Reena Raggi

Reena Raggi
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office August 31, 2018
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
In office October 4, 2002 – August 31, 2018
Appointed by	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Amalya Kearse
Succeeded by	Joseph F. Bianco
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
In office May 7, 1987 – October 4, 2002
Appointed by	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Frank Altimari
Succeeded by	Dora Irizarry
Personal details
Born	Reena Andrea Raggi (1951-05-11) May 11, 1951 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Spouse	David Denton (m. 1983)
Education	Wellesley College (BA) Harvard University (JD)

Reena Andrea Raggi (born May 11, 1951) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and maintains her chambers in Brooklyn, New York. She was formerly a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Education and background

Raggi earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College in 1973, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She later earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where she served as a member of the Board of Student Advisers, graduating cum laude in 1976. Following her graduation from law school in 1976, she served for a year as a law clerk for Judge Thomas E. Fairchild of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

She was admitted to the bar in New York, and joined the Manhattan law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel until her appointment as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in 1979, serving in that capacity until her appointment in 1986 as Interim U.S. Attorney. Later that year, she returned to private law practice at the New York City law firm of Windels, Marx, Davies, and Ives.

Federal judicial service

District court service

President Ronald Reagan nominated Raggi to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on January 20, 1987, to a seat vacated by Judge Frank Altimari, who was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on December 11, 1985. She was confirmed on May 7, 1987. She received her commission on the same day. She was the first woman to serve on the 14-member bench in the Eastern District of New York and, at 35 years old, one of the youngest federal judges in the United States. Raggi presided over the Golden Venture trial, in which a ship carrying around 300 would-be immigrants from China crash-landed on a sandbar off Queens, New York, in June 1993. Her service as a district court judge was terminated on October 7, 2002, when she was elevated to the court of appeals.

Court of appeals service

President George W. Bush nominated Raggi for the Second Circuit on May 1, 2002, to replace Judge Amalya Kearse, who assumed senior status on June 11, 2002. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 20, 2002, by a 85–0 vote. She received her commission on October 4, 2002. She assumed senior status on August 31, 2018.

Raggi is known for her aggressive questioning of lawyers from the bench.

External links

• Reena Raggi at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Background Info from USDOJ Office of Legal Policy
• N.Y. Times, June 24, 1986, "Raggi Suggested for U.S. Judgeship"
• Appearances on C-SPAN