Raymond Joseph Dearie (born 1944) is an American lawyer who is 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 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 also served as a judge of the

United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), also called the FISA Court, is a United States federal courts, U.S. federal court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests ...

from 2012 to 2019.

Early life and education

Dearie was born in

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated Village (New York), village located in the Hempstead, New York, Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long ...

, the son of John A. Dearie and Catherine Dearie. John C. Dearie, a former member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

, is his first cousin. Dearie graduated from

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

, receiving his

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 ...

in 1966. He received his

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 St. John's University School of Law in 1969, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the ''St. John's Law Review''. Dearie received an Alumni Professional Achievement Award from Fairfield University in 1986. He received the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

, from the St. John's University School of Law, and later delivered the school's

commencement speech In the United States, a commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions and in similar institutions around the ...

to the graduating class in 2008.

Career

Dearie began his legal career at

Shearman & Sterling Shearman & Sterling was a White shoe multinational law firm headquartered in New York City, United States. In 2024 it merged with Allen & Overy to form A&O Shearman. History Wall Street origins Shearman & Sterling was founded in New York City ...

in 1969. Dearie subsequently worked 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 Eastern District of New York, where he served in the Appeals Division from 1971 to 1974, as the Chief of the General Crimes Section from 1974 to 1976, Head Chief of the Office's Criminal Division from 1976-1977, and briefly as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney for the District in 1977. He worked in private practice until 1980 before serving as the Chief Assistant United States Attorney until 1982, when he was appointed the

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York The United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in five New York counties: Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), Nassau and Suffolk. , the acting U.S. attorney is Jo ...

by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, serving from 1982 to 1986, before being appointed to the federal bench, by the recommendation of

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 * ...

Senator

Al D'Amato Alfonse Marcello D'Amato (born August 1, 1937) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and Republican politician who represented the state of New York in the United States Senate from 1981 to 1999. From 1995 to 1999, he chaired the Senate Banking C ...

Federal judicial service

Dearie was nominated by President

on February 3, 1986, to the

, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. 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 March 14, 1986, and received his commission on March 19, 1986. He served as Chief Judge from 2007 until 2011. He took senior status on April 3, 2011, and was succeeded by Judge Pamela K. Chen in March 2013. He remained an active judge on the Eastern District Court; according to a court official, he is planning to go on inactive status at the end of 2022. On July 2, 2012, Supreme Court Chief Justice

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

appointed Dearie to a seven-year term on the

. In September 2022, Dearie was one of two candidates proposed by former President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

as a special master to review documents seized in the

FBI search of Mar-a-Lago On August8, 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, the residence of then-former U.S. president Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. The search warrant application was authorized by U.S. At ...

. 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 ...

announced that it would accept him. He was appointed special master by Judge

Aileen Cannon Aileen Mercedes Cannon (born 1981) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She was appointed in 2020 by President Donald Trump and confirmed b ...

on September 15, 2022. On September 23, Dearie ordered Trump's legal defense to submit a

sworn declaration A sworn declaration (also called a ''sworn statement'' or a ''statement under penalty of perjury'') is a document that recites facts pertinent to a legal proceeding. It is very similar to an affidavit but is not witnessed and sealed by an official ...

supporting their claims that the FBI had planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago.

References

Sources

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dearie, Raymond Joseph 1944 births Living people 21st-century American judges Assistant United States attorneys Fairfield University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York Judges of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court People from Rockville Centre, New York St. John's University School of Law alumni United States attorneys for the Eastern District of New York United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan