Holly Lou Teeter

Teeter graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.[2] She received her Bachelor of Science with highest distinction from the University of Kansas School of Engineering in 2002, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2006, where she was a member of the Kansas Law Review and graduated first in her class. Earlier in her career, she practiced patent law at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, and was a patent law clerk at Los Alamos National Security.

She was hired as a law clerk to Judge Carlos Murguia of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas in 2011 and to Judge Brian C. Wimes of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in 2013.[3] In 2016, Teeter was hired by United States Attorney Tammy Dickinson to serve as a Civil Assistant United States Attorney for Western District of Missouri.[4] Teeter worked at the United States Department of Justice until becoming a judge.

On August 3, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Teeter to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, to the seat vacated by Judge Kathryn Hoefer Vratil, who assumed senior status on April 22, 2014.[5] On October 17, 2017, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[6]

On November 7, 2017, Teeter received a "not qualified" rating from the American Bar Association (ABA). The ABA gave Teeter the rating because it believes that one must have 12 years of legal experience to be qualified for the federal bench. Teeter had 11 years and 11 months of experience at the time of the rating.[7][8] Democratic U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal called the ABA's standard "arbitrary", and Teeter's nomination gained bipartisan approval from the Judiciary Committee,[7][9] which reported her nomination out of committee by a 19–1 vote on November 9, 2017.[10] Judicial website The Vetting Room wrote that the ABA's rating was unlikely to impact Teeter's chance at being confirmed, as she has "stellar academic credentials" and has clerked only for judges nominated by Democratic presidents.[11]

On January 3, 2018, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.[12] On January 5, 2018, Trump announced his intent to renominate Teeter to a federal judgeship.[13] On January 8, 2018, her renomination was sent to the Senate.[14] On January 18, 2018, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 21–0 vote.[15] On August 1, 2018, her nomination was confirmed by voice vote.[16] She received her judicial commission on August 3, 2018.

• Holly Lou Teeter at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.