THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

              THE PRESIDENT NOMINATES THREE TO BE JUDGES ON
                THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

The President today nominated Nancy B. Firestone, Emily Clark Hewitt, and Edward J. Damich to serve as a judges on the United States Court of Federal Claims, for terms of fifteen years.

Nancy Firestone, of Falls Church, Virginia, earned her undergraduate degree in 1973 from Washington University and her law degree in 1977 from the University of Missouri Law School. Immediately following law school, Firestone worked as an attorney for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. In 1984, she was promoted to the position of Assistant Chief of the Policy Section in that Division and then became Deputy Chief of the Enforcement Section of that Division in 1985. In 1989, Firestone became Associate Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and from 1992 to 1995 she was a judge on the Environmental Appeals Board. Since 1995, she has been Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Emily Clark Hewitt, of Washington, DC, received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1966. From 1966 to 1975, Hewitt studied for the ministry and received her M.Phil. from Union Theological Seminary. Hewitt was ordained in the diaconate of the Episcopal Church in 1972 and then ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 1974. She received her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1978. Following law school, Ms. Hewitt worked with the law firm of Hill and Barlow, P.C. in Boston, becoming a partner in 1985. Since 1993, she has served as the General Counsel for the United States General Services Administration.

Edward J. Damich, of Alexandria, Virginia, received his undergraduate degree from St. Stephen's College in 1970, and his J.D. from the Catholic University School of Law in 1976. Following law school, Damich taught at the Delaware School of Law of Widener University. He subsequently took a leave of absence to serve as a Law and Economics Fellow at Columbia University School of Law where he earned his L.L.M. in 1983 and his J.S.D in 1991. In 1985, Damich became a tenured professor at George Mason University School of Law. In 1992, President Bush appointed Damich a Commissioner on the U.S. Copyright Royalty Tribunal. Damich returned full-time to George Mason in 1993. In 1995, Damich took a leave of absence from George Mason when he was appointed to his current position, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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