Greenaway retiring after nearly 27 years on the federal bench

Setting the stage for a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to lock in a Democratic majority, Judge Joseph A. Greenaway has announced that he will retire on June 15.

President Joe Biden will have an opportunity to tilt the appellate court to the left with Greenaway’s replacement.  The veteran judge had been eligible for senior status.

A Biden nominee to the Third Circuit, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Cindy Chung, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee by an 11-9 vote and is awaiting consideration by the full U.S. Senate.    She would succeed Judge D. Brooks Smith, a Republican appointed by President George W. Bush.

Greenaway, a 65-year-old New Jersey Democrat, was an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1985 to 1989 and then as an in-house counsel at Johnson & Johnson and Rutgers Law School professor until President Bill Clinton nominated him to the U.S. District Court in 1996 at the request of U.S. Senator Bill Bradley.

President Barack Obama nominated Greenaway to serve as a federal appellate court judge in 2010.

“I am deeply grateful to Judge Greenaway for his distinguished service on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,” said U.S. Senator Cory Booker.  “He will retire from the bench with a well-earned reputation as a fair, brilliant jurist with an unwavering commitment to delivering equal justice under the law.”

Booker said Greenaway’s time on the bench “has made New Jersey and our nation fairer and more just.”

“I am confident that whoever is nominated to fill Judge Greenaway’s vacant seat on the Third Circuit will be an outstanding, highly qualified individual,” he said.