Arianna J. Freeman

Arianna Julia Freeman (born 1978) is an American lawyer from Pennsylvania who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Arianna Freeman
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Assumed office
October 20, 2022
Appointed byJoe Biden
Preceded byTheodore McKee
Personal details
Born
Arianna Julia Freeman

1978 (age 44–45)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationSwarthmore College (BA)
Yale University (JD)

Early life and education

Freeman was born in 1978 in Boston.[1] She received her Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from Swarthmore College in 2001 and her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2007.[2]

Career

Freeman served as a law clerk for Judge James T. Giles from 2007 to 2008 and Judge C. Darnell Jones II from 2008 to 2009, both on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. From 2009 to 2022, she worked at the Federal Community Defender Office including as an assistant federal defender as a research and writing specialist from 2009 to 2014 and in the Non-Capital Habeas Unit from 2014 to 2016. From 2016 to 2022, she was a managing attorney with the Federal Community Defender office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.[2]

Notable cases

Freeman coordinated the Federal Defender Office’s litigation of more than 500 post-conviction matters arising from the Supreme Court of the United States's decision in Johnson v. United States (2015). The decision invalidated the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act as unconstitutionally vague.[3][4][5][6]

From 2019 to 2021, Freeman represented Curtis Crosland, a man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison based entirely on the statements of two witnesses who either recanted their testimony or failed to appear in court.[7] After serving 34 years of his life sentence, Crosland was exonerated and freed.[8]

Freeman was part of the legal team for Terrance Williams, who was convicted of a 1984 murder. Williams filed a federal habeas corpus challenged of his death sentence to the Supreme Court of the United States.[9][10][11][12]

Federal judicial service

On January 19, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Freeman to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. President Biden nominated Freeman to the seat vacated by Judge Theodore McKee, who on July 29, 2021, notified the White House that he intended to assume senior status upon confirmation of his successor.[13] On January 28, 2022, following Justice Stephen Breyer's announcement of his intention to retire as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Freeman was mentioned as one of the potential nominees for a Supreme Court appointment by President Joe Biden.[14] On March 2, 2022, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[15] During her confirmation hearing, Republican senators criticized her work as a public defender.[16] On April 4, 2022, the committee were deadlocked on her nomination by an 11–11 vote.[17] On June 22, 2022, the United States Senate discharged her nomination from committee by a 50–48 vote.[18] On September 12, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 45–44 vote.[19] On September 13, 2022, the Senate failed to confirm her nomination by a 47–50 vote. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer initially voted yes but changed his vote to no and filed a motion to reconsider the vote.[20] Freeman was the first Biden judicial nominee to be rejected by the Senate.[21] On September 29, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by a 50–47 vote.[22] She received her judicial commission on October 20, 2022.[23] She is the first African-American woman to serve on the Third Circuit.[24][25]

See also

References
  1. "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  2. "President Biden Names Thirteenth Round of Judicial Nominees" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 19, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. Wolf, Richard. "Supreme Court declares crime law 'unconstitutionally vague'". USA TODAY.
  4. "Arianna J. Freeman".
  5. Epps, Garrett (April 17, 2015). "How Can Anybody Follow Laws That Nobody Understands?". The Atlantic.
  6. "Support the Confirmation of Arianna Freeman to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit". The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
  7. "The Federal Community Defender Office Celebrates Curtis Crosland's Exoneration". Federal Community Defender for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. June 25, 2021. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021.
  8. "Philadelphia man convicted of murder is freed by evidence that was on file for more than 30 years". CNN. July 31, 2021.
  9. "U.S. top court blasts death penalty judge for not stepping aside". June 9, 2016 – via www.reuters.com.
  10. Raymond, Nate; Raymond, Nate (March 2, 2022). "GOP criticizes Biden judicial nominee's defense of death row inmate" – via www.reuters.com.
  11. "Phila. Judge Overturns Death Sentence In Controversial 1984 Murder Case". www.cbsnews.com.
  12. Wood, Sam. "Convicted killer Terrance Williams sent back to Pa. death row". www.inquirer.com.
  13. "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. January 19, 2022.
  14. de Vogue, Ariane (January 29, 2022). "White House considering wider list of Supreme Court nominees". CNN. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  15. "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. February 28, 2022.
  16. Wagner, Rose. "Four tapped for federal courts advance, but 3rd Circuit nominee is stuck".
  17. "Results of Executive Business Meeting – April 4, 2022" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  18. "On the Motion to Discharge (Motion to Discharge: Arianna J. Freeman, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit from the Committee on the Judiciary)". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate. June 22, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  19. "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Arianna J. Freeman to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit)". United States Senate. September 12, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  20. "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Arianna J. Freeman, of Pennsylvania, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit)". United States Senate. September 13, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  21. "Confirmation Failure a First for Biden on Judicial Nominees (2)". news.bloomberglaw.com.
  22. "On the Nomination (Upon Reconsideration, Confirmation: Arianna J. Freeman, of Pennsylvania, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit)". United States Senate. September 29, 2022. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  23. Arianna J. Freeman at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  24. Alder, Madison (January 19, 2022). "Biden Nominee Would be First Black Woman on Third Circuit (Corrected)". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  25. DeJesus, Ivey (January 19, 2022). "Biden nominates first Black woman, a Philadelphia public defender, to federal appeals court serving Pennsylvania". mcall.com. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
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