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Kathryn Kimball Mizelle

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Kathryn Mizelle
Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 20, 2020
Appointed byDonald Trump
Preceded byVirginia M. Hernandez Covington
Personal details
Born
Kathryn Anne Kimball

1987 (age 36–37)
Lakeland, Florida, U.S.
SpouseChad Mizelle
EducationCovenant College (BA)
University of Florida (JD)

Kathryn Kimball Mizelle[1] (born 1987)[2] is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. At age 33, she was the youngest person chosen by President Donald Trump for a lifetime judicial appointment.[3]

Early life and education

Born in Lakeland, Florida, Mizelle obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Covenant College in 2009, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2012.[4]

Career

Upon graduating from law school, Mizelle served as a law clerk to Judge James S. Moody Jr. of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida and to Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She worked as a trial attorney in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice from 2014–2017, and was detailed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2014–2015. Mizelle was Counsel to the United States Associate Attorney General from 2017–2018. In 2018, she briefly clerked for Judge Gregory G. Katsas of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and then clerked for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mizelle is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.[5] She has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2012.[2][6]

Before becoming a judge, Mizelle was an associate at Jones Day,[7] where she worked on civil and criminal litigation and appeals.[4][8]

Federal judicial service

On August 12, 2020, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Mizelle to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.[9] At the age of 33, she was the youngest person chosen by Trump for a lifetime judicial appointment.[10][11][3] On September 8, 2020, her nomination was sent to the Senate to fill the seat vacated by Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington, who took senior status on July 12, 2020.[12] On September 9, 2020, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[13] On October 22, 2020, the Judiciary Committee reported her nomination by a unanimous 12–0 vote, with all Democratic senators boycotting the hearing.[14]

The American Bar Association (ABA) rated Mizelle "Not Qualified" by a majority and "Qualified" by a minority of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary to serve as a federal trial court judge,[15] noting that "Since her admission to the bar Ms. Mizelle has not tried a case, civil or criminal, as lead or co-counsel."[16] Before her appointment, the nominee had only taken part in two trials — both one-day trials in a state court conducted while she was still in law school.[7] Mizelle had eight years of legal experience at the time of her nomination;[16] the ABA typically requires 12 years to give a nominee a rating of "Qualified". The ABA said Mizelle "has a very keen intellect, a strong work ethic and an impressive resume... her integrity and demeanor are not in question."[17] But, the committee wrote, "These attributes... simply do not compensate for the short time she has actually practiced law and her lack of meaningful trial experience."[16]

On November 18, 2020, Mizelle's nomination was confirmed by a Republican majority after a party-line vote of 49–41.[18] She thereby joined the first group of judges appointed by a president who had lost reelection at the time of confirmation since Jimmy Carter's appointment of Stephen Breyer to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in November 1980.[7][19] She received her judicial commission on November 20, 2020.

On April 18, 2022, Mizelle struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes and public transportation, ruling that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had no authority to implement such a mandate.[20] Mizelle also stated that the CDC improperly invoked the good faith exception to the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment rulemaking process. The US Supreme Court had three times refused to issue injunctions against the CDC's mask mandate.[21] In her ruling, Mizelle argued that the 1944 statute that gives the federal government authority to combat communicable disease as part of "sanitation" efforts was being misapplied because sanitation solely referred to "measures that clean something" and masks do not clean anything by removing contagious water droplets from the air.[22] She also argued that travelers were being restricted from the freedom to travel based on an arbitrary condition, and that longstanding case law surrounding the right to enforce "detention and quarantine" by the government was applicable only to those who were actually sick.[22]

Personal life

Mizelle is married to Chad Mizelle. He served as acting General Counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security in the administration of Donald Trump.[23][24] His appointment overseeing 2,500 attorneys, less than seven years after graduating law school, was criticized as driven by his loyalty to White House advisor Stephen Miller.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Goldstein, Richard (September 13, 2016). "Alumna makes history as UF Law's first SCOTUS clerk". Fredric G. Levin College of Law. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020.
  2. ^ a b United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Kathryn Mizelle
  3. ^ a b Allassan, Fadel (November 19, 2020). "Senate confirms Trump's youngest judicial pick as GOP breaks tradition". Axios. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Kathryn Kimball Mizelle | Lawyers". www.jonesday.com. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  5. ^ Strom, Roy (February 18, 2020). "Jones Day Hires Five Supreme Court Clerks in Latest Coup". Bloomberg Law. Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a University of Florida Levin College of Law graduate who clerked for Thomas and will work in the firm's Washington and Miami offices.
  6. ^ Bendery, Jennifer (October 22, 2020). "Senate Republicans Advance Another Trump Court Pick Rated 'Not Qualified'". HuffPost. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Senate confirms Trump's youngest federal judge to serve in Tampa, Tampa Bay Times, Jamal Thalji, November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  8. ^ "33-Year-Old Trump Judicial Pick Attacked Over Experience – Law360". www.law360.com. August 21, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  9. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved August 12, 2020 – via National Archives.
  10. ^ Thomsen, Jacqueline (November 18, 2020). "Lame Duck Senate Confirms Trump's Youngest Judge Yet". National Law Journal. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  11. ^ Thalji, Jamal (November 19, 2020). "Senate confirms Trump's youngest federal judge to serve in Tampa". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  12. ^ "Eleven Nominations and Three Withdrawals Sent to the Senate", White House, September 8, 2020
  13. ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Nominations for September 9, 2020
  14. ^ Results of Executive Business Meeting – October 22, 2020, Senate Judiciary Committee
  15. ^ "STANDING COMMITTEE ONTHE FEDERAL JUDICIARY RATINGS OF ARTICLE III AND ARTICLE IV JUDICIAL NOMINEES 116TH CONGRESS" (PDF). American Bar Association. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  16. ^ a b c "Federal judicial nominee lacks enough experience, ABA says in letter explaining 'not qualified' rating". ABA Journal. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  17. ^ September 9, Jacqueline Thomsen (September 9, 2020). "Jones Day Associate, Former Thomas Clerk 'Not Qualified' for Federal Bench, ABA Says". National Law Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, of Florida, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida)" United States Senate, November 18, 2020
  19. ^ Trump, GOP Defy Precedent with Lame Duck Judicial Appointees (1), Bloomberg Law, Madison Alder, Seth Stern and John Crawley, Updated: Nov. 18, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  20. ^ "Florida judge overturns CDC mask mandate for planes and public transit". CNBC. April 18, 2022.
  21. ^ "CDC mask mandate for travelers struck down by federal judge". CNN. April 18, 2022.
  22. ^ a b Sneed, Tierney. "CDC mask mandate for travelers no longer in effect following judge's ruling, official says". CNN. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  23. ^ Kalmbacher, Colin (August 12, 2020). "Trump Nominates Former Clarence Thomas Clerk Who Graduated Law School in 2012 to Lifetime Judgeship". Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  24. ^ Stephen Miller ally tapped as top Homeland Security attorney, CNN, Geneva Sands, February 12, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  25. ^ Sands, Geneva (February 12, 2020). "Stephen Miller ally tapped as top Homeland Security attorney". CNN. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
2020–present 		Incumbent
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