John Coughenour
| John Coughenour | |
| Current Court Information: | |
| United States District Court for the Western District of Washington | |
| Title: | Senior Judge |
| Position: | Seat #2 |
| Service: | |
| Appointed by: | Ronald Reagan |
| Active: | 9/28/1981 - 7/27/2006 |
| Chief: | 1997 - 2004 |
| Senior: | 7/27/2006 - Present |
| Preceded by: | Morell Sharp |
| Succeeded by: | Richard Jones |
| Personal History | |
| Born: | 1941 |
| Home State: | Pittsburgh, KS |
| Bachelors: | Kansas State College of Pittsburgh, B.S., 1963 |
| Law School: | U. of Iowa College of Law, J.D., 1966 |
Contents |
John Coughenour is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He joined the court in 1981 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan.
Early life and education
Coughenor graduated from the Kansas State College of Pittsburgh with his Bachelor's Degree in 1963 and later graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law with his juris doctorate degree in 1966.
Professional career
Coughenour spent his entire pre-judicial legal career as a private practice attorney licensed in the State of Washington from 1966 to 1981 and also served as a Assistant professor of law at the University of Washington from 1970 to 1973.
Judicial career
Western District of Washington
Coughenour was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on August 11, 1981 to a seat vacated by Morell Sharp as Sharp died while in judicial service[1]. Coughenor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 25, 1981 on a senate vote and received commission on September 28, 1981. Coughenor later assumed senior status on July 27, 2006.
Notable cases
A notable case on this page needs to be updated.
Red light camera case
Judge Coughenor dismissed a lawsuit on March 4, 2010, over cities in Washington illegally using red light cameras. A group of Washington State citizens filed a class action lawsuit in June of 2009 claiming that cities including Seattle overcharged on fines and entered into illegal contracts with the supplier of the cameras. The attorneys representing the plaintiffs plan to file an appeal to the San Francisco based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.[2]
Washington GOP/Libertarian case
On January 6, 2010, Judge Coughenor ordered the Washington State Republican and Libertarian parties to repay $70,000 in legal fees they were awarded after a case involving their primary election system.
The lawsuit involved Washington State Initiative 872, which created a top two primary system which the Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian parties argued was unconstitutional. The lower courts upheld the parties claims, however the Supreme Court of the United States recently reversed the decision prompting the parties to repay the legal fees.[3]
See also
External links
- Judge Coughenor's Biography at the Federal Judicial Center
- The Herald, "Judge orders removal of historic lookout in wilderness," March 29, 2012
References
| Federal judicial offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Morell Sharp |
Western District of Washington 1981–2006 Seat #2 |
Succeeded by: Richard Jones |
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 |
Bartlett • Beam • Becker • Bork • Cacheris • Cardamone • Chapman • Coughenour • Cox • Crow • Cyr • Doumar • Eschbach • Forrester • Garwood • Gibson • Glasser • Hall • Hamilton • Head • Jones • Kiser • Krenzler • Lee • Magnuson • McLaughlin • Miner • Moore • Nowlin • O'Connor • Pierce • Posner • Potter • Russell • Ryan • Shabaz • Sprizzo • Stevens • Waters • Wilhoit • Wilkins • Winter | ||
| 1982 |
Acker • Acosta • Altimari • Bell • Bissell • Black • Bullock • Caldwell • Coffey • Contie • Coyle • Dowd • Fagg • Fong • Fox • Gadbois • Gibson • Ginsburg • Hart • Higginbotham • Hogan • Irving • Jackson • Jolly • Kanne • Kovachevich • Krupansky • Lynch • Mansmann • McNamara • Mencer • Mentz • Mihm • Moody • Nordberg • Paul • Pieras • Plunkett • Porfilio • Potter • Pratt • Rafeedie • Restani • Roberts • Scalia • Selya • Telesca • Wellford | ||
| 1983 |
Baldock • Barbour • Barry • Bowman • Carman • Carter • Curran • Davis • Dorsey • Feldman • Fish • Flaum • Gibbons • Hallanan • Harris • Hinojosa • Hull • Hupp • Katz • Keenan • Kelly • Kram • Laffitte • Limbaugh, Sr. • Limbaugh, Sr. • Milburn • Nesbitt • Nevas • O'Neill • Rymer • Sharp • Starr • Vinson • Vukasin • Wexler • Woods | ||
| 1984 |
Barker • Beezer • Biggers • Billings • Bissell • Boyle • Brewster • Browning • DiCarlo • Duhe • Garcia • George • Hall • Hargrove • Higgins • Hill • Holland • Ideman • Jarvis • Keller • Leavy • Lee • Legge • Leisure • Little • Livaudais • Longobardi • McKibben • Milburn • Newman • Norgle • Prado • Rea • Rosenblatt • Rovner • Scirica • Smith, Jr. • Sneeden • Stotler • Suhrheinrich • Torruella • Wiggins • Wilkinson | ||
| 1985 |
Alley • Altimari • Anderson • Aquilino • Archer • Arnold • Baldock • Batchelder • Battey • Broomfield • Brown • Brown • Brunetti • Buckley • Cobb • Conmy • Cowen • Davidson • Dimmick • Duff • Easterbrook • Edgar • Farnan • Fernandez • Fitzpatrick • Fuste • Greene • Gunn • Guy • Hall • Hilton • Holderman • Hughes • Johnson • Jones • Korman • Kozinski • La Plata • Leinenweber • Letts • Lovell • Ludwig • Maloney • Mansmann • Marcus • McDonald • Meredith • Miller • Mills • Miner • Motz • Nelson • Noonan • Porfilio • Revercomb • Rhoades • Ripple • Rodriguez • Rosenbaum • Roth • Ryan • Sam • Scott • Sentelle • Silberman • Sporkin • Stanton • Stapleton • Strand • Strom • Tacha • Tevrizian • Thompson • Todd • Tsoucalas • Walker • Walter • Weber • Williams • Wilson • Wingate • Wolf • Wollman • Young • Zloch | ||
| 1986 |
Anderson • Boggs • Bryan • Cedarbaum • Cholakis • Conway • Davies • Dearie • Dubina • Duggan • Edmondson • Fawsett • Fitzwater • Gex • Graham • Hackett • Hansen • Henderson • Hittner • Howard • Jensen • Kay • Kleinfeld • Kosik • Lagueux • Lechner • Magill • Mahoney • Manion • McAvoy • McQuade • Norris • O'Scannlain • Rehnquist • Ryskamp • Scalia • Selya • Simpson • Smalkin • Spencer • Stiehl • Wilkins • Williams • Woodlock • Zatkoff | ||
| 1987 |
Alesia • Beam • Bell • Conboy • Cowen • Cummings • Daronco • Doty • Dwyer • Ebel • Ellis • Gadola • Gawthrop • Greenberg • Harrington • Howard • Hoyt • Hutchinson • Kanne • Kelly • Larimer • Leavy • Lew • Marsh • Mayer • McKinney • Michel • Mukasey • Musgrave • Niemeyer • Parker • Phillips • Politan • Pro • Raggi • Reasoner • Reed • Scirica • Sentelle • Smith • Smith • Stadtmueller • Standish • Tinder • Torres • Trott • Turner • Van Antwerpen • Voorhees • Webb • Whipple • Wolin • Wolle • Wood • Zagel | ||
| 1988 |
Arcara • Babcock • Brorby • Butler • Cambridge • Camp • Conlon • Cox • Dubois • Duhe • Ezra • Forester • Friedman • Garza • Hutton • Jordan • Kennedy • Lake • Lamberth • Lifland • Lozano • Marovich • Nygaard • Patterson • Schell • Smith • Smith • Tilley • Waldman • Zilly | ||
