Grant Murray Snow (born October 20, 1959) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as 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 Arizona The United States District Court for the District of Arizona (in case citations, D. Ariz.) is the U.S. district court that covers the state of Arizona. It is under the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The District was esta ...

. Snow was previously a state court judge on the

Arizona Court of Appeals The Arizona Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court for the state of Arizona. It is divided into two divisions, with a total of twenty-eight judges on the court: nineteen in Division 1, based in Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, and nine in ...

from 2002 to 2008.

Early life and education

Snow was born in

Boulder City, Nevada Boulder City is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is approximately southeast of Las Vegas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Boulder City was 14,885. The city took its name from Boulder Canyon ...

. He 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 from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

in 1984. He 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 ...

from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in 1987.

Career

Snow started his 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 Stephen H. Anderson of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Dist ...

from 1987 to 1988. He was in private practice in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, from 1988 to 2002. He was a judge on the

from 2002 to 2008.

Federal judicial service

Snow was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

on December 11, 2007, to a seat vacated by Stephen M. McNamee. He 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 June 26, 2008. He received his commission on July 23, 2008. He served as chief judge from 2018 to 2024. He assumed senior status on October 21, 2024.

Notable cases

On May 24, 2013, Snow ruled that the

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is the law enforcement agency that serves Maricopa County, Arizona, and is the largest Sheriffs in the United States, sheriff's office in Arizona. The MCSO provides patrol services and criminal invest ...

(MCSO), and Maricopa County Sheriff

Joe Arpaio Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He was the Sheriffs in the United States, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, ...

violated the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

, and committed acts of racial profiling against Hispanics. The judge will also preside over 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 ...

's lawsuit to gain access to MCSO's documents and facilities, as part of the department's investigation of alleged discrimination in MCSO's police practices and jail operations. On January 15, 2015, he announced that he would be bringing civil contempt charges against the MCSO, with a hearing to be held in April, and on August 19, 2016, as one result of those proceedings, he issued an order requesting that the United States Attorney for the Arizona district prosecute Arpaio and three of his MCSO associates for criminal contempt.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Snow, G. Murray 1959 births Living people Brigham Young University alumni J. Reuben Clark Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona People from Boulder City, Nevada Politicians from Tempe, Arizona United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush