Beryl A. Howell

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
	Name: Beryl A. Howell
	Court: District of Columbia
Progress
	Confirmed 161 days after nomination.
	Nominated: July 14, 2010
	ABA Rating: Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified
	Questionnaire: Questionnaire
	Hearing: July 28, 2010
	QFRs: QFRs (Hover over QFRs to read more)
	Reported: September 23, 2010
	Confirmed: December 22, 2010
	Vote: Voice vote

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Beryl A. Howell is a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She was first nominated to the court on July 14, 2010, and was confirmed by the Senate on December 22, 2010.^[1] She was named chief judge on March 17, 2016, with the retirement of Judge Richard Roberts.^[2] Her term as chief judge ended on March 17, 2023.^[3]

She assumed senior status on February 1, 2024.^[4] Amir Ali was nominated by President Joe Biden (D) to replace Howell on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on February 1, 2024.^[5]^[6]

Early life and education

A native of Fort Benning, Georgia, Howell received her B.A. in 1978 from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D. from Columbia University in 1983.^[7]

Professional career

2010-2024: Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia

2024-present: Senior judge
2016-2023: Chief judge

2004-2013: Commissioner, U.S. Sentencing Commission
2003-2009: Executive managing director and general counsel, Stroz Friedberg
1993-2003: Counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee

1997-2003: General counsel
1993-1996: Senior counsel

1987-1993: Assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of New York
1985-1987: Private practice, New York City
1983-1984: Law clerk, Hon. Dickinson Debevoise, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey^[7]^[1]

Judicial career

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Howell was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 14, 2010, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia vacated by Judge Paul Friedman. The American Bar Association rated Howell Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified for the nomination, with one member abstaining. Hearings on Howell's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 28, 2010, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on September 23, 2010. Howell was confirmed on a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on December 22, 2010, and she received her commission on December 27, 2010. She was chief judge of the district court from 2016 to 2023 and assumed senior status on February 1, 2024.^[4]^[8]^[9]

Noteworthy cases

Law professor wins in border fence case (2014)

University of Texas at Austin clinical professor Denise Gilman made a Freedom of Information Act request to get information on a border fence project undertaken by the United States government. She wanted to know the names of the landowners for a human-rights research project. A federal law passed in 2006 allowed the government to build a 700-mile-long fence between the United States and Mexico. The exact location of the fence was not specified in the law, but rather left to the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security.

The government released hundreds of documents to Gilman but redacted names and addresses of the landowners. As a result, Gilman sought judicial help. Gilman argued that the public had a right to know how the government was putting up the fence, and if it was treating all private landowners the same and fairly.

In March 2014, Judge Beryl A. Howell ordered that the government provide Gilman with that information. Judge Howell wrote that "[r]evealing the identities of landowners in the wall's planned construction site may shed light on the impact on indigenous communities, the disparate impact on lower-income minority communities, and the practices of private contractors."^[10]

Articles:

Role in special counsel investigation

On August 3, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that special counsel Robert Mueller had impaneled a grand jury in Washington, D.C., in addition to a grand jury previously impaneled in Virginia related to an investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Under Rule 40.3 of the rules for the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, the assignment for supervising proceedings for the grand jury fell to Judge Howell as the chief judge of the district court. By rule, the district court's chief judge presides over grand jury proceedings in what are known as miscellaneous cases, which include, but are not limited to, "proceedings ancillary to an action pending in another district."^[11]^[12]