Mark W. Bennett
Mark W. Bennett | |
---|---|
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa | |
In office June 4, 2015 – March 2, 2019 | |
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa | |
In office December 31, 1999 – December 30, 2006 | |
Preceded by | Michael Joseph Melloy |
Succeeded by | Linda R. Reade |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa | |
In office August 26, 1994 – June 4, 2015 | |
Appointed by | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | Donald E. O'Brien |
Succeeded by | Leonard T. Strand |
Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa | |
In office 1991 – August 26, 1994 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Mark Warren Bennett June 4, 1950 Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Education | Gustavus Adolphus College (BA) Drake University Law School (JD) |
Mark Warren Bennett (born June 4, 1950) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa and a professor at Drake University Law School.
Education
Born in
Legal career
Bennett began his own firm, Babich, Bennett, & Nickerson, now known as Babich Goldman, after law school. He was in private practice in Des Moines, Iowa from 1975 to 1991 and also served as general counsel to the Iowa Civil Liberties Union from 1975 to 1989, specializing in employment, civil rights, and constitutional litigation.[1] Bennett argued before the Supreme Court of the United States once and wrote several successful petitions for certiorari.[3][4] He served on numerous committees for the Iowa State Bar Association and the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association.[1]
Federal judicial service
From 1991 to 1994, Bennett was a
During his time as a judge, Bennett sat by designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and many district courts.[3]
Sentencing practices
Bennett is an outspoken opponent of mandatory minimum sentencing.[6] Several of his decisions opposing strict applications of sentencing laws have been reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
In a 2003 case, Judge Bennett was reversed three times by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for considering post-sentencing rehabilitation when sentencing a defendant who had subsequently recovered from drug addiction and gained stable employment. The Supreme Court then granted certiorari and reversed the Eighth Circuit in 2011, adopting Judge Bennett's position.[7]
In 2007, a divided Eighth Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed Judge Bennett after he refused to apply the 100:1 powder/crack cocaine sentencing disparity.[8] The Eighth Circuit was then reversed by the Supreme Court, which held that District Court judges could categorically reject that ratio.[9]
In 2015, when an offender faced a mandatory thirty-year consecutive sentence, Judge Bennett wished to consider the mandatory minimum when sentencing on its predicate offense, but believed that he could not under Eighth Circuit precedent. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and unanimously reversed the Eighth Circuit, holding that Judge Bennett could follow his preferred approach.[10]
Bennett is also notable for his practice of visiting defendants he sentenced in prison; by 2019, he had visited more than 400.[11]
Academic career
Before Bennett's time on the bench, he taught courses at Drake University Law School, the University of Iowa College of Law, the University of South Dakota, Western Illinois University, and Des Moines Area Community College.[1]
After retiring from the federal judiciary, Bennett joined the faculty of Drake University Law School, where he is Director of the Institute for Justice Reform and Innovation. He is also a fellow of the
References
- ^ a b c d e Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, First Session, Part 4. Government Printing Office. 1996. p. 712.
- ^ a b Rogers, Aaron; Callahan, Margaret (2018). No One is Above the Law: The Story of Southern Iowa's Federal Court. Des Moines, IA: Lexicon Content Marketing. pp. 241–254.
- ^ a b c d e "Judge Mark W. Bennett (Retired)". FedArb. 26 December 2019.
- ^ "Oscar Mayer & Company v. Evans". Oyez.
- ^ a b "Mark W. Bennett, Judge" (PDF). U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
- ^ Saslow, Eli (June 6, 2015). "Against His Better Judgment". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Pepper v. United States". Oyez. March 2, 2011.
- ^ "Recent Case: Eighth Circuit Holds That District Court Cannot Reduce Sentence Based on Categorical Disagreement with 100:1 Powder/Crack Cocaine Quantity Ratio" (PDF). Harvard Law Review. 120: 2004. 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
- ^ "Spears v. United States". www.oyez.org. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- ^ Dean v. United States, 581 U.S. __ (2017).
- ^ Basu, Rekha (October 21, 2019). "Passion for equal justice takes Iowa judge on rare journey: Into prisons, to visit 400 inmates he had sentenced". The Des Moines Register.
- ^ "Mark W. Bennett Profile". Drake University Law School.
- ^ "Mark Bennett". Google Scholar.
External links
- Mark W. Bennett at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.