Judge Grant C. Jaquith
Judge Grant C. Jaquith was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims by the President of the United States on September 19, 2019, confirmed by the United States Senate on July 23, 2020, appointed by the President on September 1, 2020, and took the judicial oath the next day.
Until his judicial appointment, Judge Jaquith had served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York since July 1, 2017, leading the work of 50 lawyers in four offices who prosecuted federal criminal cases and represented the United States in civil litigation, from investigation through trial or other resolution and appeal. While United States Attorney, Judge Jaquith served as Vice Chair and then Chair of the Servicemembers' and Veterans' Rights Subcommittee of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee. Judge Jaquith became an Assistant U.S. Attorney on August 6, 1989; he served as the NDNY's Narcotics Chief and Chief of the Albany Office from 1998 to 2006, Chief of the Criminal Division from 2006 to 2010, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2010 to 2017. In 2016, Judge Jaquith was honored by the Department of Justice with a national Director's Award for Executive Achievement.
Judge Jaquith was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1979 and served in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1982 to 2011, rising to the rank of Colonel in 2004. His military awards include the Legion of Merit. Judge Jaquith was an Army circuit judge from 2001 to 2010, presiding over courts-martial at forts throughout the continental United States and in Alaska, Germany, and Korea. In 2006, he was activated to serve as the trial judge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Judge Jaquith's other military assignments, including active duty from 1982 to 1988, involved advising commanders and staff on legal aspects of disciplinary actions and command administration and operations; providing legal assistance to soldiers, veterans, and their families; settling civil claims; providing instruction on legal issues; litigating at administrative boards; and prosecuting criminal cases.
Judge Jaquith was in private practice with Bond Schoeneck & King in Syracuse from 1988 to 1989 and taught Juvenile Law and Federal Income Taxation at Drury College, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in 1984. In 1982, he interned at the Public Defender's Office in Gainesville, Florida, where he represented defendants in misdemeanor trials.
Judge Jaquith received his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida College of Law in 1982 and a Bachelor of Science (cum laude) in business administration and accounting from Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina, in 1979, from which he was a Distinguished Military Graduate. He is married to Rosemarie Perez Jaquith, who is also a lawyer, and has six children--Amanda, Larene, Gordon, Olivia, Isabelle, and Colton--and six grandchildren.
