James B. Loken

Loken earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1962 and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1965. After law school, he clerked for Judge J. Edward Lumbard of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1965 to 1966 and for Justice Byron White of the United States Supreme Court from 1966 to 1967.{{cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/loken-james-b.|title=Loken, James B. - Federal Judicial Center|website=www.fjc.gov}}

Loken was in private practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1967 to 1970. He was General Counsel to the President's Committee on Consumer Interests in 1970 and a staff assistant to President Richard M. Nixon from 1970 to 1972. Loken returned to private practice in Minneapolis from 1973 to 1990 at the white shoe law firm of Faegre & Benson.

On September 10, 1990, President George H. W. Bush nominated Loken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit seat vacated by Gerald William Heaney. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 12 and received his commission on October 17. Future Dean of Brooklyn Law School Michael T. Cahill served as his law clerk from 1999 to 2000.

Loken served as chief judge of the court from April 1, 2003, to March 31, 2010, when he was succeeded by William J. Riley. He has been the oldest Eighth Circuit judge who still occupies their seat (meaning not in senior status) since December 14, 2018, when Roger Leland Wollman went senior.

• In July 2017, Loken wrote for the en banc Eighth Circuit when it found, by a vote of 7–2, that the National Labor Relations Act did not protect Jimmy John's employees from being fired for putting up Industrial Workers of the World posters seeking sick leave.{{Bluebook journal |first=|last=Note| title=Recent Case: Eighth Circuit Holds Employee Organizing Activity Unprotected for Disloyalty Despite Lack of “Malicious Motive”| volume=131 | journal=Harv. L. Rev. | page=1820 | url=https://harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1820-1827_Online.pdf| year=2018}}
• In November 2022, Loken wrote for a three-judge panel upholding an immigration judge's finding that an asylum applicant who had been brutally raped by military officers in her home country, Cameroon, was not credible because she did not provide medical records from the government hospital that attended to her injuries.{{Cite web |title=Adongafac v. Garland, 53 F.4th 1114 {{!}} Casetext Search + Citator |url=https://casetext.com/case/adongafac-v-garland |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=casetext.com}}

• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 6)
• List of United States federal judges by longevity of service

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• [https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/loken-james-b. FJC Bio]

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{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit}}|years=2003–2010}}

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Category:1940 births

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Category:Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States

Category:Living people

Category:Lawyers from Madison, Wisconsin

Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by George H. W. Bush

Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni