President Barack Obama will nominate Associate Justice Geoffrey Crawford of the Vermont Supreme Court to serve as Vermont’s next federal court judge, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Monday.
Crawford was appointed to the state’s highest court in October after serving in the state superior court system.
Leahy recommended Crawford in March to succeed U.S. District Judge William Sessions, who will accept senior status. If approved, Crawford will join Judge Christina Reiss on the federal bench from Vermont.
“The President sees in Justice Crawford what I, the members of the merit commission, and all Vermonters have come to know about him,” Leahy said in a news release. “He is a fine jurist in the finest Vermont tradition, and he is committed to the highest standards of public service. I look forward soon to bringing Justice Crawford before the Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing.”
According to the news release, Crawford earned an undergraduate degree from Yale and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1980. From 1980 to 1981 he served as a law clerk to Hon. Albert W. Coffrin for the U.S. District Court, for the District of Vermont. From 1981 to 1984 he was an associate at Burlingham, Underwood & Lord in New York City. From 1984 to 1987 he was an associate at Manchester & O’Neill. In 1987 he and Jerome F. O’Neill formed the firm of O’Neill, Crawford & Green, where he practiced until 2002. In November 2002 he was appointed as a Vermont Superior Court judge by Gov. Howard Dean. In October 2013 he was sworn in as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court by Gov. Peter Shumlin. He and his wife have raised five children.
