New Executive Committee Appointments

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., appointed Judge Claire V. Eagan of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma as the new chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference and appointed a new member to the committee. The new appointments were effective February 12, 2020.

Judge Eagan has served as a member of the committee since December 2018 and succeeds Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Judge Garland was a member of the Executive Committee since August 2013 and served as its chair since October 2017. Judge Garland’s statutorily set term as chief judge expired February 11, 2020. A circuit chief judge’s term of service on the Judicial Conference is concurrent with their term as chief judge of the circuit.

The Chief Justice also appointed Chief Judge Lavenski R. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to the Executive Committee.

In addition to Judges Eagan and Smith, the members of the Executive Committee are chief circuit judges Jeffrey R. Howard, First Circuit; Robert A. Katzmann, Second Circuit; and Sidney R. Thomas, Ninth Circuit; district judges Robert James Conrad, Jr., Western District of North Carolina; and L. Scott Coogler, Northern District of Alabama; and James C. Duff, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

The Executive Committee serves as the senior executive arm of the Judicial Conference. All members are appointed by the Chief Justice and serve open terms.