Royce Lamberth

Lamberth was born in 1943 in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas, where he was a member of the Tejas Club, and from the University of Texas School of Law, receiving a Bachelor of Laws in 1967. He served as a captain in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1968 to 1974, including one year in Vietnam. After that, he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. In 1978, Lamberth became chief of the civil division of the United States Attorney's Office, a position he held until his appointment to the federal bench.{{cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/lamberth-royce-c.|title=Lamberth, Royce C. - Federal Judicial Center|website=www.fjc.gov}}

Lamberth was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on March 19, 1987, to the seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia vacated by Judge Barrington D. Parker. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 13, 1987, and commissioned on November 16, 1987. He served as chief judge from 2008 to 2013. He assumed senior status on July 15, 2013. He also served as presiding judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 1995 to 2002.{{cite news|url=http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/lamberth-bio.html|title=Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth|publisher=United States Department of Justice|access-date=2008-10-04|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002150356/http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/lamberth-bio.html|archive-date=2008-10-02}}{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-security-fisa-judges-idUSL2N0EV1TG20130621|title=The judges who preside over America's secret court|publisher=Reuters|author1=John Shiffman|author2=Kristina Cooke|date=2013-06-21|access-date=2013-07-01|archive-date=2013-06-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623010333/https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/21/usa-security-fisa-judges-idUSL2N0EV1TG20130621|url-status=live|quote=Twelve of the 14 judges who have served this year on the most secret court in America are Republicans and half are former prosecutors.}} Since becoming a senior judge, Lamberth has been assigned as a visiting judge in San Antonio for several months per year at the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.{{cite web|url=http://www.txwd.uscourts.gov/JudgesInfo/Lists/Judges Bios/DispForm.aspx?ID=27&Source=http://www.txwd.uscourts.gov/JudgesInfo/SitePages/JudgeDirectoryBio.aspx&ContentTypeId=0x0100A21A2D68A91AD8479639817C3091CCAF|title=Senior U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Lamberth presided over Cobell v. Kempthorne, a case in which a group of Native Americans sued the U.S. Department of the Interior for allegedly mismanaging a trust intended for their benefit.{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/disputes-continue-over-royalties-owed-to-american-indians|title=Disputes Continue Over Royalties Owed to American Indians|publisher=Fox News|date=2006-05-06|access-date=2008-10-04}} Lamberth, appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, was known for speaking his mind and repeatedly ruled for the Native Americans in their class-action lawsuit. His opinions condemned the government and found Interior secretaries Gale Norton and Bruce Babbitt in contempt of court for their handling of the case. The appellate court reversed Lamberth several times, including the contempt charge against Norton. After a particularly harsh opinion in 2005, in which Lamberth lambasted the Interior Department as racist, the government petitioned the Court of Appeals to remove him, alleging that he was too biased to continue with the case. On July 11, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, siding with the government, removed Judge Lamberth from the case.{{Cite news |last=Weiss |first=Eric |date=July 12, 2006 |title=At U.S. Urging, Court Throws Lamberth Off Indian Case |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/07/12/at-us-urging-court-throws-lamberth-off-indian-case/72b9f5cd-e668-4d9f-98f9-10d83e5052b7/ |access-date=July 21, 2023}}

In May 2003, in a case brought by families of the two hundred forty-one servicemen who were killed in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, Lamberth ordered the Islamic Republic of Iran to pay US$2.65 billion for the actions of Hezbollah, a Shia militia group determined to be involved in the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.{{cite news | access-date = 2007-09-07 | url = http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/09/ap_beirutfine_070907/ | title = Iran is fined $2.65 billion in Marine deaths | author = Matt Apuzzo | date = September 7, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070912133808/http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/09/ap_beirutfine_070907/ | archive-date = September 12, 2007 | author-link = Matt Apuzzo }}

Lamberth has presided over Guantanamo captives habeas corpus petitions.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1829920120080618?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews|title=U.S. judge meets lawyers to discuss Guantanamo cases|publisher=Reuters|author=James Vicini|date=2008-06-18|access-date=2008-10-04}}{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0235993420080702|title=Judges assigned to decide Guantanamo cases|publisher=Reuters|author=James Vicini|date=2008-07-02|access-date=2008-10-04}}

On December 29, 2016, Lamberth ordered the preservation of the full classified United States Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture.{{cite news|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article123591209.html|title=Federal judge preserves CIA 'Torture Report' after Guantánamo war court wouldn't do it|publisher=Miami Herald|author=Carol Rosenberg|date=2016-12-29|location=Miami|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230160356/http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article123591209.html|archive-date=2016-12-30|access-date=2017-01-03|url-status=live|quote=U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth issued the two-page order Wednesday in Washington, in the mostly dormant federal court challenge of the Guantánamo detention of former CIA prisoner Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. The Saudi, who was waterboarded and rectally abused while a captive of the spy agency, is awaiting trial by military commission as the alleged architect of al-Qaida's Oct. 12, 2000, USS Cole bombing off Yemen that killed 17 U.S. sailors.|author-link=Carol Rosenberg}}

The six thousand–page report had taken Intelligence Committee staff years to prepare. A six hundred–page unclassified summary was published in December 2014, when Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein chaired the committee, against objections of the Committee's Republican minority. Its publication stirred controversy. Limited copies of the classified report had been made, and human rights workers were concerned that the CIA would work to have all copies of the document destroyed.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

In 2010, two federal magistrate judges approved a warrant sought by the Justice Department to search personal e-mails and phone records of Fox News reporter James Rosen related to a story about the North Korean nuclear program. In May 2010, Judge Lamberth overruled Magistrate Judge John Facciola's determination that the Justice Department needed to directly notify Rosen of the issuance of the warrant.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/how-justice-fought-to-keep-rosens-warrant-secret.html |title=How Prosecutors Fought to Keep Rosen's Warrant Secret |magazine=The New Yorker |date=2013-05-24 |access-date=2014-08-02}} In May 2013, Lamberth issued an apology from the bench for the clerk's office failure to unseal the search warrant docket entries as Lamberth had ordered in November 2011.[https://web.archive.org/web/20130609063344/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-05-22/world/39440575_1_federal-court-documents-search-and-arrest-warrants Judge apologizes for lack of transparency in James Rosen leak probe], Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post, May 22, 2013

In August 2010, Lamberth issued a temporary injunction blocking an executive order by President Barack Obama that expanded stem cell research. He indicated the policy violated a ban on federal money being used to destroy embryos,{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Gardiner|title=U.S. Judge Rules Against Obama's Stem Cell Policy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/health/policy/24stem.html?_r=1|access-date=25 August 2010|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 23, 2010}} called the Dickey–Wicker Amendment.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/23/AR2010082303448.html?nav%3Demailpage&sub=AR |author= Rob Stein and Spencer S. Hsu |title=NIH cannot fund embryonic stem cell research, judge rules |date=August 24, 2010 |newspaper=Washington Post}} Susan Jacoby complained that his decision was more a reflection of his politics than a rigorous interpretation of the Dickey–Wicker Amendment.{{cite news| url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/08/one_judge_and_christian_right_throw_stem_cell_research_into_chaos.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906133003/http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/08/one_judge_and_christian_right_throw_stem_cell_research_into_chaos.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2010-09-06 | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Susan | last=Jacoby | title=One Judge And Christian Right Throw Stem Cell Research Into Chaos}}

Judge Lamberth refused to lift the injunction forbidding the research pending the appeal of his ruling, and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order on September 9, 2010, providing for an emergency temporary lifting of the injunction in the case that had forbidden the research, at the request of the Justice Department. A three-judge panel from that court overturned Lamberth's decision in August 2012, and the Supreme Court denied the plaintiff's request for an appeal.{{cite journal|last1=Wadman|first1=Meredith|title=High court ensures continued US funding of human embryonic-stem-cell research|url=http://www.nature.com/news/high-court-ensures-continued-us-funding-of-human-embryonic-stem-cell-research-1.12171|journal=Nature|year=2013|doi=10.1038/nature.2013.12171|s2cid=87211791|access-date=30 March 2016|doi-access=free}}

In July 2011, Judge Lamberth ordered the release of Richard Nixon's testimony concerning the Watergate scandal. The Justice Department reviewed the decision after an objection from the administration insisting on the continued need for privacy of those involved.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/us/30brfs-JUDGEORDERSR_BRF.html|title=Judge Orders Release of Nixon's Watergate Testimony|work=New York Times|author=John Schwartz|date=2011-07-29|access-date=2011-08-01|author-link=John Schwartz}}

On January 15, 2014, Judge Lamberth issued an order{{cite web|url=http://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Royer-v-Federal-Bureau-of-Prisons-Order-on-Discovery-Motions.pdf|title=Royer Order}} harshly criticizing the Department of Justice for what he described as its "sneering argument" that a federal prisoner had not been prejudiced by the Department's repeated failure to comply with discovery "because he remains incarcerated."Greenfield, Scott (2014-01-30) [http://blog.simplejustice.us/2014/01/30/when-judge-lamberth-smacks-the-doj-hides/ When Judge Lamberth Smacks, The DOJ Hides], Simple Justice Judge Lamberth went on to write that "[t]he whole point of this litigation is whether defendant can continue to single out plaintiff for special treatment as a terrorist during his continued period of incarceration. Did any supervising attorney ever read this nonsense that is being argued to this Court?" Judge Lamberth proceeded "to grant the inmate plaintiff pretty much all his discovery motion and hammer[ed] the DOJ by telling plaintiff to submit its request for sanctions in the form of award of attorney fees and costs." In response to the Order, the Justice Department moved to substitute new counsel "and remove the appearances of all prior counsel for Defendant in the above-captioned case," Assistant United States Attorneys Charlotte Abel, Laurie Weinstein, Rhonda Campbell and Rhonda Fields.{{cite web|url=http://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/RoyerSubstCounsel.pdf|title=Royer Substitution Order}} This led one legal commentator to note that "[i]t appears that the government is seeking the clerk’s assistance in fundamentally altering the record, to intentionally conceal the identities of the assistants" who had been reprimanded by Judge Lamberth.

In June 2020, Lamberth was assigned the case United States v. Bolton,United States v. Bolton, no. 20-1580 (filed June 17, 2020, D.C.D.C) in which the Trump administration sued to prevent the publication of John Bolton's book The Room Where It Happened.{{cite news |access-date=June 20, 2020 |last1=Savage |first1=Charlie |title=Justice Dept. Escalates Legal Fight With Bolton Over Book |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/politics/john-bolton-lawsuit.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 17, 2020}} On June 20, Lamberth issued a ruling declining to enjoin the publication, but leaving the case open for other remedies.{{cite news |last1=Gerstein |first1=Josh |last2=Cheney |first2=Kyle |title='The damage is done': Judge denies Trump administration request to block Bolton book |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/19/judge-trump-john-bolton-lamberth-329665 |access-date=June 20, 2020 |work=Politico |date=June 20, 2020 |language=en}}United States v. Bolton, no. 20-1580 (filed June 17, 2020, D.C.D.C) (June 20, 2020 [https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.219024/gov.uscourts.dcd.219024.27.0_5.pdf Memorandum Order])

Lamberth has presided over a number of the criminal cases of participants in the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol,{{Cite web |last=Niedzwiadek |first=Nick |date=2022-01-04 |title=Hundreds of crimes, little punishment: Inside the sentences since the Capitol attack |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/04/jan-6-insurrection-sentencing-tracker-526091 |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}{{Cite web |author=MICHAEL KUNZELMAN|agency=Associated Press |date=2023-07-13 |title=Ex-Orange County police chief convicted of conspiracy in Jan. 6 riot |url=https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-07-13/alan-hostetter-convicted-january-6-riot-former-la-habra-police-chief |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} including Jacob Chansley, the "QAnon Shaman".{{Cite web |last=Walsh |first=Joe |title='QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley Sentenced To 41 Months In Prison — One Of The Longest Capitol Riot Sentences So Far |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/11/17/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-sentenced-to-41-months-in-prison---one-of-the-longest-capitol-riot-sentences-so-far/ |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=Forbes |language=en}} Lamberth has handed down some of the longest sentences of the more than 480 people convicted for their actions during the attack.{{Cite web |title=In Jan. 6 cases, 1 judge stands out as the toughest punisher |url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation-world/2022/06/12/in-jan-6-cases-1-judge-stands-out-as-the-toughest-punisher/ |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Tillman |first=Zoe |date=2021-11-22 |title=A Judge Who Felt Burned After Giving A Capitol Rioter Probation Threw The Book At Another Defendant |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/judge-capitol-rioter-sentence |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=BuzzFeed News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Lybrand |first=Holmes |date=2021-12-20 |title=January 6 rioter gets nearly four years in prison for assaulting police officer {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/20/politics/january-6-rioter-sentenced-assaulting-police-officer/index.html |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=CNN |language=en}}

In 2021, Lamberth controversially ordered a DC jail to provide Jacob Chansley the "organic" food he had requested as a religious accommodation, after Chansley refused to eat for days while awaiting trial.{{Cite web |last=Leonard |first=Ben |date=2021-02-03 |title='QAnon shaman' granted organic food in jail after report of deteriorating health |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/03/qanon-shaman-organic-food-465563 |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Carrega |first=Nicole Chavez, Christina |date=2021-02-08 |title='QAnon Shaman' rioter will eat organic food, while most prisons and jails have reputation for serving food that is unhealthy |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/08/us/prison-meals-qanon-shaman-organic-food/index.html |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=CNN |language=en}} Lamberth eventually ordered Chansley moved to a new jail that would provide him with organic food.{{Cite web |date=2021-02-05 |title="QAnon Shaman" Jake Angeli transferred to another jail so he can eat organic meals - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-jail-transfer-organic-meals/ |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}} Throughout Chansley's case, Lamberth has repeatedly denied Chansley's requests for release and motions to vacate judgment.{{Cite news |last=Shepherd |first=Katie |date=2021-03-09 |title='QAnon Shaman' stays in jail as judge slams his arguments: 'So frivolous as to insult the Court's intelligence' |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/09/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-jail/ |access-date=2023-07-21 |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web |date=2021-09-11 |title=Court Refuses To Release 'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley Before Sentencing |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jacob-chansley-qanon-shaman-jan-6-grandfather-release_n_613c2b41e4b00ff836ece5a2 |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=HuffPost |language=en}} In 2023, Lamberth denied Chansley's request to throw out his conviction, after Chansley argued footage of the January 6 attack released by Tucker Carlson would have been favorable to his case.{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Ella |date=2023-07-20 |title=Judge denies bid by 'QAnon Shaman' to toss out Jan. 6 conviction |url=https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4107962-judge-denies-bid-by-qanon-shaman-to-toss-out-jan-6-conviction/ |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}

In October 2021, Lamberth held D.C. corrections officials in contempt, citing treatment and civil rights abuses of January 6 participant Christopher Worrell.{{Cite web |last=Neidig |first=Harper |date=2021-10-13 |title=Judge holds DC corrections officials in contempt over treatment of Jan. 6 defendant |url=https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/576561-judge-holds-dc-corrections-officials-in-contempt-over-treatment-of/ |access-date=2023-07-21 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}

By 2023, after several hundred participants had been jailed, tried and convicted for their activities, some House Republicans such as Marjorie Taylor Greene sought to characterize them as "political prisoners." Donald Trump and House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik characterized them as "hostages." Lamberth, who had presided over dozens of the cases, remarked in a January 2024 court filing, in part:

I have been shocked to watch some public figures try to rewrite history, claiming rioters behaved "in an orderly fashion" like ordinary tourists, or martyrizing convicted January 6 defendants as "political prisoners" or even, incredibly, "hostages." That is all preposterous. But the Court fears that such destructive, misguided rhetoric could presage further danger to our country.{{cite news |last1=Mascaro |first1=Lisa |title=Marjorie Taylor Greene's jail visit pulls GOP closer to Jan. 6 rioters |url=https://apnews.com/article/marjorie-taylor-greene-jan-6-capitol-attack-20f06d75072a563d56a86b0ecf2d89b8 |publisher=Associated Press |date=March 25, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Cheney |first1=Kyle |title='Preposterous': Federal judge decries efforts to downplay Jan. 6 violence, label perpetrators 'hostages' |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/25/judge-lamberth-jan-6-trump-00137960 |work=Politico |date=January 25, 2024}}

• Commerce Department trade mission controversy

{{reflist}}

• {{FJC Bio|1333|nid=1383591|name=Royce C. Lamberth}}
• {{C-SPAN|34388}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-legal}}

{{s-bef|before=Barrington D. Parker}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia}}|years=1987–2013}}

{{s-aft|after=Christopher R. Cooper}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Joyce Hens Green}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court}}|years=1995–2002}}

{{s-aft|after=Colleen Kollar-Kotelly}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Thomas F. Hogan}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia}}|years=2008–2013}}

{{s-aft|after=Richard W. Roberts}}

{{s-end}}

{{United States DC Circuit senior district judges}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamberth, Royce Charles}}

Category:1943 births

Category:Living people

Category:Military personnel from San Antonio

Category:21st-century American judges

Category:Assistant United States attorneys

Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Category:Judges presiding over Guantanamo habeas petitions

Category:United States Army officers

Category:United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan

Category:University of Texas School of Law alumni

Category:Texas lawyers

Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C.

Category:Judges of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

Category:United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps