John Gleeson (born July 14, 1953) is an American attorney who served 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 Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five List of counties in New York, counties in ...

. He is a member of the

United States Sentencing Commission The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for articulating the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the federal courts. The Commission promulgat ...

Early life and education

Gleeson was born in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

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 * ...

. 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

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 1975, 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 the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

in 1980.

Career

Gleeson worked 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 Boyce Martin on the

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

from 1980 to 1981. He was in private practice of law at the firm of

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath; ) is an American white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm has additional offices in London and Washington, D.C. History In 1854, former college classmates William H. Seward (la ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from 1981 to 1985. He was 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 ...

for the

Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five counties in New York State: the four Long Island counties of Nassau, ...

from 1985 to 1994 where he was noted for his prosecution of Mafia cases, most notably that of Gambino crime boss

John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 ( , ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American '' mafioso'' and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambin ...

, which resulted in Gotti's conviction.

Federal judicial service

Gleeson was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

on July 22, 1994, to a seat vacated by Jack B. Weinstein. 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 September 28, 1994, and received his commission the next day. He served until his resignation on March 9, 2016. As a district judge, Gleeson was a critic of harsh

mandatory sentencing Mandatory sentencing requires that people convicted of certain crimes serve a predefined term of imprisonment, removing the discretion of judges to take issues such as extenuating circumstances and a person's likelihood of rehabilitation into co ...

. Gleeson's ruling against the FBI in a landmark racial profiling case was reversed by 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 ...

in ''

Ashcroft v. Iqbal ''Ashcroft v. Iqbal'', 556 U.S. 662 (2009), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case which held that plaintiffs must present a "plausible" cause of action. Alongside ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'' (and togeth ...

'' (2009). Judge Gleeson oversaw the prosecution of

Jordan Belfort Jordan Ross Belfort (; born July 9, 1962) is an American former stockbroker, financial criminal, and businessman who pleaded guilty to fraud and related crimes in connection with stock-market manipulation and running a boiler room as part of ...

, famous as the "Wolf of Wall Street". In 2012, he approved a

deferred prosecution A deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), which is very similar to a non-prosecution agreement (NPA), is a voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain ...

agreement with

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

which was widely criticized as being too lenient, but he continued to monitor the agreement for years, in 2016 ordering reports by the bank's independent monitor to be publicly disclosed in the interest of transparency. In his last days on the bench Judge Gleeson, instead of issuing a writ of '' audita querela'', created a new "federal certificate of rehabilitation" to help convicts find jobs.

Post judicial career

On January 4, 2016, it was announced that Gleeson planned to resign from the bench and return to private practice on March 9, 2016. He joined white shoe firm Debevoise & Plimpton to practice

white-collar crime The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class indivi ...

defense. On May 11, 2020, Gleeson co-authored an op-ed concerning the Department of Justice's request to drop charges against former National Security Advisor

Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...

; the op-ed pointed out that dismissal of charges was not automatic but would only be granted by leave of the court. Two days later, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan appointed Gleeson to present arguments against the DOJ’s request to withdraw the case against Flynn and to determine if perjury charges should be brought against Flynn. In the role, Gleeson served as a " friend of the court."

United States Sentencing Commission

On May 11, 2022, 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 Gleeson to serve as a member of the

, to replace the retiring

Rachel Barkow Rachel Elise Barkow (née Selinfreund; born 1971) is an American professor of law at the New York University School of Law. She is also faculty director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law. Her scholarship focuses on administrat ...

. On May 12, 2022, his nomination was sent to the Senate. On June 8, 2022, a hearing on his 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 July 21, 2022, his nomination was reported out of committee by a voice vote, with 6 Republican senators voted “no” on record. On August 4, 2022, the

confirmed his nomination by a voice vote. On October 18, 2023, he was renominated by President Biden for an additional term. On October 24, 2023, his renomination was sent to the Senate. On April 18, 2024, his nomination was favorably reported out of committee by a 11–10 party-line vote. His nomination is pending before the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gleeson, John 1953 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Assistant United States attorneys Cravath, Swaine & Moore people Georgetown University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York Members of the United States Sentencing Commission People associated with Debevoise & Plimpton Lawyers from the Bronx United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Virginia School of Law alumni