Sharon L. Gleason

Sharon Louise Gleason (born October 24, 1957)[1] is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. She is the first female judge to serve in the District of Alaska.[2]

Sharon L. Gleason
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska
Assumed office
January 4, 2012
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byJohn W. Sedwick
Judge of the Alaska Superior Court
In office
2001–2012
Appointed byTony Knowles
ConstituencyAnchorage (2001-2012)
3rd District (2009-2012)
Personal details
Born (1957-10-24) October 24, 1957
Rochester, New York
EducationWashington University in St. Louis (BA)
University of California, Davis (JD)

Early life and education

Gleason earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979 from Washington University in St. Louis. She earned a Juris Doctor in 1983 from UC Davis School of Law.[3][4] Gleason worked from 1983 until 1984 as a law clerk to then-Chief Justice Edmond Burke of the Alaska Supreme Court.[3] She became a member of the Alaska state bar in 1984. [5][4]

Early career

From 1979 to 1980 she was a waiter for a street restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1980 she was an intern for the Conservation Law Foundation. From 1981 to 1982 she was an intern at the Office of Energy Assessments within the California Department of General Services. In the summer and fall of 1982 she was an intern at the Graham & James LLP. From 1981 to 1983 she was a teaching assistant at the University of California, Davis.

Professional career

From 1984 until 1995, Gleason worked at the law firm Reese, Rice and Volland in Alaska.[3] She then served as a sole legal practitioner from 1995 until 2001, when she was appointed to the Alaska Superior Court. She then was retained by Alaska voters in 2004 and 2010.[3][4] She is a former musician and member of the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra.

Federal judicial service

On April 6, 2011, President Obama nominated Gleason to the United States District Court for the District of Alaska to a vacancy that had been created by Judge John W. Sedwick taking senior status in March 2011.[5][6] The nomination occurred on the recommendation of U.S. Sen. Mark Begich.[5] On September 8, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported her nomination to the Senate floor by voice vote. The United States Senate confirmed Gleason in an 87–8 vote on November 15, 2011. She received her commission on January 4, 2012.[4]

Notable cases

On July 31, 2015, Gleason ruled that environmental group Greenpeace USA would be fined $2,500 for each hour its activists block a Shell Oil (A Dutch owned corporation) icebreaking ship from leaving Portland by dangling from the St. Johns Bridge. The Shell icebreaker was part of a controversial move by Congress to allow a foreign-based corporation to drill in the Arctic. However by September 2015 Shell had abandoned their attempts to establish drilling operations in Alaska, citing dangerous conditions, high costs (over $7 billion spent), and little evidence of oil in the areas they had attempted to explore.[7]

On March 29, 2019, Gleason issued two additional rulings related to Alaskan environmental issues.[8] One ruling found that the administration of Donald Trump unlawfully sought to open the Chukchi Sea to offshore drilling activities. This area had previously been withdrawn from consideration while Barack Obama was president. Gleason's finding hinged on the fact that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 permits a President to withdraw certain areas from eligibility for offshore drilling, but only Congress can add such areas. A separate ruling blocked the Trump administration's attempts to use a land transfer to facilitate construction of a road through a federally-designated wetland in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The road would have connected the towns of King Cove and Cold Bay. A different land transfer plan had already been rejected in 2013 by the Department of the Interior. Secretary Sally Jewell, in announcing the rejection, indicated that construction of the road would cause "irreversible damage not only to the Refuge itself, but to the wildlife that depend on it".[9]

References
  1. United States Public Records, 1970-2009 (Florida, New York, 1996-2004)
  2. Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees, Alliance for Justice (June 11, 2013).
  3. The White House: Office of the Press Secretary (April 6, 2011). "President Obama Nominates Two to the United States District Court". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  4. "Gleason, Sharon Louise – Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  5. Mauer, Richard (April 7, 2011). "Anchorage judge is nominated for federal court". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on April 10, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  6. The White House: Office of the Press Secretary (April 6, 2011). "Nominations Sent to the Senate, 4/6/2011". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  7. Macalister, Terry (September 28, 2015). "Shell abandons Alaska Arctic drilling" – via www.theguardian.com.
  8. "U.S. judge scraps Trump order opening Arctic, Atlantic areas to oil leasing". March 30, 2019 – via www.reuters.com.
  9. "Secretary Jewell Issues Decision on Izembek National Wildlife Refuge Land Exchange and Road Proposal". www.doi.gov. December 23, 2013.
Legal offices
Preceded by
John W. Sedwick		 Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska
2012–present		 Incumbent
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