Melissa R. DuBose

Melissa R. DuBose
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 2, 2025
Appointed byJoe Biden
Preceded byWilliam E. Smith
Associate Judge of the Rhode Island District Court
In office
2019 – January 2, 2025
Appointed byGina Raimondo
Personal details
BornMelissa Raye DuBose
1968 (age 57–58)
Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
EducationProvidence College (BA), Roger Williams University School of Law (JD)

Melissa Raye DuBose (born 1968)[1][2] is an American lawyer who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island since 2025. She previously served as an associate judge of the Rhode Island District Court from 2019 to 2025.

Education

DeBose graduated from Providence College with a degree in political science in 1990 and became a public school social studies teacher in Providence. She graduated from the Roger Williams University School of Law in 2004.[3][4]

Career

She was a special assistant attorney of the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office from 2005 to 2008. From 2008 to 2019, DuBose was recruited to be the U.S. legal counsel for Schneider Electric, where she worked in corporate compliance, ethics, and fair trade. In 2019, she was appointed by Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to the Rhode Island District Court.[5]

Federal judicial service

On January 10, 2024, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate DuBose to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. On February 1, 2024, President Biden nominated DuBose to a seat being vacated by Judge William E. Smith, who subsequently assumed senior status on January 1, 2025.[6] On February 8, 2024, a hearing on her nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[7] During her confirmation hearing, she was questioned by Senator John Kennedy over an article from 2000 in which DuBose was quoted as saying, “I was in my Marxist phase.”[8] On March 7, 2024, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–9 vote.[9] On March 12, 2024, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 51–48 vote, with Senator Joe Manchin voting against the motion.[10] Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 51–47 vote, with Senator Manchin voting against her confirmation.[11] She received her judicial commission on January 2, 2025,[12] and was sworn in on January 3, 2025.[13] DuBose became the first person of color and first openly LGBTQ judge to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.[14]

After the second Trump administration intentionally[15] did not disclose to the court that someone DuBose ordered released ("pending a bond hearing before an immigration judge"[16]) was wanted by the Dominican Republic in connection to a murder investigation, in a hearing on a Department of Homeland Security press release[17] which said DuBose released a "Violent Criminal Illegal Alien Wanted for Murder", DuBose ordered the administration "to show cause why they should not be held in contempt for failure to notify the Court of facts relevant to Petitioner's dangerousness and/or criminal history."[18][16] The Department's general counsel, James H. Percival subsequently wrote that DuBose "caused the problem".[19][15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  2. ↑ "President Biden nominates Melissa DuBose for US District Court in Providence". The Boston Globe. January 10, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  3. ↑ "President Biden Names Forty-Fourth Round of Judicial Nominees". White House. January 10, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Senators recommend RI Judge Melissa DuBose for federal bench". Providence Journal. January 9, 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "Raised off Hope: The story of Judge Melissa Dubose '90".
  6. ↑ "Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. February 3, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. February 7, 2024.
  8. ↑ Mulvaney, Katie. "RI nominee to federal court faces confirmation hearing. Why court watchers are optimistic". The Providence Journal. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  9. ↑ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – March 7, 2024" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  10. ↑ "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Melissa R. DuBose to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Rhode Island)". United States Senate. March 12, 2024. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  11. ↑ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Melissa R. DuBose, of Rhode Island, to be United States District Judge for the District of Rhode Island)". United States Senate. March 12, 2024. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  12. ↑ Melissa R. DuBose at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  13. ↑ "Melissa R. DuBose sworn in today as U.S. District Judge for the District of Rhode Island" (PDF). rid.uscourts.gov (Press release). Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  14. ↑ Mulvaney, Kate (January 10, 2024). "Biden nominates first person of color to U.S. District Court for RI. What that means". Providence Journal. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  15. 1 2 Schwartz, Mattathias; Aleaziz, Hamed (May 13, 2026). "Homeland Security Dept. Escalates Its Dispute With Federal Judge". The New York Times. an internal email obtained by The New York Times shows, a lawyer for ICE instructed Kevin M. Bolan, a Justice Department lawyer preparing to appear before Judge DuBose, that he should withhold information about the international charges from the judge.
  16. 1 2 "1:26-cv-00245". CourtListener. TEXT ORDER: On April 23, 2026, Petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus wherein he claimed that he should be granted a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). ECF No. 1 . The Government filed a responsethe same response filed in similar caseswhich argued that the Petitioner was not "entitled to immediate release or a bond hearing." ECF No. 5 at 1. Considering the petition and the Government's response, the Court ordered the petitioner released pending a bond hearing before an immigration judge. Notably, the Government's response failed to include anyfacts relative to this Petitioner, including facts relevant to an assessment of dangerousness, criminal history or risk of flight. Failing to provide this Court with relevant and material facts threatens public safety and erodes trust in the rule of law. Based on new information available to this Court as described in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) April 30, 2026 press release, the Respondents are ordered to show cause why they should not be held in contempt for failure to notify the Court of facts relevant to Petitioner's dangerousness and/or criminal history. A hearing will be held Monday, May 4, 2026 at 3:00 pm. So Ordered by District Judge Melissa R. DuBose on 4/30/2026.
  17. ↑ "Activist Biden Judge Releases Violent Criminal Illegal Alien Wanted for Murder | Homeland Security". dhs.gov (Press release). April 30, 2026. Archived from the original on May 1, 2026.
  18. ↑ Raymond, Nate (May 5, 2026). "US judge criticized by DHS orders attorney ethics probe in immigration case". Reuters.
  19. ↑ Percival, James. "Because She Ignored The Law, An Activist Judge Freed An Alleged Murderer". The Federalist (website). Archived from the original on May 14, 2026. In other words, the judge's reckless disregard for the law caused the problem. The fact that the court lacked the necessary information to review Mr. Gomez's custody status is the court's fault and only the court's fault.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.