Joseph L. Tauro

Joseph L. Tauro
Joseph L. Tauro
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
	In office; September 26, 2013 – November 30, 2018
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
	In office; 1992–1999
Preceded by	Frank Harlan Freedman
Succeeded by	William G. Young
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
	In office; October 17, 1972 – September 26, 2013
Appointed by	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Francis Ford
Succeeded by	Leo T. Sorokin
United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts
	In office; 1972
Appointed by	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	James N. Gabriel
Succeeded by	James N. Gabriel
Personal details
Born	Joseph Louis Tauro; September 26, 1931; Winchester, Massachusetts
Died	November 30, 2018 (aged 87); Marblehead, Massachusetts
Father	G. Joseph Tauro
Education	Brown University (A.B.); Cornell Law School (LL.B.)

Joseph Louis Tauro (/ˈtɔːroʊ/; September 26, 1931 – November 30, 2018) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He was the son of the late Massachusetts Chief Justice G. Joseph Tauro.

Education and career

Born in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1931,[1] Tauro received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Brown University in 1953 and a Bachelor of Laws from Cornell Law School in 1956. He was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army from 1956 to 1958, and was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1959 to 1960. He was in private practice in Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts from 1960 to 1971. He was a chief legal counsel to the Governor of Massachusetts, John A. Volpe, from 1965 to 1968. He was the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts in 1972.[2]

Federal judicial service

On September 12, 1972, Tauro was nominated by President Richard Nixon to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated by Judge Francis Ford. Tauro was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 12, 1972, and received his commission on October 17, 1972. He served as Chief Judge from 1992 to 1999.[2] Tauro took senior status effective September 26, 2013, retaining approximately a 60% caseload with a focus on criminal cases.[3] Until taking senior status, Tauro was the longest-serving active judge appointed by Nixon.[3] Tauro died on November 30, 2018, at his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts.[4]

Notable case

On July 8, 2010, in the cases of Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Tauro issued decisions holding unconstitutional that part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage "as a legal union exclusively between one man and one woman."[5] Those decisions were affirmed by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and certiorari was denied after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in United States v. Windsor.[6]

References

Dornette, W. Stuart; Cross, Robert R. (9 August 1986). Federal Judiciary Almanac. Wiley. ISBN 9780471839019 – via Google Books.
Joseph Louis Tauro at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
"Federal judge Joseph Tauro to retire from full-time status - The Boston Globe".
"Joseph L. Tauro, first federal judge to strike down Defense of Marriage Act, dead at 87 - The Boston Globe".
New York Times: Abbey Goodnough and John Schwartz, "Judge Topples U.S. Rejection of Gay Unions," July 8, 2010, accessed July 10, 2010
See Massachusetts v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 682 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012) cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2884, 186 L. Ed. 2d 933 (U.S. 2013) and cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2887 (U.S. 2013) and cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2887 (U.S. 2013)

Sources

Joseph Louis Tauro at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
Gill v. OPM, 1:09-cv-10309-JLT, (D.Mass. July 8, 2010), at 38. Available at online
Mass. v. US Dept. Available online

Legal offices
Preceded by Francis Ford	Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts 1972–2013	Succeeded by Leo T. Sorokin
Preceded by Frank Harlan Freedman	Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts 1992–1999	Succeeded by William G. Young

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[1] Dornette, W. Stuart; Cross, Robert R. (9 August 1986). Federal Judiciary Almanac. Wiley. ISBN 9780471839019 – via Google Books.

[auto-2] Joseph Louis Tauro at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

[BG-3] "Federal judge Joseph Tauro to retire from full-time status - The Boston Globe".

[4] "Joseph L. Tauro, first federal judge to strike down Defense of Marriage Act, dead at 87 - The Boston Globe".

[5] New York Times: Abbey Goodnough and John Schwartz, "Judge Topples U.S. Rejection of Gay Unions," July 8, 2010, accessed July 10, 2010

[6] See Massachusetts v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 682 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012) cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2884, 186 L. Ed. 2d 933 (U.S. 2013) and cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2887 (U.S. 2013) and cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 2887 (U.S. 2013)