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Joseph Greenaway

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Joseph Greenaway

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Prior offices

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit

Education

Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. was a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. He joined the court in 2010 after being nominated by President Barack Obama. Prior to joining the Third Circuit, Greenaway was a judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He retired from the court on June 15, 2023.^[1]^[2]

Early life and education

A native of London, England, Greenaway graduated from Columbia College with his bachelor's degree in 1978 and from Harvard Law School with his J.D. in 1981.^[3]

Professional career

2010-2023: Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
2007-present: Adjunct professor, Columbia University
2006-present: Adjunct professor, Cardozo School of Law
2002-2006: Adjunct professor, Rutgers School of Law - Newark
1996-2010: Judge, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
1990-1996: Private practice, New Brunswick, N.J.
1985-1990: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey

1989-1990: Chief of narcotics
1985-1989: Assistant U.S. attorney

1983-1985: Private practice, [New York, New York|New York, N.Y.]]
1982-1983: Law clerk, Hon. Vincent Broderick, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
1981-1982: Private practice New York, N.Y.^[3]

Judicial career

Third Circuit Court of Appeals

Nomination Tracker

Nominee Information
Name: Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr.
Court: Third Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 235 days after nomination.
Nominated: June 19, 2009
ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Questionnaire: Questionnaire
Hearing: September 9, 2009

QFRs: QFRs (Hover over QFRs to read more)

Reported: October 1, 2009
Confirmed: February 9, 2010
Vote: 84-0

Greenaway was nominated by President Barack Obama on June 19, 2009, to a seat vacated by Samuel Alito which had been vacant since Alito's elevation to the Supreme Court of the United States in 2005. The American Bar Association rated Greenaway Unanimously Well Qualified for the nomination.^[4] Hearings on Greenaway's nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on September 9, 2009, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on October 1, 2009. Greenaway was confirmed on a recorded 84-0 vote of the U.S. Senate on February 9, 2010, and he received his commission on February 12, 2010.^[3]^[5]

District of New Jersey

Greenaway was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on November 27, 1995, to a seat vacated by Judge John Gerry. The American Bar Association rated Greenaway Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Not Qualified for the nomination.^[6] Hearings on Greenaway's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 28, 1996, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on March 13, 1996. Greenaway was confirmed on a voice vote of the United States Senate on July 16, 1996, and he received his commission on July 26, 1996. Greenaway resigned from the district court on February 24, 2010, upon his elevation to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.^[3]^[7] He was succeeded in this position by Judge Claire Cecchi.

New Jersey Law Journal survey

In 2008, the New Jersey Law Journal performed a survey rating magistrates and district judges. The scale was from 1 - 10; Greenaway's overall score was 8.05 out of a district-wide average of 8.19. His broken down scores were as follows:

Lack of bias as to race, gender, and party identity, 9.17
Courteous and respectful treatment of litigants and lawyers, 8.94
Fostering settlements skillfully, 7.64
Moving proceedings and making decisions promptly, 6.90^[8]

Noteworthy cases

Computer hacker's conviction and sentence vacated for lack of proper venue (2014)

See also: United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit (U.S. v. Auernheimer, 13-1816)

On April 11, 2014, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit, composed of Judges Greenaway, Thomas Vanaskie, and Michael Chagares, vacated a hacker's conviction and prison sentence on charges relating to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).^[9]

In the underlying case, in June 2010, Andrew “weev” Auernheimer and co-conspirator Daniel Spiller discovered a security flaw on AT&T's network server that allowed them to obtain the email addresses of 114,000 iPad users. Auernheimer emailed the details of their find to several media outlets, and shared the full list of emails generated with a writer from Gawker, a news and gossip website. While Auernheimer resided in Arkansas and the servers affected were located in Texas and Georgia, he was prosecuted in New Jersey federal court, which Auernheimer argued was an improper venue under the circumstances. The District of New Jersey rationalized this course of action by saying that the email addresses of 4,500 New Jersey residents appeared on Auernheimer's list.^[9]

In 2012, a jury convicted Auernheimer of identity fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization, and in March 2013, he was sentenced by Judge Susan Wigenton to forty-one months in prison. On appeal to the Third Circuit, the three-judge panel found that Auernheimer's conviction must be vacated because of improper venue. Writing for the court in a precedential decision, Judge Chagares noted that New Jersey was "not the site of either essential conduct element" of the CFAA -- Auernheimer neither accessed nor obtained the unauthorized information in the state at any time.^[9] Chagares continued, writing:

“

[E]ven assuming that defective venue could be amenable to harmless error review, the venue error here clearly affected Auernheimer’s substantial rights. ... The venue error in this case is not harmless because there was no evidence that any of the essential conduct elements occurred in New Jersey. If Auernheimer’s jury had been properly instructed on venue, it could not have returned a guilty verdict; the verdict rendered in this trial would have been different.^[9]^[10]

”

Auernheimer was released after having spent thirteen months in prison.^[9]