Richard Gaylore Stearns (born June 27, 1944) 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 Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was he ...

Early life

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, Stearns received a

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 ...

degree from Stanford University in 1968, a

Master of Letters The Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland ...

degree (Political Philosophy) from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, in 1971, and a

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 ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1976.

Career

Stearns worked on the

George McGovern presidential campaign, 1972 The George McGovern 1972 presidential campaign began when United States Senator George McGovern from South Dakota launched his second candidacy for the Presidency of the United States in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to win the 1972 presidentia ...

, and later became a special assistant to McGovern from 1972 to 1973. He was a speech writer in the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1976. He worked in the Norfolk County (Massachusetts) District Attorney's office from 1976 to 1982. 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 go ...

of the District of Massachusetts from 1982 to 1990. He was an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts from 1990 to 1993.

Federal judicial service

On October 27, 1993, Stearns was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

to a seat on the

vacated by

John Joseph McNaught John Joseph McNaught (November 22, 1921 – January 24, 1994) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Education and career Born in Malden, Massachusetts, McNaught graduated from ...

. Stearns was confirmed by 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 November 20, 1993, and he received his commission on November 24, 1993. Clinton had originally wanted to appoint Stearns Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stearns, Richard G. 1944 births Living people Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Assistant United States Attorneys American Rhodes Scholars Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Massachusetts Superior Court justices People from Los Angeles Stanford University alumni United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges