Richard C. Wesley

Richard Carl Wesley (born August 1, 1949) is a Senior United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Education and background

He was born on August 1, 1949 in Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York. Wesley attended the State University of New York at Albany followed by Cornell Law School. He began his career as a lawyer in private practice in Pittsford and Geneseo, New York. He entered politics as a Republican, and was assistant counsel to the minority party in the New York State Assembly from 1979 to 1982. He was a member of the Assembly from 1983 to 1986, sitting in the 185th and 186th New York State Legislatures.

Judicial career

Wesley's judicial career began with his election to the New York State Supreme Court in 1986. He served as a trial judge on the Supreme Court from 1987 to 1994, when he was appointed to the Appellate Division. In 1997, Governor George Pataki selected Wesley as his first appointee to serve as an Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, New York's highest court.

On March 5, 2003, President George W. Bush nominated Wesley to the Second Circuit in order to fill the seat vacated by Judge Pierre N. Leval, who took Senior status. The U.S. Senate confirmed Wesley's nomination just over three months later by a vote of 96-0 on June 11, 2003 and he received his commission on June 12, 2003. He took senior status on August 1, 2016.

External links

• Federal Judicial Center Profile