Leonie Brinkema
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Assumed office
October 20, 1993
Appointed byBill Clinton
Preceded byAlbert Vickers Bryan Jr.
Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
In office
1985–1993
Personal details
Born
Leonie Helen Milhomme[1]

(1944-06-26) June 26, 1944
Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.
EducationRutgers University (BA, MLS}
Cornell University (JD)

Leonie Helen Milhomme Brinkema (born June 26, 1944) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Early life and education

She was born as Leonie Milhomme in Teaneck, New Jersey.[2] She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University in 1966 and a Master of Library and Information Science from the same institution in 1970. She earned a Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School in 1976.[3]

Career

She worked in the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section 1976–1977, and then the United States Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia, Criminal Division from 1977 to 1983. From 1983 to 1984, she returned to the Criminal Division and worked as a sole practitioner from 1984 to 1985.

Federal judicial service

Brinkema was a United States Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia from 1985 to 1993.[3]

On August 6, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Brinkema to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by Judge Albert Vickers Bryan Jr. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 18, 1993, and received her commission on October 20, 1993.[3] She took up her post on October 23, 1993.

Notable rulings

  • Brinkema presided over RTC v. Lerma et al. (1995), a case that involved the reproduction of materials owned by the Church of Scientology. Brinkema found for the defendants in most of the claims, and awarded minimum damages of $2,500 for copyright infringement, citing the "increasingly vitriolic rhetoric" of Religious Technology Center (RTC)'s legal filings.
  • In 2006, Brinkema presided over the case of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.[5] When she asked about the videotapes showing the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, the government denied their existence.[6] As she sentenced Moussaoui to life in a supermax prison, she told him: "You came here to be a martyr and to die in a great big bang of glory, but to paraphrase the poet T. S. Eliot, instead, you will die with a whimper. The rest of your life you will spend in prison." Mr. Moussaoui began to respond, but Judge Brinkema continued. "You will never again get a chance to speak," she said, "and that is an appropriate and fair ending."[7]
  • On April 2, 2009, Brinkema weighed in on the question of whether terrorist detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could be prosecuted in the civilian justice system.[8]
  • In 2011, she presided over the fraud trial of Lee Farkas, CEO of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker. During his sentencing hearing on June 30, 2011, she said that she did not observe any genuine remorse, and sentenced the 58-year-old Farkas to 30 years in federal prison.[9] She ordered Farkas and six others to pay a total of about $US3.5 billion in restitution.[10]
  • On January 28, 2017, she was the second to order a stay of an executive order by President Donald Trump, which restricted immigration into the United States and prevented the return of green-card holders and others. Although the order issued was a temporary restraining order, it blocked the removal of any green-card holders being detained at Dulles International Airport for seven days. Brinkema's action also ordered that lawyers have access to those held there because of the president's ban.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Confirmation hearings on federal appointments: hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, first session on confirmations of appointees to the federal judiciary.
  2. ↑ Goldman, Jessica. "Moussaoui Judge Minces No Words", CBS News, March 13, 2006. Accessed may 26, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Leonie Brinkema at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  4. ↑ Lichtblau, Eric (2003-10-29). "Trucker Sentenced to 20 Years in Plot Against Brooklyn Bridge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  5. ↑ "Q&A: Moussaoui trial". BBC News. May 3, 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  6. ↑ Goodman, Amy (December 10, 2007). "Did CIA Destroy Tapes Showing Waterboarding and Involvement of Psychologists in Torture?". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  7. ↑ Weiser, Benjamin (July 5, 2010). "Tirade Offers Insight on Would-Be Times Sq. Bomber". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Matthew Barakat (2009-04-02). "Fed. judge says courts can handle Gitmo cases". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  9. ↑ Protess, Ben (June 30, 2011). "Mortgage Executive Receives 30-Year Sentence". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Macias, Amanda (March 21, 2014). "The Only CEO Prosecuted For The Mortgage Crisis Is Someone You've Never Heard Of, And Feels Like A 'Zombie' In Prison". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  11. ↑ Markon, Jerry; Brown, Emma; Shaver, Katherine (2017-01-29). "Judge halts deportations as refugee ban causes worldwide furor". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
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