Catherine C. Blake

Catherine C. Blake
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
Incumbent
Assumed office April 2, 2021
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
In office October 3, 2014 – October 6, 2017
Preceded by	Deborah K. Chasanow
Succeeded by	James K. Bredar
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
In office August 14, 1995 – April 2, 2021
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	John R. Hargrove Sr.
Succeeded by	Lydia Griggsby
Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
In office 1987 – August 14, 1995
Personal details
Born	Catherine Curtis Blake (1950-07-27) July 27, 1950 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Radcliffe College (AB) Harvard Law School (JD)

Catherine Curtis Blake (born July 27, 1950) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Early life and education

Blake was born in Boston, Massachusetts. After receiving an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Radcliffe College in 1972, she enrolled in Harvard Law School, where she received a Juris Doctor in 1975.

Career

Blake was in private practice in Boston, from 1975 to 1977. She was with the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from 1977 to 1987. During that period, she was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1977 to 1983, then became a first assistant from 1983 to 1985, when she was appointed by the court to serve as the United States Attorney, a position she held until 1987, when she again became the first assistant.

Federal judicial service

In 1987 Blake became a United States magistrate judge of the District of Maryland. In 1995, Blake became a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on May 4, 1995, to a seat vacated by John R. Hargrove Sr. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 1995, and received her commission on August 14, 1995. She served as Chief Judge of the District of Maryland from October 3, 2014 to October 6, 2017. She assumed senior status on April 2, 2021.

Judge Blake presided over the infamous Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force case. She is portrayed in the final episode of the HBO miniseries "We Own This City" which depicts the events surrounding the case.

In October 2020, Judge Blake struck down a constitutional challenge to Governor Hogan's executive order that mandated state contractors were not allowed to engage in a political or economic boycott of Israel in their business or personal life. The case was one of several constitutional challenges to anti-BDS laws since 2017.

External links

• Catherine C. Blake at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.