August 2004
JUDGE RICARDO H. HINOJOSA of McAllen, Texas, who has served
on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas since 1983,
also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of
Law. From 1976 until 1983, he was an attorney with the Ewers & Toothaker
Law Firm in McAllen, Texas, and was a partner at the time he became a judge.
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with honors from the University of Texas
at Austin in 1972, and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1975.
Judge Hinojosa received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University
of Texas Ex-Students’ Association in 2001. He served as member (1979-83)
and Chairman (1981-83) of the Pan American University Board of Regents and
in 1986 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Pan American
University Alumni Association.
JUDGE RUBEN CASTILLO of Chicago, Illinois, has served as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Illinois since 1994. From 1991-1994, he was a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis. He was the regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1988-1991. Judge Castillo served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1984-1988 and was previously with the firm of Jenner & Block. He is an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Northwestern University School of Law, where he has taught since 1988. Judge Castillo received a B.A. degree from Loyola University of Chicago and a J.D. degree from Northwestern University School of Law, where he served on the editorial board of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Judge Castillo has been involved with the criminal justice system since 1978 when he was appointed as a deputy clerk for the local criminal courts, a position he maintained throughout college and law school.
CHIEF JUDGE WILLIAM K. SESSIONS, III of Cornwall, Vermont, has served as a U.S. district judge for the District of Vermont since 1995. From 1978-1995, he was a partner with the Middlebury firm of Sessions, Keiner, Dumont & Barnes. He previously served in the Office of the Public Defender for Addison County. He has served as a professor at the Vermont Law School. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Vermont Law School. Judge Sessions received a B.A. degree from Middlebury College and a J.D. degree from the George Washington School of Law.
MR. JOHN R. STEER of Fairfax Station, Virginia, served since 1987 as the general counsel of the United States Sentencing Commission, where he was responsible for advising the Commission on the statutory mandates and the application and amendment of the federal sentencing guidelines. From 1986-1987, he served as deputy general counsel to the Commission. Previously, Mr. Steer had a long career with the United States Senate, including service as legislative director for U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond and counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1979-1985 and as administrative assistant to Senator Thurmond from 1985-1986. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Clemson University and a J.D. degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
COMMISSIONERS
MICHAEL E. HOROWITZ of Chevy Chase, Maryland, is currently a partner with the law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in Washington, D.C. Previously, he served in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in 1999 and as chief of staff from 2000-2002. From 1991 through 1999, Mr. Horowitz was an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he served as deputy chief of the Criminal Division and chief of the Public Corruption Unit. His work on a complex, five-year corruption investigation earned him the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Horowitz received his B.A. summa cum laude from Brandeis University in 1984 and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1987.
PROFESSOR MICHAEL E. O’NEILL of Chevy Chase, Maryland,
has served as an assistant professor of law at George Mason University School
of Law since 1998 and a commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission since
1999. Previously, he served as general counsel for the Senate Committee on
the Judiciary, as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Office of the
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and as an appellate litigator
in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Appellate Section. He
clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and for the Honorable
David B. Sentelle, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Professor O'Neill received a B.A. degree summa cum laude from Brigham
Young University and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School.
MR. EDWARD F. REILLY, JR., of Leavenworth, Kansas, was designated as chair of the U.S. Parole Commission by President George W. Bush on May 31, 2001. Prior to his appointment, he served one year in the Kansas House of Representatives and 28 years in the Kansas Senate. In the Legislature, he served as assistant majority leader, chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs, chairman of the Senate Insurance Subcommittee, and vice chairman of the Senate Elections Committee. Mr. Reilly has served four presidential administrations in various capacities.
MS. DEBORAH J. RHODES, of San Diego, California, is an ex-officio member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, representing the Office of the Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Rhodes serves as counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice where she supervises the Division’s Office of Policy and Legislation. Prior to coming to Main Justice, Ms. Rhodes worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego, serving as the acting chief of the Appellate Section and the deputy chief of the Narcotics section. She also was a member of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Philadelphia Strike Force. Ms. Rhodes graduated with high honors from Wheaton College and with honors from Rutgers Law School where she was editor-in-chief of the Rutgers Law Journal. Following law school, she clerked for Judge J. William Ditter, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.