Elizabeth Cheryl Coombe (born 1967) is an American lawyer who serves as a

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 Northern District of New York The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (in case citations, N.D.N.Y.) serves one of the 94 judicial districts in the United States and one of four in the state of New York. Appeals from the Northern District of Ne ...

Education

Born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, she is the daughter of Richard I. and Phyllis "Penny" Coombe of

Grahamsville, New York Grahamsville is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet (and census-designated place) at the junction of New York State Route 42, NY 42 and New York State Route 55, 55 in the Neversink, New York, Town of Neversink, in Sullivan County, New York, Sullivan Cou ...

. She graduated from

Tri-Valley Central School Tri-Valley Secondary School is located on 34 Moore Hill Road, near the Rondout Reservoir, east of Grahamsville, New York. It educates students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade and is within the Tri-Valley Central School District. It gets i ...

. She earned 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 ...

'', from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

in 1989 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 ...

, ''

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 ...

'', from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

in 1992.

Career

From 1992 to 1993, she served 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 Diana E. Murphy of the

United States District Court for the District of Minnesota The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis ...

. From 1994 to 1996, she was a staff attorney in the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

's Enforcement Division; from 1996 to 1997, she was a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch and from 1998 to 2003 she served as 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 ...

in the

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia The United States attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia has t ...

. She joined the office in 2003 and from 2014 to 2018, she served as chief of the criminal division, becoming the first woman to do so. From 2018 to 2024, served as the first assistant United States attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York.

Federal judicial service

On August 28, 2024, 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 ...

announced his intent to nominate Coombe to serve as a

of the

. On September 9, 2024, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Coombe to the seat being vacated by Judge Glenn T. Suddaby, who subsequently assumed senior status on September 1, 2024. Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York since 2009 ...

endorsed Coombe's nomination. On September 25, 2024, a hearing on her nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee 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 ...

. On November 21, 2024, her nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10

party-line vote A party-line vote in a deliberative assembly (such as a constituent assembly, parliament, or legislature) is a vote in which a substantial majority of members of a political party vote the same way (usually in opposition to the other political ...

. On December 4, 2024, 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 ...

invoked

cloture Cloture (, ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. is ...

on her nomination by a 52–46 vote. Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 52–45 vote. She received her judicial commission on December 9, 2024.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coombe, Elizabeth C. 1967 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women judges 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers Assistant United States attorneys Hamilton College (New York) alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York People from Ridgewood, New Jersey United States Department of Justice lawyers United States district court judges appointed by Joe Biden U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission personnel University of Michigan Law School alumni