Marcia Cooke

1954—

Federal judge

In 2004 Marcia Cooke became Florida's first black female federal judge. She ruled on a number of high-profile cases, including one of the first terrorist cases to be heard in a civilian court. Her decisions broke new legal ground.

Became a Federal Prosecutor

Marcia Gail Cooke was born on October 16, 1954, in Sumter, South Carolina, the daughter of Heyward and Ella Randolph Cooke. She earned her bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1975 and her law degree from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1977. She was admitted to the Michigan Bar Association and to the U.S. District Court (Eastern District) in Michigan in 1978. In 1983 she was admitted to the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Cooke began her career defending indigent clients, first as a Legal Aid attorney and then as a public defender in Detroit. Moving to the other side of the courtroom, she then spent three years as a federal prosecutor. After a short period with a law firm, Cooke was named to the U.S. District Court in 1984. For the next eight years she served as a federal magistrate judge in Detroit.

In 1992 Cooke moved to Miami, Florida, where she held several positions in the U.S. Attorney's office. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2001. Cooke first garnered public attention in 1999 when Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed her as his chief inspector general with oversight over the state's administrative agencies. When hiring scandals erupted in Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Cooke was called in to investigate. She issued a controversial report that, although critical of the department head, placed the blame for the misdeeds on the departmental staff. Cooke went to work for Miami-Dade County as an assistant county attorney in 2002.

Appointed to the Federal Bench

President George W. Bush appointed Cooke to a lifetime position on the federal court as U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida, replacing the pioneering black judge, the late Wilkie D. Ferguson, in November of 2003. However her appointment required confirmation by the U.S. Senate and Senate Democrats had been blocking the president's judicial nominations. Cooke had been interviewed and recommended by Florida's bipartisan judicial selection commission; she had the endorsement of Florida's two Democratic senators; and she was a Democrat with apparently liberal credentials. Nevertheless Senate Democrats were suspicious of her association with Jeb Bush, the president's brother. Finally Republicans and Democrats reached an election-year compromise: the Bush administration agreed to not make recess appointments in exchange for the confirmation of its non-controversial judicial nominees. The Democrats agreed to the deal to avoid the appearance of opposing the appointment of a black, female, Democratic judge. In a unanimous vote in May of 2004, Marcia Cooke became the first judicial nominee to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate following the compromise.

In a statement quoted in the Miami Times Cooke said: "I would be remiss if I let this moment pass without noting the privilege, honor and responsibility that I feel today as a result of…becoming the first Black female appointed to the bench in Florida." At her swearing-in, Cooke's parents helped her into her judicial robe.

Soon after ascending the bench Cooke was presiding over high-profile, controversial cases. One her first rulings was to dismiss a lawsuit that charged federal agents with using excessive force to seize Elian Gonzalez from his relatives' Miami home. Gonzalez was a six-year-old Cuban refugee who was rescued after his mother and companions drowned while attempting to reach Florida. Over the strong objections of the boy's Florida relatives and the Cuban-exile community, Gonzalez was eventually returned to his father in Cuba. Cooke ruled that the federal agents who returned Gonzalez had immunity and that there were no violations of the constitution. In another controversial case in October of 2006, Cooke declined to rule on a request to terminate the parole of cult leader and convicted murderer Yahweh Ben Yahweh who was dying of cancer.

Presided Over Terrorism Case

Beginning in 2005 Cooke presided over one of the first terrorism cases to be heard in U.S. District Court. Jose Padilla, Kifah Jayyousi, and Adham Amin Hassoun were charged with being members of the Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda and sending money, supplies, and recruits to violent Islamic groups in Bosnia and Chechnya. Padilla, an American citizen, had been held by the Navy as an enemy combatant for nearly four years, sparking one of the biggest controversies of the Bush administration's war on terror. In a surprise move in January of 2006, Cooke granted bail to Jayyousi, a former Detroit assistant school superintendent, while denying bail for Padilla. Cooke expressed her concern that Jayyousi would not be able to fully participate in his defense given the difficult conditions under which he was being held. Cooke further ordered: that the defendants not be shackled while appearing in her court; that federal prosecutors turn over critical evidence to the defense; and that a conference room be provided for the defense lawyers and their clients. Cooke was quoted in the Miami Herald: "I don't want to run a prison. What I want to do is make sure that prisoners in administrative detention have access to their lawyers."

Cooke was repeatedly critical of the prosecution's case and twice ordered prosecutors to provide additional information. She was quoted in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel of June 21, 2006, as calling the government's indictment "light on facts." However Cooke had to walk a fine line between the defendants' right to a fair trial and the government's need to protect classified information. On July 5 Cooke ruled that Padilla could see classified documents and videotapes of statements made during his detention.

In August of 2006 Cooke ruled that there were overlapping charges against the defendants and she dismissed the most serious charge, which carried a life sentence. Cooke wrote, as quoted in the Miami Daily Business Review that month as saying: "There can be no question that the government has charged a single conspiracy count multiple times, in separate counts, when in law and fact, only one crime has been committed." Cooke's decision was overturned on appeal and the charge reinstated.

At a Glance …

Born Marcia Gail Cooke on October 16, 1954, in Sumter, SC. Education: Georgetown University, BS, 1975; Wayne State University, JD, 1977. Religion: Roman Catholic. Politics: Democrat.

Career:

Wayne County Legal Services, Detroit, MI, staff attorney, 1978-79; Detroit Defender's Office, assistant defender, 1979-80; U.S. Attorney's Office, Detroit, MI, assistant attorney, 1980-83; Miro, Miro & Weiner, Bloomfield Hills, MI, associate, 1983-84; U.S. District Court, Eastern District, Detroit, magistrate judge, 1984-92; U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District, Miami, FL, director of professional development and training, 1992, 1994-99, executive assistant U.S. attorney, 1992-94, acting administrative attorney, 1996-97; Executive Office of the Governor, FL, chief inspector general, 1999-02; Miami-Dade County, FL, assistant county attorney, 2002-04; U.S. District Court, Southern District, Miami, FL, judge, 2004-.

Selected memberships:

American Bar Association; Federal Bar Association, board of directors; National Bar Association, Miami-Dade County Chapter, Women Lawyers Division; Order of Barristers; Women's Economic Club.

Awards:

The National Conference for Community and Justice, Pathfinder Award, 1986.

Addresses:

Office—U.S. District Court, Southern Division of Florida, 301 N. Miami Ave, Miami, FL, 33128.

Cooke proceeded with the case in the same careful, considered manner. She expanded the jury-selection pool for the trial to 3,000 Miami-area residents in October of 2006. She was quoted in the Los Angeles Times in October: "we are now talking about a trial on a global scale."

On January 12, 2007, following defense claims that Padilla suffered from severe psychiatric problems resulting from his treatment while in military custody, Cooke ordered a three-month delay in the trial to allow for a full examination of Padilla's mental competency. Cooke's ruling was seen as one of the most important legal developments in the war on terror. Neal Sonnett, a Miami attorney and chair of an American Bar Association task force on enemy combatants, told the Los Angeles Times on December 17, 2006, that Cooke "is a very fair judge. She's very bright. She knows the law very well. And I think this is the kind of case in which the court understands that the world is watching."

Sources

Periodicals

Florida Times Union, May 18, 2004, p. B6.

Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2006, p. A.19; December 17, 2006, p. A.18.

Miami Daily Business Review, February 21, 2006; August 22, 2006.

Miami Herald, February 3, 2006.

Miami Times, May 26-June 1, 2004, p. 1A.

New York Times, August 26, 2004, p. 18.

Palm Beach Daily Business Review, January 10, 2006.

Palm Beach Post, May 19, 2004, p. 17A.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), March 28, 2006; June 21, 2006; September 15, 2006.

Tampa Tribune, November 14, 1999, p. 2.

Washington Post, July 14, 2006, p. A.12; August 22, 2006, p. A.2; November 22, 2006, p. A.11; December 8, 2006, p. A.4; December 19, 2006, p. A.12; January 13, 2007, p. A.9.

On-line

"Jose Padilla," Jurist Legal News & Research,http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/padilla.php (January 22, 2007).

                                                                             —Margaret Alic