Appointed by Barack Obama Preceded by Paul Michel | Name Richard Taranto | |
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Born May 6, 1957 (age 66)
New York City, New York, U.S. ( 1957-05-06 ) Alma mater Pomona College
Yale University
University of Wisconsin, Madison Education Yale Law School, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Yale University, Pomona College | ||
Richard Gary Taranto (born May 6, 1957) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
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Biography
Taranto was born in New York City on May 6, 1957. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree, summa cum laude, in 1977 from Pomona College in Claremont, California. He spent a semester each at Yale University and then the University of Wisconsin, Madison in their PhD programs in Mathematics. He then received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1981. While in law school he served as an article and book editor for the Yale Law Journal. Upon completion of law school, he clerked for Judge Abraham Sofaer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The following year he clerked for Judge Robert Bork of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He then clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the United States Supreme Court.
From 1984 to 1986, Taranto worked at the law firm of Onek, Klein & Farr in Washington, DC. From 1986 to 1989 he spent three years as an assistant to the Solicitor General. In 1989, he returned to Onek, Klein & Farr (now Farr & Taranto) as a partner.
Taranto has taught a course on patent law at Harvard Law School and various courses at Georgetown University Law Center. Since 2009, he has served as a member of the appellate rules advisory committee for the United States Judicial Conference. He has argued nineteen cases before the United States Supreme Court.
Taranto is also married and the father of three. He has a sister, Mindy Taranto (Madison, Wisconsin) and a brother Kenneth Taranto (New York, New York).
Federal judicial service
On November 10, 2011, President Obama nominated Taranto to serve as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He would replace Paul Redmond Michel who retired in 2010. The previous nominee for this position, Edward C. DuMont, was withdrawn by President Obama after his nomination languished in the Senate for eighteen months without action. On January 2, 2013, his nomination was returned to the President, due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate.
On January 3, 2013, he was renominated to the same office. On February 7, 2013, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported his nomination to the floor by voice vote. On March 11, 2013, the Senate voted 91-0 to confirm Taranto. He received his commission on March 12, 2013. He assumed the duties of his office on March 15, 2013.