Robert Katzmann

Education and career

Born in New York City, New York, Katzmann received a Artium Baccalaureus degree from Columbia University in 1973. He received a Artium Magister from Harvard University in 1976. He received a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University in 1978. He received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1980, where he was an Article and Book Review Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He was a law clerk for Judge Hugh H. Bownes of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1980 to 1981. He was a Fellow at Brookings Institution from 1981 to 1999. He was an Adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center from 1984 to 1989. He was an Adjunct professor with the Georgetown University Public Policy Program from 1987 to 1992. He was President of the Governance Institute, from 1986 to 1999. He was a special assistant to the Director of the Federal Judicial Center from 1986 to 1987. He was a visiting professor of the University of California, Los Angeles (Washington, D.C. program) from 1990 to 1992. He was the Chair in law and politics at the University of Oregon in 1992. He was acting program director at the Brookings Institution in 1998. He was the Walsh Professor of Government, Professor of Law and Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University from 1992 to 1999. His twin brother, Gary Stephen Katzmann, is a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade.

Federal judicial service

Katzmann was nominated by President Bill Clinton on March 8, 1999, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Jon O. Newman. He was confirmed by the United States Senate by voice vote on July 14, 1999, and received commission on July 16, 1999. He has served as Chief Judge since September 1, 2013. Katzmann was the first federal judge to hold a doctorate in government.

Other activities, writings and awards

He has written articles on a variety of subjects, including regulation, judicial-congressional relations, disability, the administrative process, court reform, and the war powers resolution. He has offered courses on administrative law, constitutional law, and the judiciary. Apart from Georgetown, he has taught at N.Y.U. School of Law, U.C.L.A. (Washington D.C. program), and in the fall of 1992 was the Wayne Morse Professor of Law and Politics at the University of Oregon.

His work on interbranch relations began at the invitation of the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on the Judicial Branch, then chaired by Judge Frank M. Coffin. Judge Katzmann also directed a project on the legal profession and public service at The Brookings Institution, which considered the law firm and the public good.

Judge Katzmann has been a board director of the American Judicature Society, a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and a vice-chair of the Committee on Government Organization and Separation of Powers of the ABA Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. He has also been a consultant to the Federal Courts Study Committee. He served as co-chair of the FTC transition team, and as special counsel to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the confirmation of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He has also been chair of the Section on Legislation of the Association of American Law Schools. Judge Katzmann is a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Library, the Board of Visitors of Georgetown University Law Center, the Board of Directors of the Institute of Judicial Administration of NYU, the advisory board of Roosevelt House of Hunter College, and a member of the National Board of Academic Advisors of the Rehnquist Center located in the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. He chaired the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on the Judicial Branch, by appointment of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

He is recipient of the American Political Science Association's Charles E. Merriam Award (2001), "given to a person whose published work and career represents a significant contribution to the art of government through the application of social science research." Since 2003, Judge Katzmann has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

For his judicial writing, Judge Katzmann was recognized as an "Exemplary Legal Writing 2008" honoree by the Green Bag, a journal dedicated to good legal writing. Judge Katzmann has also been awarded: the Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence of the Federal Bar Council; the Chesterfield Smith Award of the Pro Bono Institute, presented by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; the Thurgood Marshall Award of the American Bar Association; the Stanley H. Fuld Award of the New York State Bar Association; the Edward Weinfeld Award of the New York County Lawyers Association, presented by Robert M. Morgenthau; Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from New York Law School,John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Pace University; the Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award of the American Immigration Lawyers Association; and the Public Interest Scholarship Organization Lifetime Achievement Award. His lectures include: the James Madison Lecture of New York University School of Law; the Orison Marden Lecture of the NYC Bar Association; and the Robert L. Levine Distinguished Lecture of Fordham University School of Law.

The New York Times has reported on Judge Katzmann’s efforts to foster effective pro bono representation of the immigrant poor with worthy claims, and the study group he launched to that end. He conceived of and sparked the creation of the Immigrant Justice Corps, the country's first fellowship program dedicated to meeting the need for high-quality legal assistance for immigrants, described in a New York Times editorial as "a groundbreaking effort."

As Chief Judge, he launched a civic education initiative of the federal courts of the Second Circuit, "Justice For All: Courts and the Community." The project, with the active participation of judges, court staff, the bar, and educators, encompasses a wide range of activities and seeks to increase public understanding of the role and operations of the federal courts and bring courts closer to the communities they serve. In his judicial role, Judge Katzmann presided over the largest naturalization ceremony in the history of Ellis Island.

In September 2014, Oxford University Press published Judge Katzmann's book, Judging Statutes. Praised by Justice John Paul Stevens (retired), "as illuminating and convincing" and "required reading for all lawyers confronting questions of statutory construction," the book has been the subject of several commentaries, and programs. Critiquing textualism, Katzmann argues that when interpreting the laws of Congress, courts should respect the legislative materials Congress thinks are important, so as to better understand legislative meaning and purposes.

Selected publications