Rya Weickert Zobel (born December 18, 1931) is a Senior United States District Court Judge 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 United States district court, federal district court whose Jurisdiction (area), territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth (U.S. state), C ...

Education and career

Born in

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Zobel received a

B.A. 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 degree ...

degree from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

in 1953 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1956. She was 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 ...

George Clinton Sweeney George Clinton Sweeney (July 23, 1895 – November 5, 1966) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Education and career Born in Gardner, Massachusetts, Sweeney received a Bache ...

, then Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1956 to 1966. She was in private practice in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

from 1967 to 1979.

Federal judicial service

On January 25, 1979, Zobel was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

to a new seat on the

created by 92 Stat. 1629. She 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 21, 1979, and received her commission on March 23, 1979. Among her judicial duties, she was director of the

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of re ...

from 1995 to 1999. She assumed senior status on April 1, 2014. Zobel served as a judge in the

2019 college admissions bribery scandal Operation Varsity Blues was the code name for the investigation into the 2019 criminal conspiracy scandal to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. United States federal prosecutors made the invest ...

. In 2020, she received the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award, the highest honor bestowed upon an Article III federal judge in the United States. In 2021, she was a recipient of the Outstanding Americans by Choice award from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The award recognizes the outstanding achievements of naturalized U.S. citizens.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zobel, Rya W. 1931 births Living people German emigrants to the United States Radcliffe College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter 20th-century American judges People from Zwickau 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges

Education and career

Federal judicial service

See also

References

Sources