The United States Senate this week confirmed Peter Phipps, who currently sits as a District Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, for a seat on the Third Circuit. The vote was 56-40, with three Democrats joining all Republican Senators in voting in favor. Judge Phipps now takes the seat that became vacant when Judge Vanaskie retired.
Judge Phipps was confirmed for his District Court seat in October 2018, after having been nominated in May 2018. Thus, he sat in the District Court for less than one year before ascending to the Third Circuit.
A graduate of the University of Dayton and Stanford Law School, Judge Phipps was a law clerk for Judge Guy Cole of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. After his clerkship, and several years in private practice at Jones Day, Judge Phipps joined the United States Department of Justice’s Federal Programs Branch, Civil Division, in 2003. He rose to the position of Senior Trial Counsel there before taking the District Court bench. He also did appellate work there, as he was involved (among other matters) in National Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Governor of the State of New Jersey, 799 F.3d 259 (3d Cir. 2015), the sports betting case that ultimately was decided in favor of such betting by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Judge Phipps filled the only remaining vacancy on the Third Circuit. A warm welcome to him.