Preceded by Federico A. Moreno Appointed by George H. W. Bush | Preceded by Eugene P. Spellman Name Kevin Moore | |
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Alma mater Florida State University
Fordham University School of Law | ||
Kevin Michael Moore (born 1951) is an American lawyer and judge. He is currently the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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Early life and education
Moore was born in 1951 in Coral Gables, Florida, the fifth of seven children, to Thomas Francis Moore, Jr. and Janet Fay Moore. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida State University in 1972 and his Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law in 1976.
Career
Moore served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida from 1976 to 1981, as supervisory Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida from 1981 to 1982, and as Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida from 1983 to 1987. Moore served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida from 1987 to 1989. From 1989 to 1992, Moore served as director of the United States Marshals Service at the United States Department of Justice.
Federal judicial service
Moore was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on October 4, 1991 to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, to the seat vacated by Judge Eugene P. Spellman. Confirmed by the Senate on February 6, 1992, and received commission on February 10, 1992. He became Chief Judge on July 1, 2014.
Notable cases
On March 21, 2000, Moore issued a fifty-page ruling declaring that only United States Attorney General Janet Reno could grant political asylum to keep 7-year-old Cuban rafter survivor Elian Gonzalez in the United States. During his tenure on the bench, Judge Moore has overseen other high profile cases, including the prosecution of the notorious Miami drug gang the "Boobie Boys," the sentencing of Sandra Avila Beltran, the "Queen of the Pacific," to seventy months imprisonment for her role in a conspiracy to import cocaine to the United States, and the first trial conviction of a synthetic marijuana distributor in South Florida.