THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

           PRESIDENT CLINTON NOMINATES HARRY PETER LITMAN AND
               DAVID STEWART CERCONE TO THE FEDERAL BENCH

     The President today nominated Harry Peter Litman and David Stewart

Cercone to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Harry Peter Litman, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania since 1998. Prior to assuming his current position, Litman served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General with the U.S. Department of Justice (1993-1996) and was simultaneously a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (1996-1998). Previously, Litman worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California (1990-1993), and was a private practitioner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1989-1990). He received his A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1981 and his J.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. Following law school, Litman clerked for the Honorable Abner J. Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1986-1987), the Honorable Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court (1987-1988), and the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court (1989).

David Stewart Cercone, of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, has served as a trial judge in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas since 1986. Prior to assuming the state bench, Cercone was a solo practitioner in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania (1982-1985), and was an Assistant District Attorney for Allegheny County (1979-1981). Cercone received his B.A. degree from Westminster College in 1974 and his J.D. degree from Duquesne University School of Law in 1977. Following law school, Cercone clerked for the Honorable Paul R. Zavarella of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas (1978-1979).

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