Role Judge Preceded by Norman H. Stahl | Allegiance United States Name Steven McAuliffe | |
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Full Name Steven James McAuliffe Alma mater Virginia Military InstituteGeorgetown University Years of service 1973–1977 (active)1978–1979 (reserve) Similar People Christa McAuliffe, Judith Resnik, Beatrice Munyenyezi, Barbara Morgan, Gregory Jarvis | ||
Succeeded by Landya B. McCafferty | ||
Steven James McAuliffe (born March 3, 1948) is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. He is the widower of Christa McAuliffe, one of the victims of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
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Education and career
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, McAuliffe graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970. His wife had his VMI ring with her on the shuttle; his classmates replaced the ring after her death. McAuliffe studied law at Georgetown University Law Center from 1970 to 1973, receiving a Juris Doctor. He was a captain in the United States Army JAG Corps from 1973 to 1977. From 1977 to 1980, he was an assistant attorney general in New Hampshire. He was in private practice in Concord, New Hampshire, from 1980 until his appointment to the federal bench in 1992.
Federal judicial service
McAuliffe was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on September 9, 1992, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire vacated by Judge Norman H. Stahl. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 8, 1992, and received commission on October 10, 1992. He served as Chief Judge from 2004 to 2011. He assumed senior status on April 1, 2013.
Personal
McAuliffe continues to serve as a founding director for the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. He has two children, Scott and Caroline, with his first wife, Christa; they were 9 and 6, respectively, when she died in 1986. In early 1992, he married Kathleen E. Thomas, a reading teacher for the Concord School District, and mother of two children.