THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT NOMINATES MICHAEL MURPHY TO APPEALS COURT

The President today nominated Michael R. Murphy to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Murphy, 47, is currently the presiding judge of the Third District Court of the State of Utah, the trial court of general jurisdiction serving Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties. He has served on that court since his appointment in 1986. Before taking the bench, Murphy maintained a broad civil litigation practice with the Salt Lake law firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook & McDonough. He also served from 1972 to 1973 as a law clerk to Chief Judge David Lewis of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Murphy is a highly regarded and active member of the Utah legal community. Honored as "Judge of the Year" by the Utah State Bar in 1992, Murphy has served as Chair of the State Advisory Committee on Child Support Guidelines and the Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee of the Utah State Bar. In addition, he currently serves on the Utah Sentencing Commission and the Utah State Bar Futures Commission.

Murphy earned his B.A. degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and his J.D. degree from the University of Wyoming Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the law review. He and his wife, Maureen Elizabeth Murphy, reside in Salt Lake City and have two children.

Upon confirmation, Murphy would become one of twelve judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which hears cases from Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.

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