Amy Berman Jackson

On June 17, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Jackson to fill a vacant seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that was created in 2007 when Judge Gladys Kessler took senior status.[5] She was unanimously rated "well qualified" for the post by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary (the committee's highest rating).[7] Her nomination lapsed at the end of the 111th Congress;[8] Obama renominated her on January 5, 2011, at the beginning of the 112th Congress.[9] The United States Senate confirmed Jackson on March 17, 2011, on a 97–0 vote.[10] She received her commission the next day.[4]

In March 2012, Jackson ruled that the National Labor Relations Board had limited authority to require private businesses to display posters informing workers about labor rights.[11]

Also in March 2012, Jackson overturned a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that revoked a permit for the Spruce 1 mine project in Logan County, West Virginia, on the ground that the EPA did not have power under the Clean Water Act to rescind the permit.[12] That ruling was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in April 2013,[13] and on September 30, 2014, Jackson ruled in the EPA's favor, allowing its veto of the permit to stand.[14]

Jackson presided at the August 2013 sentencing of former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. and his wife, Sandi Jackson (who are not related to Judge Jackson). After guilty pleas to misuse of campaign funds, she sentenced Representative Jackson to 30 months and his wife to 12 months.[15]

In December 2013, in the case of Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. Sebelius, Jackson ruled against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Washington in its challenge to the contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act as applied to its employees.[16] The United States Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies made accommodations for religious organizations, under which such organizations do not have to "provide, pay for, or facilitate access to contraception" if they certify their objection to doing so.[16][17] Jackson rejected the archdiocese's argument that the act of "self-certifying" in itself constitutes a substantial burden on the archdiocese's right to freely exercise religion.[17]

In May 2017, Jackson dismissed a wrongful death suit filed against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by the parents of two of the Americans killed in the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on the basis of the Westfall Act.[18]

In October 2017, Jackson was assigned to preside over the criminal case that Special Counsel Robert Mueller brought against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election cycle. She accepted their "not guilty" pleas, granted bail, confiscated their passports, and ordered them to be held under house arrest. She also warned defense lawyers not to discuss the case outside of court.[19] On June 15, 2018, after the prosecution accused him of attempted witness tampering, Jackson revoked Manafort's bail and sent him to jail until his upcoming federal trials.[20] On February 23, 2018, Gates pleaded guilty to one count of false statements and one count of conspiracy against the United States.[21] The plea bargain included an agreement to cooperate with the Mueller investigation.[22] On September 14, 2018, Manafort pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy against the United States. The plea bargain included an agreement to cooperate with the Mueller investigation.[23] On February 13, 2019, Jackson ruled that Manafort had lied to Mueller's office, the FBI, and a grand jury after his guilty plea about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, a man the FBI believes has ties to Russian intelligence agencies. Jackson ruled that the special counsel was no longer bound by the terms of Manafort's plea, which included advocating a sentence reduction for him.[24]

On April 3, 2018, Jackson sentenced Alex van der Zwaan to one month in prison, a $20,000 fine, and two months of supervised release.[25]

In January 2019 Jackson was assigned the case of Roger Stone, an informal advisor to candidate Donald Trump, following his indictment by the Mueller investigation on seven counts including false statements, obstruction, and witness tampering.[26] On February 15, 2019, Jackson imposed a limited gag order on him and his attorneys.[27] On February 18, he posted an Instagram of Jackson.[28] Stone took it down and apologized, but on February 21, Jackson tightened the terms of his gag order, saying, "From this moment on, the defendant may not speak publicly about this case—period."[29][30]

In February 2020, prosecutors recommended a seven- to nine-year federal prison sentence for Stone. President Trump called the recommendation unfair and "a miscarriage of justice". The Department of Justice recommended a shorter sentence, indicating that it should be "far less."[31] Trump criticized Jackson via Twitter over earlier judicial rulings.[32] On February 20, 2020, Jackson said before Stone's sentencing: “He was not prosecuted, as some have claimed, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” Jackson denied that Stone was being punished for his politics or his allies.[33] She sentenced him to 40 months in federal prison, plus a $20,000 fine.[34] Stone's lawyers moved to disqualify Jackson; Jackson denied the motion on the basis of lack of "factual or legal support" for it.[35]

Jackson served on the board of the Washington D.C. Rape Crisis Center and has also been a member of the Parent Steering Committee of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders.[6]