice The California Department of Justice is a statewide investigative law enforcement agency and legal department of the California executive branch under the elected leadership of the Attorney General of California (AG) which carries out comple ...

. DuMont stepped down effective August 19, 2019.

References

External links