HON. COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY-Chairperson

Judge Kollar-Kotelly is the Chairperson of the Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure (CJDT). The CJDT, created by the District of Columbia Court Reorganization Act of July 29, 1970, is charged to maintain public confidence in an independent, impartial, fair, and qualified judiciary, and to enforce the high standards of conduct judges must adhere to both on and off the bench. Judge Kollar-Kotelly was appointed to the CJDT in 2017 by the Chief Judge of the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Kollar-Kotelly was elected Vice Chairperson of the CJDT in 2019 and was elected Chairperson in 2021. As Chairperson, Judge Kollar-Kotelly serves as official spokesperson for the Commission and is responsible to ensure that the Commission is well organized and discharges its duties effectively.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly was appointed to the United States District Court in May 1997. She received a BA in 1965 from The Catholic University of America and a JD in 1968 from Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America. Following law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Catherine B. Kelly of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. From 1969 to 1972, Judge Kollar-Kotelly was an attorney in the Criminal Division of the US Department of Justice, and then served as the Chief Legal Counsel to St. Elizabeths Hospital until 1984. She was appointed an Associate Judge of the DC Superior Court in October 1984, and served as Deputy Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division from 1995 until her appointment to the federal bench.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly has been a Fellow of the American Bar Association, a founding member of the Thurgood Marshall Inn of Court, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine in a joint teaching program on mental health and the law, and she served as Chair of the Board of the Art Trust for Superior Court. Judge Kollar-Kotelly was appointed by former Chief Justice William Rehnquist to serve as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Financial Disclosure from June 2000 through May 2002, and in May 2002 Chief Judge Rehnquist appointed Judge Kollar-Kotelly to serve a 7-year appointment as Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. In addition, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Kollar-Kotelly to the Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Resources from 2009 until 2016.