Colleen Kollar-Kotelly

All you want to know about Colleen Kollar-Kotelly

Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (born 1943 in New York) is a judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).

Background

Kollar-Kotelly obtained her J.D. from The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law in 1968. From 1969 to 1972, Kollar-Kotelly was an attorney for the Department of Justice, after which she became chief legal counsel for St. Elizabeths Hospital.

In 1984, Kollar-Kotelly was appointed as an associate judge of the D.C. Superior Court. She served as deputy presiding judge from 1995 until her appointment to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton was confirmed in March 1997. In May 2002, Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed Judge Kollar-Kotelly to serve as the presiding judge of the FISC.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly received attention from a 2006 Washington Post article describing her administration of the FISC, and in particular, what weight evidence taken from warrantless searches should be given to issuing subsequent search warrants for suspects of terrorism and espionage.[1]

Notable cases

In August 2001, Kollar-Kotelly was assigned the United States v. Microsoft anti-trust case, after Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson was removed from the case. The decision was reversed in part and upheld in part.

Kollar-Kotelly denied a last-minute appeal by Saddam Hussein's legal team, stating that the United States has no right to interfere with the judicial processes of another nation's courts. In August 2007, in a rare move, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ordered the administration of George W. Bush to give its views regarding records requests by the ACLU on the National Security Agency's wiretapping program.[2]

On October 1, 2007, Judge Kollar-Kotelly reversed George W. Bush on archive secrecy in a 38-page ruling, which said that the U.S. Archivist's reliance on the executive order to delay release of the papers of former presidents is "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law."[3] The National Security Archive at George Washington University alleged that the Bush order severely slowed or prevented the release of historic presidential papers.[4]

On June 16, 2008, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the Office of Administration was not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and therefore did not have to release records regarding missing White House e-mails. This was seen as a victory for the Bush Administration in terms of maintaining a tight grip on the flow of information about the executive branch.[5]

References

  1. ^ Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post Staff Writer (February 9, 2006). "Secret Court's Judges Were Warned About NSA Spy Data Program May Have Led Improperly to Warrants" (html) (in English), Washington Post, p. A01. Retrieved on 2008-01-23. 
  2. ^ Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writer (August 18, 2007). "Secret Court Asks For White House View on Inquiry ACLU Seeking Rulings Issued On Warrantless Wiretapping" (html) (in English), Washington Post, p. A03. Retrieved on 2008-01-23. 
  3. ^ Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (October 1, 2007). "Civil Action No. 01-2447". Retrieved on 2008-06-16.
  4. ^ Reuters, Court reverses Bush on archive secrecy
  5. ^ White House office wins ruling on e-mail records - CNN.com
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