Joyce Hens Green

139
Joyce Hens Green bigraphy, stories - United States District Judge

Joyce Hens Green : biography

1928 –

Joyce Hens Green (born 1928) is a Senior United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Childhood

Green was born in 1928 in New York City. Her father was a psychiatrist and her mother was a homemaker. She had one brother. Her parents encouraged her to go to college and to medical school, but she elected to attend law school.

Education

Judge Green graduated from the University of Maryland, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. She entered the University of Maryland Law School and transferred to the George Washington University Law School, receiving a Juris Doctorate from that institution in two years, in 1951. She also received an honorary Doctor of Laws from George Washington University in 1994 and has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Towson High School.

Professional affiliations

Judge Green is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, the Federal Bar Association and the National Association of Women Judges. She served as the chair of the National Conference of Trial Judges from 1997–1998. She has served as an instructor at the Militia Academy in Minsk, Republic of Belarus for the U.S. Information Agency and serves on the board of advisors for the George Washington University Law School.

On June 16, 2004 Green received an American Inns of Court Professionalism Award. She has received the George Washington University’s Professional Achievement Award (1975); been named "Woman Lawyer of the Year" by the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia (1979); and received a certificate of appreciation from the Chief Justice of the United States (1995).

Marriage and family life

Green was married to the attorney (d.1988) and had three children: Michael, June, and James Harry Green. She has several grandchildren.

Notes

  1. , American Inns of Court Professionalism Award, June 16, 2004
  2. , April 15, 1992
  3. , Department of Justice, September 1, 1995
  4. , United States Court of the District of Columbia, August 3, 1999
  5. , Washington Post, August 3, 1999
  6. , United States Court of the District of Columbia, September 15, 2004, resolution assigning Green the senior role in reviewing Guantanamo detainees legal requests
  7. , Washington Post, February 1, 2005
  8. , ABC News, January 31, 2005
  9. , Washington Post, February 1, 2005
  10. , Salon (magazine), February 1, 2005
  11. , Washington Post, March 27, 2005
  12. from his CSRT, pages 26–27 of 53.

Career

Judge Green practiced law in the District of Columbia and Virginia until she was appointed Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1968, where she served until her appointment to the Federal bench in 1979.

On March 6, 1979, President Carter nominated Green to be a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She was confirmed by the Senate on May 10, 1979 and received her commission on May 11, 1979. She took senior status on July 1, 1995 and was succeeded by Henry H. Kennedy, Jr.

Green was a member of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) from May 1988 until May 1995, and served as its Presiding Judge from May 1990 until May 1995.

Significant cases

IRS v. The Church of Scientology

In 1992, Judge Green ruled in favor of the Church of Scientology in the case of on a pretrial motion for summary judgment.

Release of BCCI’s frozen assets

On September 1, 1995 Green Ordered $393 million seized from the Bank of Credit and Commerce International turned over to the bank’s victims. BCCI had been involved in criminal activity and its assets had been freed in 1992. Green had heard, and ruled on, three challenges to the release of the seized funds.

FEC v. The Christian Coalition