Howard Curtis Nielson Jr. (born 1968) is 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, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Utah The United States District Court for the District of Utah (in case citations, D. Utah) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Utah. The court is based in Salt Lake City with another courtroom leased in thstate courtho ...

Biography

Nielson was born in 1968 to Julia (née Adams) and

Howard C. Nielson Howard Curtis Nielson (September 12, 1924 – May 20, 2020) was an American politician in the Republican Party. From 1983 to 1991, Nielson represented Utah's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Early life ...

, who was a member of the

Utah House of Representatives The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district con ...

. When he was 14, his father was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

. Nielson received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

with university honors and ''summa cum laude'' from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

with high honors from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

, where he was elected to

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap ...

and served as articles editor of the ''

University of Chicago Law Review The ''University of Chicago Law Review'' (Maroonbook abbreviation: ''U Chi L Rev'') is the flagship law journal published by the University of Chicago Law School. It is among the top five most cited law reviews in the world. Up until 2020, it utili ...

''. Earlier in his career, he served as a law clerk to Judge

J. Michael Luttig John Michael Luttig ( ; born June 13, 1954) is an American corporate lawyer and jurist who was a U.S. federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006. Luttig resigned his judgeship in 2006 to become general co ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: *District of Maryland ...

and then to Justice

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Preside ...

of 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 U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

. From 2001 to 2005, Nielson served 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 United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

, first as counsel to the Attorney General and later as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...

. He has taught courses in constitutional litigation, national security law, foreign relations law, and federal courts as a Distinguished Lecturer at the

J. Reuben Clark Law School The J. Reuben Clark Law School (BYU Law or JRCLS) is the graduate law school of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1973, the school is named after J. Reuben Clark, a former U.S. Ambassador, Undersecretary of State, and ...

Federal judicial service

On September 28, 2017, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

nominated Nielson to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah, to the seat vacated by Judge

Ted Stewart Brian Theadore "Ted" Stewart (born 1948) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. Early life and education Born in Logan, Utah, Stewart received a Bachelor of Science degree from ...

, who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on September 1, 2014. A hearing on his nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on January 10, 2018. On February 8, the Judiciary Committee voted for Nielson by an 11–10 vote. Democrats on the committee opposed Nielson over his role in defending California's Proposition 8 and his role in reviewing two

torture memos A set of legal memoranda known as the "Torture Memos" (officially the Memorandum Regarding Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside The United States) were drafted by John Yoo as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the ...

in 2004 and 2006 when he was serving as a deputy assistant general at the Office of Legal Counsel for the Justice Department. On March 6, 2018, Illinois Senator

Tammy Duckworth Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented ...

put a hold on his nomination. On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Nielson for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On May 21, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 52–47 vote. On May 22, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a 51–47 vote, with

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Con ...

voting against his nomination. He received his judicial commission on June 12, 2019.

Memberships

He was a member of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...

from 1997 to 2007.United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Howard C. Nielson Jr.
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References

External links

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Biography at Cooper & Kirk PLLC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielson, Howard C. Jr. 1968 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty Federalist Society members George W. Bush administration personnel Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Utah Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from Washington, D.C. People from Provo, Utah United States Department of Justice lawyers United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump University of Chicago Law School alumni Utah lawyers Law clerks of J. Michael Luttig

Biography

Federal judicial service

Memberships

See also

References

External links