Joseph A. Greenaway Jr.

Joseph A. Greenaway Jr.
Joseph Anthony Greenaway Jr. (born November 16, 1957) is an American lawyer who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 2010 to 2023. He also previously sat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey from 1996 to 2010. On February 9, 2010, he was confirmed to his seat on the Third Circuit, filling the vacancy created by Justice Samuel Alito's elevation to the United States Supreme Court. Greenaway had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama.
Early life and education
Greenaway was born of West Indian parents in London, England, and immigrated to the United States at the age of two. His father is a carpenter and his mother is a nurse.
Greenaway was on the varsity baseball team at the Bronx High School of Science, from which he graduated in 1974. Greenaway earned a Bachelors of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1978 and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1981. From 1982 until 1983, he worked as a law clerk for Judge Vincent Lyons Broderick of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Career
Greenaway worked in private practice in New York City from 1981 until 1985. He became an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey from 1985–1989, when he became the chief of narcotics for the District of New Jersey. From 1990–1996, Greenaway worked as in-house counsel for Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From 2002–2006, Greenaway was an adjunct professor at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. He is an adjunct professor at Cardozo School of Law where he teaches a course on trial practice and a seminar on the Supreme Court as well as an adjunct at Columbia University, where he also teaches a seminar on the Supreme Court. Since 2018, he has been a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School.
Federal judicial service
District court service
Greenaway was nominated by President Bill Clinton on November 27, 1995, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey vacated by Judge John F. Gerry. He was confirmed by the United States Senate by voice vote on July 16, 1996, and received commission on July 26, 1996. His service terminated on February 24, 2010, due to his elevation to the court of appeals.
Court of appeals service
Greenaway was nominated by President Barack Obama on June 19, 2009, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated by Judge Samuel Alito, who was elevated to the Supreme Court of the United States on January 31, 2006. On February 9, 2010, he was confirmed by the Senate by an 84–0 vote. He received his commission on February 12, 2010. He retired from the bench on June 15, 2023. He joined the law firm Arnold & Porter in September 2023.
Personal life
Greenaway is married to Columbia University professor Valerie Purdie Greenaway. He is currently a trustee of Columbia University.
See also
Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates
List of African-American federal judges
List of African-American jurists
References
Sources
1957 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century African-American lawyers
21st-century African-American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
African-American judges
Arnold & Porter people
Assistant United States Attorneys
British emigrants to the United States
Cardozo School of Law faculty
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Columbia University faculty
Harvard Law School alumni
Harvard Law School faculty
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
New Jersey lawyers
Lawyers from London
Rutgers School of Law–Newark faculty
United States court of appeals judges appointed by Barack Obama
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton