Royce Lamberth
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Royce Charles Lamberth (; born July 16, 1943) is a senior judge of the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a United States district court, federal district court in Washington, D.C. Along with the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and ...
, who formerly served as its chief judge. Since 2015, he has sat as a visiting judge on the
United States District Court for the Western District of Texas The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (in case citations, W.D. Tex.) is a federal district court. The court convenes in San Antonio with divisions in Austin, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Pecos, and Waco. It has ...
in
San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
.


Education and career

Lamberth was born in 1943 in
San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. He graduated with a
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degree from the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
, where he was a member of the Tejas Club, and from the
University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Texas at Austin, a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas. According to Texas Law’s American Bar ...
, receiving a
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in 1967. He served as a captain in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1968 to 1974, including one year in
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
. After that, he became an Assistant
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for the District of Columbia. In 1978, Lamberth became chief of the civil division of the United States Attorney's Office, a position he held until his appointment to the federal bench.


Federal judicial service

Lamberth was nominated 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 ...
on March 19, 1987, to the seat on the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a United States district court, federal district court in Washington, D.C. Along with the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and ...
vacated by Judge Barrington D. Parker. 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 November 13, 1987, and commissioned on November 16, 1987. He served as chief judge from 2008 to 2013. He assumed senior status on July 15, 2013. He also served as presiding 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 1995 to 2002. Since becoming a senior judge, Lamberth has been assigned as a visiting judge in San Antonio for several months per year at the
United States District Court for the Western District of Texas The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (in case citations, W.D. Tex.) is a federal district court. The court convenes in San Antonio with divisions in Austin, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Pecos, and Waco. It has ...
.


Notable cases


''Cobell v. Kempthorne''

Lamberth presided over '' Cobell v. Kempthorne'', a case in which a group of Native Americans sued the U.S. Department of the Interior for allegedly mismanaging a trust intended for their benefit. Lamberth, appointed to the bench 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 ...
, was known for speaking his mind and repeatedly ruled for the Native Americans in their
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. His opinions condemned the government and found Interior secretaries Gale Norton and Bruce Babbitt in
contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...
for their handling of the case. The appellate court reversed Lamberth several times, including the contempt charge against Norton. After a particularly harsh opinion in 2005, in which Lamberth lambasted the Interior Department as
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
, the government petitioned the Court of Appeals to remove him, alleging that he was too biased to continue with the case. On July 11, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, siding with the government, removed Judge Lamberth from the case.


1983 Beirut barracks bombing case

In May 2003, in a case brought by families of the two hundred forty-one servicemen who were killed in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, Lamberth ordered the
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to pay US$2.65 billion for the actions of
Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...
, a
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group determined to be involved in the bombing in
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
.


Guantanamo cases

Lamberth has presided over Guantanamo captives ''
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
'' petitions. On December 29, 2016, Lamberth ordered the preservation of the full classified
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 ...
Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. The six thousand–page report had taken Intelligence Committee staff years to prepare. A six hundred–page unclassified summary was published in December 2014, when Democratic Senator
Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
chaired the committee, against objections of the Committee's Republican minority. Its publication stirred controversy. Limited copies of the classified report had been made, and human rights workers were concerned that the CIA would work to have all copies of the document destroyed.


James Rosen search warrants

In 2010, two federal magistrate judges approved a warrant sought by the Justice Department to search personal e-mails and phone records of Fox News reporter James Rosen related to a story about the North Korean nuclear program. In May 2010, Judge Lamberth overruled Magistrate Judge John Facciola's determination that the Justice Department needed to directly notify Rosen of the issuance of the warrant. In May 2013, Lamberth issued an apology from the bench for the clerk's office failure to unseal the search warrant docket entries as Lamberth had ordered in November 2011.


''Sherley v. Sebelius''

In August 2010, Lamberth issued a temporary injunction blocking an executive order by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
that expanded
stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...
research. He indicated the policy violated a ban on federal money being used to destroy embryos, called the Dickey–Wicker Amendment. Susan Jacoby complained that his decision was more a reflection of his politics than a rigorous interpretation of the Dickey–Wicker Amendment. Judge Lamberth refused to lift the injunction forbidding the research pending the appeal of his ruling, and the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, ...
issued an order on September 9, 2010, providing for an emergency temporary lifting of the injunction in the case that had forbidden the research, at the request of the Justice Department. A three-judge panel from that court overturned Lamberth's decision in August 2012, and the Supreme Court denied the plaintiff's request for an appeal.


''In re Kutler''

In July 2011, Judge Lamberth ordered the release of Richard Nixon's testimony concerning the
Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revol ...
scandal. The Justice Department reviewed the decision after an objection from the administration insisting on the continued need for privacy of those involved.


''Royer v. Federal Bureau of Prisons''

On January 15, 2014, Judge Lamberth issued an order harshly criticizing the Department of Justice for what he described as its "sneering argument" that a federal prisoner had not been prejudiced by the Department's repeated failure to comply with
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"because he remains incarcerated."Greenfield, Scott (2014-01-30
When Judge Lamberth Smacks, The DOJ Hides
''Simple Justice''
Judge Lamberth went on to write that " e whole point of this litigation is whether defendant can continue to single out plaintiff for special treatment as a terrorist during his continued period of incarceration. Did any supervising attorney ever read this nonsense that is being argued to this Court?" Judge Lamberth proceeded "to grant the inmate plaintiff pretty much all his discovery motion and hammer dthe DOJ by telling plaintiff to submit its request for sanctions in the form of award of attorney fees and costs." In response to the Order, the Justice Department moved to substitute new counsel "and remove the appearances of all prior counsel for Defendant in the above-captioned case,"
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Charlotte Abel, Laurie Weinstein, Rhonda Campbell and Rhonda Fields. This led one legal commentator to note that " appears that the government is seeking the clerk’s assistance in fundamentally altering the record, to intentionally conceal the identities of the assistants" who had been reprimanded by Judge Lamberth.


''United States v. Bolton''

In June 2020, Lamberth was assigned the case ''United States v. Bolton'', in which the Trump administration sued to prevent the publication of
John Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican Party (United States), Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to ...
's book '' The Room Where It Happened''. On June 20, Lamberth issued a ruling declining to
enjoin An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable ...
the publication, but leaving the case open for other remedies.


January 6 United States Capitol attack cases

Lamberth has presided over a number of the criminal cases of participants in the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol, including Jacob Chansley, the "QAnon Shaman". Lamberth has handed down some of the longest sentences of the more than 480 people convicted for their actions during the attack. In 2021, Lamberth controversially ordered a DC jail to provide Jacob Chansley the " organic" food he had requested as a religious accommodation, after Chansley refused to eat for days while awaiting trial. Lamberth eventually ordered Chansley moved to a new jail that would provide him with organic food. Throughout Chansley's case, Lamberth has repeatedly denied Chansley's requests for release and motions to vacate judgment. In 2023, Lamberth denied Chansley's request to throw out his conviction, after Chansley argued footage of the January 6 attack released by Tucker Carlson would have been favorable to his case. In October 2021, Lamberth held D.C. corrections officials in contempt, citing treatment and
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
abuses of January 6 participant Christopher Worrell. By 2023, after several hundred participants had been jailed, tried and convicted for their activities, some House Republicans such as Marjorie Taylor Greene sought to characterize them as "political prisoners." Donald Trump and House Republican Conference chair
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characterized them as "hostages." Lamberth, who had presided over dozens of the cases, remarked in a January 2024 court filing, in part:
I have been shocked to watch some public figures try to rewrite history, claiming rioters behaved "in an orderly fashion" like ordinary tourists, or martyrizing convicted January 6 defendants as "political prisoners" or even, incredibly, "hostages." That is all preposterous. But the Court fears that such destructive, misguided rhetoric could presage further danger to our country.
During one trial, supporters of Taylor James Johnatakis—a participant in the attack Lamberth sentenced to more than 7 years in prison—wrote letters to the court in Johnatakis's support. In response, Lamberth published a written version of his sentencing remarks in an unusual public court filing he styled as “Notes for Sentencing,” and ordered the court clerk to send a copy to those who had written in support of Johnatakis. “In any angry mob, there are leaders and there are followers. Mr. Johnatakis was a leader,” Lamberth said. “He knew what he was doing that day.”


See also

* Commerce Department trade mission controversy


References


External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamberth, Royce Charles 1943 births Living people Military personnel from San Antonio 21st-century American judges Assistant United States attorneys Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judges presiding over Guantanamo habeas petitions United States Army officers United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of Texas School of Law alumni Texas lawyers Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Judges of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps