Tiffany P. Cunningham
Tiffany Patrice Cunningham (born May 27, 1976) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Education. Cunningham received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998 and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2001. Career. Cunningham began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Timothy B. Dyk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from 2001 to 2002. In 2002, she joined the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis as an associate, and  was elevated to partner in 2007, where she remained until 2014. From 2014 to 2021, she was a partner at Perkins Coie in Chicago, where she was a member of the patent litigation practice and served on the 17-member executive committee of the firm. She is also a registered patent attorney before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Federal judicial service. On March 30, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Cunningham to serve as a United States Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Biden nominated Cunningham to the  seat vacated by Judge Evan Wallach, who took senior status on May 31, 2021. On April 19, 2021, her nomination was sent to the Senate. On May 26, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee advanced Cunningham's nomination by a vote of 16–6. On July 19, 2021, the United States Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 63–33 after the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination on July 15, 2021, by a vote of 63-34. She received her judicial commission on August 6, 2021. Cunningham is the first African  American judge to ever sit on the Federal Circuit. On January 28, 2022, following Justice Stephen Breyer's announcement of his intention to retire as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Cunningham was mentioned as one of the potential nominees for a Supreme Court appointment by President Joe Biden.