Kristine Baker

Kristine Anne Gerhard Baker (born March 30, 1971) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Kristine Baker
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
Assumed office
May 8, 2012
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byJames Maxwell Moody
Personal details
Born
Kristine Anne Gerhard

(1971-03-30) March 30, 1971
Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.
EducationSaint Louis University (BA)
University of Arkansas (JD)

Biography

Kristine Gerhard Baker was born Kristine Anne Gerhard on March 30, 1971, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[1] She received a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in 1993 from Saint Louis University. She received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, in 1996 from the University of Arkansas School of Law. She served as a law clerk for then Chief Judge Susan Webber Wright of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas from 1996 to 1998. She then worked at the law firm of William & Anderson from 1998 to 2000. She joined the law firm of Quattlebaum, Grooms, Tull & Burrow, located in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2000, and became a partner in 2002. In practice, her legal specialties were commercial litigation, employment law, and First Amendment litigation.[2][3]

Federal judicial service

On November 2, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Baker to be a District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.[2] She replaced District Judge James Maxwell Moody who took senior status on October 1, 2008. She received her hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 26, 2012, and her nomination was reported to the floor on February 16, 2012, by voice vote, with Senator Mike Lee recording the only no vote. On May 7, 2012, her nomination was confirmed by voice vote. She received her commission on May 8, 2012.[3]

Notable case

On April 15, 2017, Baker blocked executions by the State of Arkansas, citing concerns over the use of midazolam, a drug used for sedation. Arkansas had planned to execute eight prisoners in the two weeks before the expiration date on one of the state's lethal injection drugs.[4]

References
  1. "Ms. Baker's biography at martindale.com". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  2. "President Obama Nominates Kristine Gerhard Baker to United States District Court". whitehouse.gov. November 2, 2011 – via National Archives.
  3. Kristine Baker at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  4. Blinder, Alan (April 16, 2017). "Federal Judge Blocks Arkansas Executions". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
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