Christopher F. Droney

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Droney received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross in 1976 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1979. While at law school, Droney was an editor of the Connecticut Law Review. He was in private practice in Hartford, Connecticut from 1979 to 1993, and was also deputy mayor of West Hartford from 1983 to 1985, and then Mayor of West Hartford from 1985 to 1989. He was the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 1993 to 1997.[1] While U.S. Attorney, Droney gave a presentation to the President and Attorney General in the East Room of the White House on strategies to reduce gang violence.

On June 5, 1997, Droney was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut vacated by Alan H. Nevas. Droney was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on September 11, 1997, and received his commission on September 18, 1997.

On May 4, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Droney to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to replace Judge Guido Calabresi who took senior status in 2009. On November 28, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed his nomination by a vote of 88–0.[2] He received his commission on December 1, 2011.[3]

On April 15, 2019, Droney announced that he would take senior status, beginning June 30, 2019.[4] In August 2019, Droney announced that he would retire from the bench in January 2020, and resume private practice with the firm of Day Pitney. Droney indicated personal reasons for his decision to retire.[5] He retired from senior service on January 2, 2020.

While on the Court of Appeals, Droney authored the Ragbir opinion,[6] which held that immigrants could not be deported in retaliation for their protected First Amendment speech and Littlejohn v. City of New York,[7] which eased the pleading standard for federal employment discrimination claims. He also provided the deciding vote for the Second Circuit in Windsor v. United States,[8] which held that the Equal Protection Clause guaranteed the right of same-sex couples to marry, which was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. He also dissented from the denial of en banc in the Microsoft email case, arguing that federal prosecutors could obtain emails of Microsoft customers that were stored abroad. Droney also joined in the Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump opinion,[9] which held that the President's Twitter account was a First Amendment-protected public forum and the President could not block unfavorable comments, the panel opinion in CREW v. Trump,[10] which held that the suit could proceed against President Trump for violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause for his profits from his hotels and restaurants, as well as the Vance v. Trump opinion,[11] which held that the President's personal tax returns were not immune from production in response to a state grand jury subpoena. He also joined the opinion which required the disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein court documents.[12]

• Christopher F. Droney at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Christopher Droney at Ballotpedia
• Appearances on C-SPAN